OAN’s Brooke Mallory
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 3:58 PM
At a hearing on Wednesday, the Fourth of JulyNumber A plea deal was rejected in the parade shooting in Chicago’s Highland Park.
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The state agreed to a plea deal to plead guilty to 55 charges, including seven counts of manslaughter and 48 counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
The defendant was due to receive a life sentence under the terms of the plea agreement.
The defendants, who were also summoned to court along with notorious Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, initially refused to say whether they would agree to the terms, leading the judge to call a recess. The defendants then rejected the offer.
The trial began on February 24th this winter.NumberThe year 2025 was chosen.
CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller said the suspect “wanted to control the situation today.” Miller also said he wasn’t surprised by the rejection of the plea deal.
“He got nothing out of the deal. He got life plus 30 years,” Miller said. “He wanted to be a star. He wanted to be the guy in charge. He didn’t like guys in charge…”
Robert Climo III will face amended charges, according to a letter sent to the victim and her family. CBS-2 I got a copy last week.
“At the request of the state and defense, a change of plea will be presented to Judge Victoria Rossetti,” the letter states.
Climo was charged with 48 counts of attempted murder, 48 counts of aggravated assault and three counts of first-degree murder for each of the victims who died after being struck by bullets, shrapnel and bullet fragments.
Those killed in the Independence Day parade attack included 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, 35-year-old Irina McCarthy, 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy, 63-year-old Jacqueline Sundheim, and 88-year-old Steven Strauss, all of Highland Park; 78-year-old Nicholas Toledo Zaragoza of Morelos, Mexico; and 69-year-old Eduardo Ubaldo of Waukegan.
The shooting left 48 others wounded, including Cooper Roberts, who was only eight years old at the time and was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Outside court, lawyers for the survivors and victims’ families testified and condemned the defendants’ refusal to accept a plea deal as a “calculated” move.
“All I wanted was for my mother to be able to fully grieve without the looming trial and knowing that my father would spend the rest of his life in prison, but in that courtroom we were once again shown his utterly blatant disregard for people, for everyone, for all of us,” Leah Sundheim said.
The Lake County Jail is currently holding the suspect, who is scheduled for trial in February 2025.
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