Judge to consider if Highland Park survivors can be present during accused shooter’s trial

With a little more than two weeks to go until the trial of the 23-year-old Highwood man charged with fatally shooting seven people two years ago during Highland Park’s Independence Day parade, Lake County prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to permit survivors in the courtroom during testimony.

Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti set arguments on the motion for 11 a.m. Feb. 20. Rossetti indicated she reviewed questions prosecutors and defense attorneys submitted for the proposed juror questionnaire and will address those on Feb. 20 as well.

Defendant Robert E. Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges related to the July 4, 2022 attack which claimed the lives of Highland Park residents Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; and Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife Irina McCarthy, 35 were killed during the attack, which also claimed the lives of Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan.

Nearly 50 people were injured in the shooting, which authorities say the defendant carried out by perching atop a downtown Highland Park building and firing dozens of shots from a military-style rifle into the crowd below.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains incarcerated in the Lake County jail. If convicted of two or more murders, the defendant faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Jury selection is set to begin Feb. 24.