Eileen O’Neill Burke cited 57 escape charges that have been leveled against defendants since Dec. 2 and accused the Chief Judge’s Office of not being adequately prepared to handle the responsibilities of managing electronic monitoring, which previously fell to the sheriff.
By Violet Miller
Apr 7, 2025, 9:17pm CDT
“I am now directing you to object on the record whenever you have sought detention and the judge has chosen to place the defendant on electronic monitoring/home confinement,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke wrote.
Cook County States Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has ordered prosecutors to object to all judge’s orders for electronic monitoring if the prosecutors were trying to hold the person while awaiting trial, according to a memo from Burke’s office obtained by the Sun-Times.
In the memo, Burke cited 57 escape charges that have been leveled against defendants since Dec. 2 and accused the Chief Judge’s Office of not being adequately prepared to handle the responsibilities of managing electronic monitoring, which previously was under the purview of the Sheriff’s Office.
“I am now directing you to object on the record whenever you have sought detention and the judge has chosen to place the defendant on electronic monitoring/home confinement,” Burke wrote. “At this time, OCJ has not ensured that they have sufficient properly trained staff to monitor individuals ordered to electronic monitoring instead of detention. … I believe this is a threat to public safety.”
The Office of the Chief Judge of Cook County didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The memo is in line with previous directives from Burke, breaking with the policies of her predecessor, Kim Foxx.
Burke’s first policy directive — issued on her first day on the job, Dec. 2 — called for prosecutors to seek detention for “every detainable felony offense where an offender used or possessed a firearm equipped with an extended magazine, drum magazine, automatic switch, or used a ghost gun or defaced firearm.”
The now months-old directive also added guidance to seek detention for “any domestic violence-related, stalking or sex offense where the offender used or possessed a weapon” as well as “any detainable felony offense that is committed on public transportation.”
Under the SAFE-T Act, which abolished cash bail in Illinois, judges determine whether or not to jail a person before trial if prosecutors request it. Defendants are unlikely to be jailed on weapons possession charges unless they face other aggravating felony charges.
Giggle......
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