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Robert E. Crimo III, left, talks to Lake County's assistant public defender Anton Trizna as he appears before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool)

Robert Crimo III, who remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, once again refused to attend a status hearing in his case Wednesday, months before he is set to stand trial on seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges.

The U.S. District Courthouse is pictured in East St. Louis. (Peter Hancock / Capitol News Illinois)

Throughout four days of testimony, a central issue has been whether the weapons and equipment covered under the law are commonly used in American society for lawful purposes such as self-defense, and thus protected under the Second Amendment, or military-grade weapons that state and local governments can more easily keep out of civilian hands.

The federal courthouse for the Southern District of Illinois is pictured in East St. Louis. (Peter Hancock / Capitol News Illinois)
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Illinois lawmakers in 2023 passed the ban on so-called assault weapons following a mass shooting the prior year at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more injured.

The federal district courthouse in East St. Louis is pictured. (Peter Hancock / Capitol News Illinois)
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Illinois lawmakers passed the ban in 2023 following a mass shooting the prior year at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more injured.

The U.S. District Courthouse is pictured in East St. Louis. (Peter Hancock / Capitol News Illinois)

Illinois lawmakers passed the ban in 2023 following a mass shooting the prior year at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more injured.

This undated photo provided by Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications shows twin brothers Cooper and Luke Roberts playing basketball. Cooper was a victim of the 2022 Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Ill., and remains paralyzed from the waist down. (The Roberts Family / Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications via AP)

The July 4, 2022, shooting took seven lives and wounded dozens of people. As Highland Park officials planned the first parade since the shooting, victims have been trying to make sense of what happened, many of them feeling fresh pain.

A woman wipes away tears after a mass shooting at an Independence Day parade that left seven people dead and dozens wounded, in the Chicago suburb Highland Park, July 4, 2022. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, File)

The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings involving four or more people regardless of whether they died, shows June, July, and August have had the highest total number of mass shootings over the past decade. The lowest totals were from December through March.

Visitors pay their respects, Thursday, July 7, 2022, at altars for the seven people killed in the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, File)

Robert Crimo III, who was expected to plead guilty Wednesday, instead appeared in a Lake County courtroom packed with victims of the shooting and rejected an agreement in which he would have pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges.

Visitors pay their respects, Thursday, July 7, 2022, at altars for the seven people killed in the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, File)

Robert Crimo III was scheduled to face trial next February on a raft of charges, including murder and attempted murder, for the shooting in Highland Park nearly two years ago.

(WTTW News)

The city of Highland Park is planning to resume its annual Fourth of July parade — two years after a gunman opened fire on attendees, killing seven and wounding dozens more.

Robert Crimo Jr., left, pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Pool / Chicago Tribune / AP via CNN Newsource)

Prosecutors over the past few years have been slowly, but steadily, expanding the notion of who can be held accountable for a mass shooting.

Robert E. Crimo, III appears for a case management meeting before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the at the Lake County Courthouse Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 in Waukegan, Ill. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)

Robert Crimo III had briefly been set to go to trial this week after he temporarily demanded to represent himself. But after he changed his mind, Judge Victoria Rossetti on Wednesday reset the initial Feb. 24, 2025 trial date.

Robert E. Crimo III, left, is escorted into a courtroom during a hearing before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the Lake County Courthouse, Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, Pool)

The February trial date for alleged Highland Park parade gunman Robert Crimo III has been removed, with a new trial date coming either later this year or in early 2025.

A gun store display is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied to take up a petition filed by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, that sought to overturn a ruling on a related case he’d brought before the Illinois Supreme Court.

A memorial to the victims of the July 4, 2022, shooting in Highland Park. (WTTW News)

In a surprise move Monday, Crimo III told the court he wishes to proceed pro se and will act as his own attorney. The 23-year-old also invoked his right to a speedy trial — pushing what had been expected to be a February 2025 trial date up to Feb. 26, 2024.

Robert E. Crimo Jr., arrives at the Lake County Courthouse, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Waukegan, Ill. Crimo Jr. will serve 60 days in jail and two years of probation. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo)

Robert Crimo Jr. entered a guilty plea to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct last week in Lake County court. Crimo sponsored his underage son’s firearm application three years before the July 2022 attack in Highland Park, even though the teenager had recently threatened violence.