BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — An appellate court panel on Tuesday sided with a McLean County judge who said a person accused of giving abortion pills to an unknowing woman should not be free pending trial.
The 16-page order, handed down by the 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield, says McLean County Judges Amy McFarland and Jason Chambers got it right when they denied Emerson Evans pretrial release in separate hearings over the past year.
“Not only do defendant’s actions and lies to police cast doubt on his ability to comply with conditions of release, they also demonstrate that conditions of release would be insufficient to mitigate the threat posed by the defendant,” wrote Judge Kathryn Zenoff with Judges James Knecht and Thomas Harris concurring.
Evans, 32, was charged last August with two counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child, a felony that could send him to prison for up to 60 years. It’s akin to a first-degree murder charge.
His attorneys argued first before McFarland last August that Evans should be released pending trial as he was employed, was a father of four children, had only a misdemeanor DUI as a prior conviction and no record of drug abuse or mental issues.
Prosecutors contended nothing could be done to protect the public because the allegations reflected “such a departure from the basic expectations of civil society that it becomes difficult to predict the defendant’s compliance with court orders, or even societal norms regarding the safety of others, if the defendant is placed on pretrial release.”
McFarland sided with prosecutors.
Evans tried again a few months later and was again rebuffed, this time by Chambers.
The appeal
Since the Pretrial Fairness Act eliminated cash bail, those brought to a county jail are given a detention hearing, during which a judge can either release them with various conditions or hold them in custody pending the outcome of their case.
They are allowed to appeal that decision to the appellate court, which tends to hear the matters on an expedited basis.
Evans’s attorney said he did not pose “a real and present threat to any person or the community” or to the woman.
The 4th district judges disagreed, saying Evans “ignored the possibility that his actions posed a potential threat to (the woman’s) health, in addition to the life of her unborn child.”
Moreover the judges said that McLean County judges got it right by finding that Evans posed a “broader threat to the community, as his actions demonstrated he was willing to ‘take matters into his own hands’ and ‘go outside of societal boundaries to effectuate his belief of what should occur in the absence of consent,’ which, in this case, resulted in the death of an unborn child defendant did not want.”
The SAFE-T Act requires a judge to consider what conditions could keep the public safe if a person were released. The appellate panel said nothing could.
“Based on the egregious nature of the offenses charged beyond the mere elements of the offenses, we agree with the trial court that conditions of release, such as electronic monitoring, GPS monitoring, or a no-contact order would not ensure (the woman’s) safety or the safety of the community,” they wrote.
The allegations
Officers with the Bloomington Police Department were called just before 5 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2025, to R T Dunn Drive to a report of a pregnant person having a medical emergency, according to court documents.
When they arrived, they spoke to the woman in the bathroom, crying.
She allegedly told police that Evans was her boyfriend and she had just told him she was seven weeks pregnant. She believed her boyfriend had given her pills without her consent or knowledge.
She had just been to the doctor two days prior and was told nothing was wrong with the baby or her pregnancy. Yet, when police arrived, she had miscarried.
The woman said Evans had indicated he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy earlier in the day. Officers spoke to other witnesses who confirmed that Evans wanted her to terminate the pregnancy, according to court records.
The woman told officers she didn’t want to have an abortion and denied ordering any type of pills. Later, when questioned, Evans, at first, denied doing anything but later admitted he gave her the pills — mifepristone — which he had bought on “campus” for $50, according to court records.
Evans will next appear in court in early June.
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
