Judge: Victims of Highland Park shooting can be present during testimony

A Lake County judge ruled victims of the Highland Park Independence Day parade shooting may be in court during the trial of the 23-year-old Highwood man charged with killing seven people and injuring nearly 50 others.

Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti announced her decision during a hearing Thursday at the Lake County courthouse, where jury selection is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday for the trial of Robert E. Crimo III.

Judges typically bar potential witnesses from sitting in on a trial until after they’ve testified.

But Rossetti referenced the Illinois Crime Victims Bill of Rights, which grants victims the “right to be present at the trial and all other court proceedings on the same basis as the accused” unless the court determines that the victim’s testimony would be materially affected by the testimony of others.

Rossetti said the victims will be allowed to testify about their specific observations of the shooting and the injuries they received.

“Whether or not they wish to stay in the courtroom is up to each individual witness,” she added.

Rossetti also ruled that each witness may be accompanied by a support person and an attorney. Other witnesses, including police officers and experts, will be excluded from the courtroom when they are not on the witness stand.

The defendant 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.

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