Defendant in Highland Park mass murder changes course and goes to trial

For weeks, family members and survivors had been told that Crimo was planning to change his original plea to guilty. Many had prepared statements from their victims to read aloud.

But after a Lake County prosecutor announced in court that the 23-year-old defendant would plead guilty to 55 charges, which would likely mean he would spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, District Judge Victoria Rossetti turned to Crimo to get his admission. He remained silent for so long that the judge asked if he and his attorney needed to confer. There was a brief pause, and then a heartbreaking message for the victims’ families.

Crimo was not prepared to continue, the public defender said. Rossetti immediately rescheduled his trial for February 25.

The courtroom itself remained quiet; those present had been warned beforehand to keep their emotions under control and refrain from any outbursts. But their horrified faces were reaction enough. And a short time later, after a private meeting with the prosecutors, they left the courtroom full of anger, frustration and renewed pain. Several pointed out that the second anniversary of the tragedy was only eight days away.

Leah Sundheim, whose mother Jacquelyn Sundheim was among the dead, had hoped that the expected outcome of the hearing would help her further heal.

“I just wanted to be able to grieve for my mother in peace, without the trial looming and knowing he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Sundheim said. “Instead, we were shown once again his complete and blatant disregard for people.”

Lawyer Antonio Romanucci, who represents some of the victims’ families in a separate civil lawsuit, spoke of “great shock and great disappointment.”

“Today,” he said, “you saw absolute, unadulterated evil. … This was a calculated attempt on his part to perpetuate the suffering. He enjoyed the theater. He wasn’t looking at that family. He knew he had an audience.”

The defendant, who allegedly opened fire from a rooftop with an AR-style rifle, evaded arrest at the 2022 parade by wearing women’s clothing to conceal his identity and fleeing with those trying to escape the gunfire. He was found on a highway north of Highland Park after an eight-hour search. Prosecutors said his confession did not provide a clear motive.

He is charged with 117 counts of murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault with a firearm. Police accuse him of firing more than 80 shots with a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle from a building overlooking the festivities.

The town where Crimo grew up was shaken. The victims ranged in age from 35 to 88, including Irina and Kevin McCarthy, who died protecting their two-year-old son. An eight-year-old boy, Cooper Roberts, was paralyzed from the waist down. A bystander threw his young son into a dumpster to save him while trying to find and protect other family members.

According to the authorities, the military rifle used was purchased legally.

Crimo has been held without bail since his arrest. His first trial was scheduled to begin in February, but the trial was postponed when he briefly requested to represent himself. His next trial date, where he will be represented by a public defender, was set for early 2025, so victims’ families were prepared for an earlier conclusion when they learned of his planned confession.

There was a heavy police presence outside the courthouse on Wednesday, and as Crimo was brought into the courtroom wearing dark blue prison garb and confined to a wheelchair, all eyes were on him.

Josh Koskoff, an attorney for Maria Uvaldo, said she will wait until justice is served for her husband, Eduardo Uvaldo. Eduardo “achieved the American dream,” Koskoff said, and was so patriotic after arriving in this country that he proudly wore shorts with the American flag on the Fourth of July.

Crimo’s parents were both in the courtroom. In November, his father pleaded guilty to seven counts of reckless conduct for allowing his son to purchase firearms despite knowing that he had once threatened a school shooting. In addition, he had threatened to “kill everyone” and attempted suicide in 2019.

“Robert Crimo Jr. made the reckless and dangerous decision to support his son’s gun license,” Lake County District Attorney Eric Rinehart said at the time. “That was not a fishing license. That was not a permit to go to the museum.”

Crimo Jr., a well-known resident who once ran for mayor, showed up at the Lake County Courthouse last fall wearing a T-shirt that read “I am a political pawn.” He was admonished and turned the T-shirt inside out. He was subsequently sentenced to 60 days in jail, two years’ probation and 100 days of community service – far less than the three years in prison he faced at trial. He served 27 days before being released for good behavior.

Rinehart said the case against Crimo Jr. represents a new form of criminal prosecution: it attempts to hold parents responsible for the mass murder of their children.

“Only in America do we face a sea of ​​guns,” he said, “and we are drowning in that sea.”