Highland Park parade mass shooter Robert Crimo III has entered a guilty plea — but signed his name "Donald Trump" on his trial waiver.
Despite the stunt, legal analysts speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times said that Crimo will still be on the line for his guilty plea.
“He can sign Mickey Mouse or Donald Trump,” Richard Kling, a law professor at Kent College of Law, told the paper, adding that the only thing that matters is that there is a transcript of Crimo orally pleading guilty entered into the court record.
Crimo, 24, carried out a mass shooting on July 4, 2022, that targeted attendees of an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois. During the attack, the gunman shot and killed seven people and injured almost 50 others. Crimo reportedly fled the Highland Park area and drove to Madison, Wisconsin, where prosecutors say he contemplated attacking another parade, but decided against it.
By that time, police had already recovered Crimo's rifle — which he dropped shortly after the initial attack — and were chasing him into Wisconsin.
Police eventually caught up with Crimo, and arrested him approximately eight hours after the attack. He was ultimately charged with a total of 69 counts, all of which are either murder or attempted murder charges.
Presuming his guilty plea stands in court, Crimo will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison under Illinois law.
The Chicago Sun-Times obtained a copy of the trial waiver and found that Crimo's name was in both the defendant identification field and the opening rights acknowledgement of the document. At the bottom of the page, where the document calls for a signature, is the name "Donald Trump."
Crimo attended four pro-Trump demonstrations in Highland Park, Deerfield, and Northbrook in 2020. However, there has been no evidence to suggest that right-wing ideology played a role in his decision to attack the parade. The only hint of motive that police ever discovered was Crimo telling them he attacked the parade to "wake people up," according to an FBI affidavit.
Regardless of his personal feelings about Trump or right-wing politics, Crimo invoking the president's name on his trial waiver isn't going to help him skirt prison.
Adam Sheppard, a defense attorney in Illinois, said that criminal law governing the waivers does not require a defendant to sign their own name. What it does require is that a defendant show up in court and confirm they understand that they are waiving a trial, he told the paper.
On Monday, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti asked Crimo in court if he wanted to enter a guilty plea.
Crimo answered "yes."
