Sangamon Sun

The Menard County Sheriff’s Office is celebrating the overturning of the cashless bail portion of the SAFE-T Act. 

Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington of Illinois’ 21st Judicial Circuit Court ruled that the bail reform provision in HB 3653 is unconstitutional.

“On December 30, 2022, Menard County Resident Circuit Judge Michael L. Atterberry entered an order granting a temporary restraining order after suit was filed by Menard County State’s Attorney Gabe Grosboll and Menard County Sheriff Mark Oller against Governor JB Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul,” the Menard County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release posted on Facebook. “Pursuant to this order, the pretrial provisions of the SAFE-T Act will not take effect in Menard County. The order was based on the summary judgment order entered on December 28, 2022, by Judge Thomas W. Cunnington, Circuit Judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit, finding the pretrial portions of the SAFE-T Act unconstitutional. Additionally, Judge Cunnington entered an order on December 30, 2022, clarifying that the amendments to the terms 'bail' and 'pre-trial release' are 'facially unconstitutional, void, and unenforceable' as used in the pre-trial provisions of the SAFE-T Act. The Menard County case is set for January 9, 2023.” 

Atterberry’s order was issued days after Cunnington’s ruling was released.

“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,” Cunnington said in his 36-page decision.

Chicago-Kent College of Law criminal law professor Richard Kling noted that the ruling was a forgone conclusion.

“The arguments raised all had merit, they weren’t frivolous,” Kling told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The SAFE-T Act will still take effect this Sunday in the 37 counties not included in the lawsuit. In those counties, thousands of inmates who await trial on serious crimes would be released. But after Cunnington'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 the Will County Gazette previously reported.