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The girlfriend of a Joliet area murder suspect looked distraught and emotional as she appeared in court Thursday morning.

Joliet police said 21-year-old Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton made statements in an attempt to stop police from arresting her boyfriend, Romeo Nance, before he was found dead in Texas.

Cleveland-Singleton was taken to the Will County Jail, as she’s charged with obstructing justice. […]

A Will County judge said Thursday the SAFE-T act forced the court to release her from custody.

Police said Cleveland-Singleton lied to them on Monday by saying she didn’t have Nance’s phone number.

* From the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice…

Cleveland-Singleton has not been accused of any violence, her offense is the lowest class of felony, and she is caring for a three year-old son who just lost numerous members of his family to violence.

Importantly, the old money bond system also did not allow judges to deny someone release for obstruction of justice, a non-violent Class 4 felony. Before the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect, Ms. Cleveland-Singleton would have been ordered released — either with or without payment of a money bond. The court now retains the power to set numerous conditions of release that do not involve paying money. And though Ms. Cleveland-Singleton was ordered released today, she must remain on electronic monitoring. Moving forward, should Ms. Cleveland-Singleton violate the conditions of her pretrial release, the court has the power to take her into custody.

All emphasis added.

…Adding… From comments…

It’s almost like the entire Will County legal system needs to take a remedial class.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 3:45 pm

Comments

It’s almost like the entire Will County legal system needs to take a remedial class.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 3:54 pm
I doubt seriously that she would have been held under old system
I don’t get the desire to lock people up who are not yet found guilty
She has a kid at home not a violent offense let her go
I am surprised they don’t want to charge her with murder under felony murder act

Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 4:14 pm
So the accusation is that she lied and said she didn’t have his phone number. How does confining her address that problem? Is it because they want to pressure her to provide that information? That’s not a valid reason to detain someone before or after SAFE-T. Note she hasn’t been convicted of anything.

The more effective way to obtain that number would be to subpoena her phone records.

Comment by ArchPundit Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 4:18 pm
how can we teach people to do the right thing? we can argue about the law but bottom line more bad.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 4:24 pm
@ DuPage Saint -

Don’t give them any ideas.

Comment by JoanP Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 4:38 pm
When you have partisan judges who blatantly focus on using political language from the bench this is the type of quote you get.

As a judge, you would hope that they would read the laws that they are privileged to adjudicate. Makes you wonder what else they miss or how they’ve handed down sentences or motions based on their personal political beliefs.

Comment by Frida's boss Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 4:40 pm
Incompetent judges who can’t read a statute should be removed from the bench.

Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 5:42 pm
“If it weren’t for Habeas Corpus we never would have had to release her.” — A Will County Judge, probably.

Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, Jan 25, 24 @ 6:26 pm
–It’s almost like–

It’s not almost like that. It is that.

Living here is getting annoying. Laws are meaningless, unless they help out personal friends. For everyone else you’re on your own.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Jan 26, 24 @ 8:28 am
–Makes you wonder what else they miss–

That’s what keeps the appellate courts busy. Just last week, Joliet had a Will County court case overturned against it, in the appellate court. Because Joliet has a problem following the law, and then gets cover from Will County courts to do so.

Good luck to you if you get caught up in the courts here, and don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to run an appeal.

https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/antilles-resources/resources/e0a8b7b0-86a9-48da-ab2d-c02fc18878cb/Stop%20Northpoint,%20LLC%20v.%20City%20of%20Joliet,%202024%20IL%20App%20(3d)%20220517.pdf

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Jan 26, 24 @ 9:03 am