Fioretti: Evans and Dart Owe a ‘Sworn Duty’ to Protect the Public
Fioretti: Evans and Dart Owe a ‘Sworn Duty’ to Protect the Public (Chicago, IL) — Cook County’s Chief Judge Tim Evans and the County’s Sheriff Tom Dart have each asked a Cook County judge to end a lawsuit filed by the family of Keith Cooper, seeking to hold them accountable for the death of the Vietnam veteran. Cooper was killed during a carjacking allegedly committed by two men while they were on court-ordered electronic home monitoring while they awaited trial on charges for other crimes.
“Every elected official swears an oath to uphold the laws and the constitution and serve and protect the public. Evans and Dart have taken that oath and are now trying to disavow it, this is reprehensible,” said Bob Fioretti, candidate for President of the Cook County Board. Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart argued that, under state law, they can’t be sued for the incident, because they had no duty under the law to prevent the men from committing the crimes.
“Reports show only 110 people were assigned to monitor people on electronic monitoring and to potentially respond to the hundreds of alerts each day. Sheriff Dart has said the home monitoring program was never intended for violent criminals, so why are Chief Judge Evan’s Judges being directed by him to let them out?” Fioretti demanded.
Fioretti continued,”The truth is Chief Judge Timothy Evans has exacerbated this trend of felonies committed while on electronic monitoring with his ‘directions’ and guidelines to judges. Our system should determine who should be released pending a trial based on two factors: if the person is likely to show up for their trial, and if they are a danger to the public. The Chief judge can issue these guidelines today, just as he has done in the past, and not allow serious violent offenders to be back on the streets within hours of being charged of their horrific acts.”
Fioretti declared,”Bail decisions should have nothing to do with whether perpetrators are financially able to pay a bondsman nor their ‘societal issues’. Our system should determine who should be released pending a trial based on two factors: if the person is likely to show up for their trial, and if they are a danger to the public.
Fioretti: Evans and Dart Owe a ‘Sworn Duty’ to Protect the Public
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