During DNC, special court will aim to streamline mass arrest cases
If all goes smoothly, the Cook County criminal courthouse on the West Side will be a comparative ghost town in mid-August when the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago.
No jurors will be summoned that week, police officers subpoenaed to testify in cases have largely been released and judges are working to clear their calendars to the extent possible at one of the busiest courthouses in the country.
Meanwhile, a defunct courtroom at a Chicago police station will be revived to handle any mass arrests, with hours extended so proceedings can be conducted on a rolling basis from 8 a.m. to midnight.
All this to ensure that the court system is able to process — and likely release — most people in a timely manner should protests, demonstrations or opportunistic crime sprees result in mass arrests as the Democratic Party convenes here between Aug. 19 and 22.
“It’s our goal that everyone who is present when judges are present, they will have their case heard without delay,” said Judge Mary Marubio, who presides over the court’s Pretrial Division.
The Chicago Police Department has repeatedly said it is committed to allowing demonstrators to safely express their First Amendment rights during the convention.
But critics -- from groups planning demonstrations to the city’s inspector general -- say they still have concerns about police tactics to control potentially thousands of people who will march and rally for their causes outside the United Center, as well as downtown and at McCormick Place.
Their concerns are fueled by the mass arrests during protests following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability says the oversight agency received hundreds of misconduct complaints against police on some of those days of unrest, close to the number of complaints typically received over a month or longer.
The city also saw mass arrests by police in 2012 during the NATO meeting here and in 2004 during demonstrations against the Iraq War that resulted in multi-million dollar settlements. And no one wants a repeat of the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention that devolved into what was later called a police riot.
For the Democratic convention, a courtroom at the Area 3 police station at Belmont and Western avenues on the Northwest Side will be reopened to handle all arrests stemming from what the police department calls a “coordinated multiple arrests” — situations when an arresting officer hands off anyone being detained to other officers so he or she can remain on the scene.
These situations can range from a few people taken into custody to potentially hundreds being arrested. Marubio noted that a mass arrest incident following the Chicago Pride Parade last month saw about 50 people detained.
Anyone taken into custody during a coordinated multiple arrest scenario will be taken to Area 3 for processing. From there, they will be released from the station with a citation or held there for a hearing before a judge.
The courtroom will be staffed from 8 a.m. to midnight. The station can handle about 90 people in custody at once, Marubio said.
Many people should be released from custody from the police station without seeing a judge, Marubio said. And a majority of people brought before judges to determine the conditions of their release will also go home that day.
The Pretrial Fairness Act, which among other things eliminated cash bail in Illinois, mandates a presumption of release for people arrested. Also, the charges protesters are most likely to face are not eligible for detention under the law.
Marubio says she believes handling the cases at Area 3 supports the law’s mandate of presumed release.
“Belmont and Western is a good place to be released from. You’ve got access to train lines, buses. It’s much harder to get released from 26th and Cal,” she said, referring to the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue. “Logistically, it’s more difficult.”
The Area 3 won't be restricted to protesters or those arrested during demonstrations, but to anyone taken into custody during a mass arrest.
For example, if a group of looters are arrested anywhere in the city, they will also be brought to Area 3 for processing and hearings if they were taken into custody during a coordinated multiple arrest. If a charge meets the threshold for detention and prosecutors file a petition to have the person detained, judges will hold hearings on those cases at Area 3.
If the station becomes too crowded, people under arrest will be directed to other Chicago police stations for processing before being brought to the Leighton courthouse for hearings.
Judges have been strongly encouraged to clear their calendars during the week of the convention. Judges with experience in the Pretrial Division judges are being brought back to handle hearings. Criminal Division judges — those who occupy the upper-floor courtrooms — could also get assigned to handle hearings if needed.
Trials scheduled during that week will be moved to the county’s courthouse in Rolling Meadows, but as of Wednesday only one trial was believed to have been relocated to the northwest suburban courthouse.
Court calendars are also being cleared at the Daley Center, where civil cases are heard. Judges there have been strongly encouraged to reschedule or hold hearings remotely that week, due to anticipated disruptions from crowds drawn by demonstrations.
Despite the logistical challenges and delays, judges who spoke with the Sun-Times said they believed the decision was appropriate to restrict proceedings. “I think they’re planning for a worst case scenario," one Law Division judge said. "But they kind of have to."