In 2002, then-Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine’s office said in a memo to Presiding Judge Paul Biebel that complex murder cases, such as those involving multiple defendants, should take no longer than 2½ years to get to trial. Regular first-degree murder cases should reach a disposition in 1½ years, the memo said.
But hundreds of inmates in the jail have waited far longer than two years for their day in court — and many of them are facing charges less serious than rape or murder, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office, which operates the jail.
There are 539 inmates who have been in the jail between two and three years. Another 215 have been in the jail between three and four years. Eighty-four have been in the jail between four and five years — compared to 66 a decade ago. And 40 have been in the jail more than five years, compared to 29 a decade ago, according to mid-April figures.
“Stolen car and drug cases are taking two or three years,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s maddeningly frustrating.”