The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office is calling out the Illinois Safe-T Act after the Second District Appellate Court overturned a decision by a McHenry County judge who decided to detain a man accused of molesting a child.
In an appellate court decision handed down Friday, the Second District Appellate Court reversed an order by McHenry County Judge Michael Chmiel to detain Arturo Martinez-Ortiz, 58, of Riverside California, in McHenry County jail while awaiting trial.
Instead, the Second District Appellate Court is asking for a new detention hearing for Martinez-Ortiz in favor of sanctions designed to keep him away from children while release from jail.
The decision by the Second District Appellate Court didn’t sit well with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“Though finding that the defendant “posed a real and present threat to the community,” the Second District concluded that the McHenry County judge erred in finding that no set of conditions could “mitigate” that threat,” a news released issued Wednesday by the McHenry State’s Attorney Office reads. “What percentage of Illinois residents, if polled, would agree that a defendant who has allegedly committed sexual violence against a child should be detained pretrial where the proof is evident and presumption great that he/she committed the alleged offense and if he/she is entitled to a trial within 90 days? I would guess the vast, vast majority.”
According to court records and the Second Appellate Court decision, Martinez-Ortiz was charged in December with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13, one count of one count of indecent solicitation of a child and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for sexually assaulting a family member.
The predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim is a class X offense and could put Martinez-Ortiz behind bars for up to 30 years for each offense if found guilty at trial.
Court records show Martinez-Ortiz allegedly sexually molested a child under 13 on two different occasions, once in McHenry County and once in Riverside, California in 2022.
McHenry County Police worked with the victim and her family members to obtain evidence against Martinez-Ortiz and he was arrested in February, according to court records.
During a detention hearing in February, Chmiel called the allegations “horrific” and that no child should ever have to experience them, court records show.
In addition, Chmiel said prosecutors had clear and convincing evidence that no set of conditions could mitigate the threat the defendant posed to an individual or the community if he is free from jail while awaiting trial.
In the Second District Appellate Court decision, the court said Chmiel should have set conditions such as GPS monitoring restricting defendant from being near the child, instituting a no contact order keeping him away from the victim and other minors, set a requirement preventing him from leaving the state and force him to establish an address in Illinois.
“It simply ignores reality to say that the threat posed by a defendant, whose “horrific” alleged crime could not be inhibited by the strongest possible disincentives known to human beings, can be mitigated by an ankle monitor and court admonition to stay away from kids,” the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office news release continues. “Moreover, as the dissent points out, what about the risk of harm to the young victim, who was terrified to disclose the abuse in the first place and now must live in fear knowing that the defendant is out on the streets.”
McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally has been an outspoken critic of the Safe-T Act and Pre-Trial Fairness Act – which ended cash bail in Illinois – since the measures went into place in September.
He is on record saying the acts have “glaring problems” and repeatedly highlights cases where defendants are released from custody despite beliefs they should be held in jail.
“We at the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office recognize that judges are not “wholly free to defend themselves” in the face of public criticism,” the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office news release reads. “Nothing in the foregoing should be interpreted as the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office commenting on the qualifications or integrity of any judge involved. We acknowledge that all judges involved in this decision are men and women of integrity and qualified for the stations they hold.”