SE Illinois News

State Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) said he is unsurprised the cashless bail provision in the controversial Safe-T Act would be ruled unconstitutional. 

Windhorst issued a statement following a ruling from a Kankakee County judge. He also lauded the bipartisan effort of many sheriffs and state's attorneys to block the elimination of cash bail. 

"Even before the original SAFE-T Act passed by the slimmest margin in the final minutes of the lame duck Session of the previous General Assembly, I said ending cash bail is unconstitutional,” Windhorst said in a press release. “This ruling by a Kankakee County judge has affirmed that opinion and validated many of the arguments made by myself and others over the last two years. While there will no doubt be an appeal and more rulings to come, I want to thank the state's attorneys and sheriffs of both parties who brought this court challenge. Cash bail should remain the law in Illinois." 

Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois ruled “The administration of the justice system is an inherent power of the courts upon which the legislature may not infringe and the setting of bail falls within that administrative power, the appropriateness of bail rests with the authority of the court and may not be determined by legislative fiat.” 

Chicago Criminal law professor Richard Kling said the ruling was a forgone conclusion noting that “The arguments raised all had merit, they weren’t frivolous,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. 

The SAFE-T Act will still take effect on Jan. 1 in 37 counties that did not join the lawsuit including Cook County. In those counties, thousands of inmates currently being held in jails while they await trial on serious crimes would be released. But after the judge’s ruling, the 65 counties involved in the lawsuit will not be subject to those provisions of the SAFE-T Act. The Act underwent changes after a campaign communications blitz revealed several glaring errors in the law. No Republicans voted for the bill or the subsequent changes. When the Safe-T Act is implemented in the surviving counties, those charged with the most heinous crimes—such as robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide, and threatening a public official—will be freed, as Will County Gazette previously reported.