By Dee Longfellow
On the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 31, the Illinois Supreme Court granted an Emergency Motion for Supervisory Order to suspend implementation of the Safe-T-Act pending resolution of current litigation. This is in response to a motion regarding the decision submitted by DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser.
According to information received from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office, the motion sought “an order sufficient to maintain consistent pretrial procedures” to not only clarify the implementation of the Safe-T-Act, but also to maintain an orderly administration of justice.
Not surprisingly, Berlin and Mosser were pleased with the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision.
“Had the Safe-T-Act gone into effect on January 1, 2023, while litigation is pending, the administration of justice in Illinois would have been uneven, thus harming all the citizens of the State,” said Berlin and Mosser in a released statement. “Additionally, DuPage and Kane Counties would have faced additional challenges as multiple municipalities are in multiple counties, some of which were bound by the pending litigation and others that were not.
“We are very pleased with the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision. The equal administration of justice is paramount to the successful and fair administration of our criminal justice system. Today’s decision will ensure that those accused of a crime in Illinois will receive equal and fair treatment throughout the State.”
On Friday, Dec. 30 prior to the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision, Berlin and Mosser had set forth the following statement:
“On Oct. 3, 2022, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, a Republican, and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser, a Democrat, accepted an invitation from Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s Deputy Chief of Staff to serve on a group of stakeholders that included only three State’s Attorneys to remedy what we and many others viewed as glaring deficiencies in the new Safe-T-Act legislation as written and passed by the General Assembly.
“We are very proud of our work and the improvements advanced by this group, which were passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor on Dec. 6. In our opinion, these amendments go a long way in rectifying many, but not all, of the anticipated problems if the law was allowed to go into effect as written.
“Recent legal filings and court rulings however, have put the implementation of the Safe-T-Act into question, specifically, confusion statewide regarding the legal impact of 21st Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cunnington’s ruling on all 102 counties in Illinois. This afternoon, our offices filed an Emergency Motion for Supervisory Order with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking clarification regarding implementation of the Act, which will go into effect on January 1, 2023.
“Specifically, the Motion asks the Supreme Court to ‘exercise its supervisory authority to enter an order sufficient to maintain consistent pretrial procedures because without such an order, defendants in different jurisdictions will be subject to different treatment upon arrest and throughout pretrial proceedings, creating an equal protection problem for citizens across the State.’
“As State’s Attorneys for Illinois’ second and fifth largest counties, our top priority is to protect the public. We have no personal or political agenda regarding the Safe-T-Act and remain committed to serving the residents of DuPage and Kane Counties under legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor.”
