Coles County sheriff’s, attorneys prepared to abide by SAFE-T Act ruling despite concerns
MATTOON — Although concerns linger about proper enforcement, Central Illinois law enforcement leaders say they are prepared to abide by the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld the constitutionality of eliminating cash bail in the state.
The state Supreme Court issued a 5-2 ruling along party lines Tuesday that determined the cash bail element of the landmark criminal justice reform law known as the SAFE-T Act will go into effect in September, nine months after it was set to be implemented.
The ruling comes more than six months after a lower court found the law, also known as the Pretrial Fairness Act, violated the bail and victims’ rights clauses of the state constitution. The state Supreme Court stepped in, pausing the reform while agreeing to hear the case.
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In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Mary Jane Thesis wrote: “The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public. Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims.”
Coles County State’s attorney Jesse Danley, who was among the more than 60 county prosecutors who filed a lawsuit in opposition to the legislation, said his office will be prepared for the implementation of the law in 60 days, despite an ongoing shortage of prosecutors.
Danley
“I’m one of maybe dozens of counties that are severely understaffed and one of probably multiple dozens of counties that are mildly understaffed,” Danley said. “I think that the challenges are going to be getting people here from Coles County.”
Prosecutors could face heavier workloads, he said, because of tighter deadlines for bond hearings. He also predicted an increase in crime that could lead to higher intake volumes at the jail, prompting the need for more correctional officers.
Noting the standards laid out in legislation to determine whether a defendant should be held before trial, Danley said much of that information is already being considered under the current system through risk assessments, scales that determine the likelihood for a defendant to appear in court and personal recognizance bonds that allow defendants to be released from custody without bail.
“I would argue that we’re already taking those things into consideration,” Danley said. “When a judge in Coles County sets bond and the prosecutor asks for bond, violence is the first thing that we argue, and then lack of violence is the first thing a public defender argues when they represent them.
“I remain optimistic that we can find a way to make this work but in my mind, as it sits right now, my fear for my citizenry is that it lets people back out of custody that otherwise we would have been able to hold them to protect people,” Danley added.
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Coles County Chief Public Defender Duane Deters said the ruling was not a surprise due to the creation in 2020 of the Pretrial Implementation Task Force, which is intended to help prepare the justice system for the changes.
“We’re back in the same place we were in November,” Deters said, referring to the period before the law was challenged in court and its implementation temporarily halted. “I know some are gonna think that the world is ending and sound all sorts of alarm bells, but there were presumably steps in place by all counties.”
Deters noted that the federal system has not used cash bail since 1984.
“One way to look at it is this is not going to be punishing poor people anymore for not having the ability to come up with money to post bail on nonviolent offenses,” Deters said. “Obviously if the state believes that somebody is violent and needs to be detained, they’ll have to file that petition.”
Coles County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Tyler Heleine said he and other law enforcement leaders were not surprised by the ruling. They started preparing for the shift in November.
“I know from when we went through this last time, there are going to be some challenges to it,” Heleine said. “It’s new to everyone and although the law or the cash bail policy is the same for everyone, it may be a little different on how each county does it.”
Heleine said the sheriff’s office will be working with the state’s attorney‘s office and court system to make sure that whatever protocols or processes they will need to put in place are communicated with their local agencies across the county.
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“All the other local agencies bring their people when they get arrested so it does affect us more than any other agency,” Heleine said. “We just need to make sure that we are on the same page and work closely with our state’s attorney’s office.”
Moultrie County State’s attorney Tracy Weaver sad in a news release that her office and local law enforcement will continue their duties in upholding the law following the Supreme Court’s decision. The county was also among those that had challenged the constitutionality of the law.
Weaver echoed the sentiments of Justice David K. Overstreet, who had dissented along with Justice Lisa Holder White. He argued that the law violates the state constitution’s Crime Victims Bill of Rights, which voters added in 2014.
“Although we did not reach the result we worked toward with this litigation, the Moultrie County State’s attorney’s Office and local law enforcement will continue in our duties to protect the rights of the citizens of Moultrie County, the rights of crime victims, and to hold offenders accountable for their actions,” Weaver said.
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“I’m one of maybe dozens of counties that are severely understaffed and one of probably multiple dozens of counties that are mildly understaffed.”
— Coles County State’s attorney Jesse Danley
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