pretrial justice procedures

An appellate court ruling means a Peoria woman accused of a fatal 2023 stabbing is getting a new detention hearing.

Mayor Rita Ali says she stands by Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria in his high-profile public approach to handling some recent controversial events.

A little more than a week after implementation of no-cash bail in Illinois, Peoria County State's Attorney Jodi Hoos says the new process is running mostly as expected. She credits that to attorneys, judges and other officials having more than a year to prepare for implementation.

The first day of the pretrial fairness act saw only two hearings come before Peoria County Circuit Court Judge Sean Donahue. In both instances, the State’s Attorney’s office filed petitions seeking to have the defendant detained until trial.

According to a press release from Peoria County State's Attorney Jodi Hoos, Wednesday's ruling from a Kankakee County judge finding portions of the SAFE-T Act unconstitutional will halt the planned Jan. 1 implementation of no cash bail.

The Pretrial Fairness Act, commonly referred to as the “no-cash bail” portion of the landmark SAFE-T Act, is one of the provisions set to take effect at midnight on Jan. 1.

The Illinois Supreme Court is committing to a redesign of pretrial justice procedures, the system in place to deal with individuals from the time they...