Following the shooting murder of a Bradley police officer and the injuring of her colleague, an Illinois congressman accuses Democrats of stalling a package of anti-crime measures.
Darius Sullivan, 25, and Xandria Harris, 26, face a variety of criminal charges in the December hotel shooting that killed Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and badly injured her colleague, according to Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe.
“However, the more we learn about this tale, the worse it becomes,” said R-Kankakee State Rep. Jackie Haas. “We’ve discovered that the shooter of sergeant Rittmanic and officer Bailey is a repeat criminal.”
Sullivan has been charged with offences more than 40 times in the last seven years, according to Haas.
House Bill 4808 would make committing a chronic misdemeanour a crime. A defendant may be prosecuted as a chronic misdemeanant offender if he or she has three or more ongoing counts of misdemeanour domestic battery, battery, violation of an order of protection, or criminal damage to a family or household member’s property.
House Bill 4684 would remove a provision under the SAFE-T Act that a detained individual be brought to trial within 90 days. The SAFE-T Act, which was passed last year, contains measures aimed at increasing police accountability while also addressing requests for more justice system equality to address mass imprisonment. Jim Rowe, the State’s Attorney for Kankakee County, believes 90 days is too short and supports expanding it to 120 days.
“That legislation is creating the ideal conditions for defendants to be released back into the community, as well as the ideal conditions for individuals to be falsely convicted,” Rowe said.
He went on to say that processing DNA evidence at the State Police Crime Lab may take up to 90 days.
Penalties for domestic abuse strangling and the removal of a police officer’s body camera to prevent arrest are two further measures.
According to Haas, House Democrats have been holding up the bills thus far, and she is baffled as to why.
“No, I haven’t been given any reason why these legislation haven’t been called,” Haas replied. “It’s quite aggravating.”
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