Western Springs Gun Suspects' Statements Under Wraps

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs police have declined to release statements from two men accused of pointing a gun at a co-worker last month.

According to the police report, Cesar Y. Chaidez, 27, of Chicago, and Manuel Paredes, 24, of Joliet, submitted written statements in the investigation.

Police said they pointed the unloaded gun at a co-worker, a 23-year-old woman, at the Animal Hospital of Western Springs, 905 55th St. One of them pulled the trigger while pointing the weapon, police said. They were charged with disorderly conduct.

Patch filed a public records request for the statements. But on Monday, the police denied it. The department cited an exemption under the state's open records law that asserts release of the information would create a "substantial likelihood" that the suspects would be deprived of a fair trial.

"We do not release statements made by suspects," the police department said.

This appears to be the department's practice. Recently, it blacked out the portion of a DUI report in which a suspect answered what he had to drink before driving. This is information other departments regularly disclose.

The Freedom of Information Act requires a public body to provide a "detailed factual basis" when it denies a request for records. The police did not give one.

In this case, the police did not indicate how the release of the information would impact the men's right to a fair trial. Only a tiny minority of cases ever make it to trial, with most ending in plea bargains.

In 2019, the Attorney General's Office issued an opinion that seemed to cast doubt on the ability to use the fair trial exception.

In the 2019 case, the Joliet Herald-News requested information related to the arrest of a person a few days before. In its denial, the Joliet police cited the fair trial exception, among others. The attorney general questioned the denial.

"There is no indication that a trial or adjudication was pending or truly imminent at that time," the attorney general's public access counselor, Sarah Pratt, said in the opinion. "Further, the (Joliet Police) Department did not explain how or why disclosure of the information it redacted from the particular narratives at issue would deprive the specific defendants of fair trials or impartial hearings."

Pratt said Joliet's use of the fair trial exemption was so general it could apply to any police report involving a suspect before trial.

Patch has asked Western Springs to reconsider its denial.