Susana Mendoza exploits tragedy, attacking a Cook County Judge to Advance Her Campaign

The Briefing

In August 2026, when a Cook County judge denied the State’s Attorney's motion to detain a driver who fatally struck a young lady and instead placed him on electronic monitoring, Illinois Comptroller and Chicago mayoral candidate Susana Mendoza did not hesitate to take a page from Trump’s playbook by criticizing the judge for his decision. Mendoza put on full display her reflexive tendency to attack the Pretrial Fairness Act without any critical thought or knowledge of the full facts.

The fact is that the person accused of causing this admittedly heartbreaking death did not have a history of felony convictions, but only a handful of traffic violations, the most recent being a failure to wear a seatbelt in 2021. His pretrial risk assessment scores in both risk of new criminal activity and failure to appear were “1”s, the lowest possible. Under the Illinois Constitution, the prosecution bears the burden of proving that someone poses a danger that cannot be mitigated by any conditions of pretrial release. The judge, who heard the evidence and arguments presented by both sides, determined that the man could be safely released back to the community under electronic monitoring, which is a very restrictive condition. 

The Pretrial Fairness Act allows prosecutors to seek detention of a person accused of a violent or very serious crime who may pose a danger to a person or the community. A judge conducts an individualized assessment of the allegations, as well as the accused’s background and life circumstances, in making the decision to release or detain based on safety and the likelihood of willful flight. In some instances, like this one, the judge will condition a person’s release on being placed on electronic monitoring, which means that they are under constant GPS surveillance 24/7.