Victim witnesses to the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park can be in the courtroom during the trial of alleged shooter Robert Crimo III, which begins Monday, a Lake County judge ruled.
Judge Victoria Rossetti ruled Thursday in favor of prosecutors, who asked earlier this month that victim witnesses be granted access to the courtroom during Crimo’s trial.
The judge said she agreed with prosecutors that the testimony of victim witnesses would not be materially affected if they heard other trial testimony. Earlier this month, prosecutors said the victims would not be able to testify that Crimo was the shooter, and that they would testify only to their experiences on the day of the shooting.
The judge clarified that other witnesses, such as police officers, would not be allowed inside the courtroom unless they are testifying.
Other than their time testifying, witnesses are routinely excluded during trials out of concern they may hear something that affects their testimony. Crimo’s attorneys asked the judge to deny the motion.
The ruling was possibly the final pretrial ruling before jury selection begins Monday morning at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan.
Crimo is charged with dozens of felonies, including first-degree murder, stemming from the shooting. Authorities say Crimo accessed a rooftop in downtown Highland Park and fired on the crowd assembled to see the July 4 parade with an assault rifle. Seven people died and more than 40 were injured.
Crimo was identified as a suspect in the hours after the shooting and was arrested in the evening hours of July 4 after he was pulled over by police. He has been held in custody since then.
In the 30 months leading up to the trial, Crimo has occasionally not attended his pretrial hearings. The judge admonished him Thursday that the trial will continue even if he chooses to not attend.
