The Fifth District Appellate Court upheld the detention of Lavar A. Gilbert Jr., under the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act.
The appellate court affirmed the circuit court’s detention order, ruling that counsel was not ineffective for failing to move to strike the State’s petition to detain.
Gilbert had appealed a September 28, 2023, order denying him pretrial release under Public Act 101-652, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act. He argued that the State failed to prove he posed an unmitigable danger to persons or community and that his counsel provided ineffective assistance by inviting the circuit court to conduct a detention hearing.
The defendant was charged with one count of first-degree murder in violation of section 9-1(a)(1) of the Criminal Code of 2012 in St. Clair County. He remained in pretrial detention after being unable to post a $1 million bond.
St. Clair County case number 23-CF-628