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Aimee Stewart was arrested in a stolen vehicle but was released
under terms of the Pretrial Fairness Act and its no-cash-bail
provision. After she failed to appear in court eight times, a
judge ordered her to be jailed. Now she is asking the state’s
highest court to have her released.
“It’s not the role of judges to rebound policy considerations
because they think missing court is more serious than the
legislature does,” said Assistant Public Defender Rebecca Cohen.
Special Assistant Attorney General Alan Spellberg defended the
judge’s actions Wednesday.
“When a judge is satisfied that the evidence shows that the
defendant will not appear in court, regardless of the
conditions, the judge has the inherent authority to deny
pretrial release,” said Spellberg.
Illinois Republicans have been calling for changes in the SAFE-T
Act, including state Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis.
“We have called for the restoration of cash bail,” Windhorst
said during a news conference last week. “What I think is
important is we need to make sure the net, the detention net,
includes all offenses that are felony offenses if we’re gonna
keep this system.”
They point to the death of Megan Bos of Antioch. Bos was
reported missing on March 9, and her remains were discovered on
April 10 inside a bleach-filed storage container in Waukegan.
The suspect, who confessed to concealing her death for nearly
two months, was released pending trial.
The Illinois Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Stewart
case in the weeks ahead.
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