A hearing date is scheduled
early next month for a former police officer facing felony charges for
attempting to bring a gun into a golf championship in Lake Forest.
A hearing Tuesday for Mark
Fedder, 48, a resident of Indiana charged with unlawful use of a weapon, was
postponed to March 4. Fedder remains free on a $1,500 bond.
Tuesday’s postponement was
the latest in several delays for Fedder’s case, but defense attorney Thomas
Briscoe said he submitted information to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s
Office and hopes to have the issue resolved by the next date so he can request
dismissal of the charges.
Fedder was charged with the
Class 4 felony by Lake Forest police after allegedly bringing a gun to the BMW
Golf Championship at Conway Farms in the city Sept. 16.
Briscoe has said the
charges should be dismissed due to constitutional problems with Illinois’
previous laws on concealed weapons. He said that because the federal Seventh
Circuit Court of Appeals found Illinois’ gun laws unconstitutional, he is
claiming Fedder’s constitutional rights were violated.
But State’s Attorney Mike
Nerheim has said that concealed carry may not be the issue in the case, noting
that Illinois does not recognize concealed weapon permits from other states,
and that Fedder did not have such a permit in Indiana, anyway.
Fedder was initially
charged with attempted obstruction, a misdemeanor, by Lake Forest police after
saying he was a retired police officer when he had actually been “separated”
from the Mishawaka, Ind., department where he formerly worked.