Grundy County State's Attorney Jason Helland said his office will not be filing charges against those who violate Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order extension.
According to the Morris Herald-News, Helland said if anyone was convicted in a criminal case, that case would then go to the appellate prosecutor's office.
"We rely heavily on the appellate prosecutor's advice on the enforceability of certain criminal offenses," Helland told the Herald-News. "We were given a memo from the appellate prosecutor's office that essentially said their belief is that the executive order the governor entered in March is not a constitutional order, that it violates the constitution, and is essentially null and void at this point."
Helland told the newspaper that it's in unusual territory at the moment and that while stay-at-home recommendations and social distancing are great recommendations, they are things that should be practiced but won't have criminal enforcement.
"Currently as established, it is the belief of the appellate prosecutor that the executive order is unenforceable," Helland told the news agency. "Since the executive order is not enforceable, we are not going to be criminally prosecuting anybody for the violation of that order because a conviction will not stand. If somebody is prosecuted, the conviction will not stand on appeal, and I am not going to put myself in a civil liability situation where I am giving bad legal advice to individuals that are going to get the county sued for money damages."
Helland told the newspaper there has never been a disaster proclamation in Illinois that has lasted more than 30 days, as they are generally declared for events like tornadoes or floods.
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