The state’s attorney appeared astonished after an appeals court ordered a man, who they said is not a flight risk, released from jail after the man led officers on a police pursuit in Spring Grove.
Spring Grove police officers attempted to stop a GMC Sierra pickup truck around 1:10 p.m. on April 10, 2023, on Wilmot Road after the driver was seen talking on a cell phone.
The pickup truck drove away at a high rate of speed and a chase ensued northbound on Wilmot Road past James Road and eventually Route 173.
The vehicle committed multiple traffic offenses during the pursuit, prosecutors said.
Officers terminated the chase after the vehicle crossed the border into Wisconsin.
Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. David Wright told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that Kenosha County sheriff’s deputies were notified of the chase around 1:15 p.m.
The suspect vehicle continued northbound into Kenosha County and a Kenosha County sheriff’s deputy spotted the truck at County Highway W and County Highway C.
A second police pursuit ensued and the driver of the vehicle eventually gave up and pulled over, Wright said.
The driver, Joshua Slaten, 47, of Holiday Hills, was taken into custody without further incident.
Prosecutors said Slaten told officers he did not stop because he had a suspended license and did not want to get arrested.
A search of the vehicle uncovered open alcohol, drugs, drug paraphernalia and identification cards and credit/debit cards belonging to other people.
Slaten was transported to the Kenosha County Jail and processed.
He was charged in Wisconsin with vehicle operator fleeing or eluding an officer, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, receiving or concealing stolen property, possession of THC and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Kenosha County Commission Loren Keating ordered Slaten held on a $25,000 bond following the arrest.
Slaten later pleaded guilty to vehicle operator fleeing to elude an officer charge in Wisconsin and was sentenced to one year in jail.
Slaten signed extradition papers while still in custody so he could face his Illinois charges once his sentence was finished.
He was charged with 25 counts in McHenry County, including aggravated fleeing to elude, aggravated identity theft, unlawful possession of a credit or debit card and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
In December, the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Slaten pending trial after he was transferred to the McHenry County Jail.
A detention hearing was held and McHenry County Judge Michael Chmiel granted the petition, which alleged Slaten was a flight risk.
The judge said that there were so many charges against Slaten that he could foresee “somebody not wanting to have to deal with all this.”
Prosecutors argued during the hearing that Slaten eluding police was intentional conduct aimed at thwarting prosecution. They said he has an extensive criminal history in Illinois dating back to 1995.
A pretrial services report indicated that Slaten had geographical movement in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee.
Prosecutors said Slaten failed to appear in court in 2009 in Tennessee. He also had a bond forfeiture warrant issued in McHenry County in 2012.
Slaten appealed the detention order and the Illinois Second District Appellate Court published its ruling last month.
The appeals court reversed the trial court’s detention order and ordered Slaten to be released from jail.
The appeals court said there was not sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s determination that Slaten posed a high likelihood of willful flight to avoid prosecution.
All three justices concurred in the opinion but one of them said he arrived at the conclusion “on much narrower grounds” than his colleagues, only agreeing that the detention order should be reversed on the basis that the trial judge did not thoroughly explain his findings.
“Here, defendant stated that he knew his license was suspended and did not want to be arrested. He then fled from Spring Grove, Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, crossing multiple jurisdictions and endangering himself and others. His conduct was egregious, and it is difficult to imagine a more vivid example of conduct designed to thwart the judicial process to avoid prosecution. I do not believe the Act required the circuit court judge to exclude defendant’s blatant act of willful flight from its consideration,” Justice Susan Hutchinson said.
“Although the State did not proceed on dangerousness grounds, running from the police in a motor vehicle is an inherently dangerous act. It is also obvious evidence of willful flight. Because I believe the circuit court’s findings were insufficient, I concur in the result, but that does not mean the circuit court could not have determined defendant’s detention was justified with a more thorough explanation of its reasoning,” Hutchinson said.
In a statement last week, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said Illinois’ appellate courts “are not immune from the regressive effects of the SAFE-T Act euphemistically styled as ‘reform.'”
The appeals court in their opinion adopted the reasoning of another court that even though evading arrest “could be viewed as obstructing the criminal justice system, it did not reflect a ‘thwarting of the judicial process to avoid prosecution.'”
“In other words, fleeing from police to avoid arrest is not evidence of a defendant being a risk of ‘willful flight.’ In our opinion this ruling is out of step with the expectations the public has for the criminal justice system and an example of how legalism can be elevated over sound judgment,” Kenneally said.
The state’s attorney said the criminal justice system continues to “undergo drastic changes in many important areas that are rarely reported upon.”
“We believe it is incumbent upon us to ensure the public is fully advised and point out those instances where reform efforts have put the justice system and reality on divergent paths,” he said.