Judge long involved in bail reform in Cook County appointed to oversee bond court

A judge long involved in reforms to pretrial detention has been appointed to oversee the Pretrial Division of the Cook County Circuit Court.

Courthouse observers applauded the appointment of Judge Mary Marubio to the position, with one attorney calling her an “ideal” person for the job. Marubio has been a supervising judge in the Pretrial Division since 2021.

She replaces Judge David Navarro, who will move to the First District Appellate Court.

“Judge Marubio has been a trusted and valuable leader in the Pretrial Division under Judge Navarro,” Chief Judge Tim Evans said in a statement. “I am confident that the division will benefit under her leadership.”

The Pretrial Division holds hearings to set and review bail before cases are transferred to other divisions. It also handles extradition hearings and applications for some search warrants, among other duties.

Marubio was among the first judges to be appointed to the Pretrial Division when it was created in 2017 to implement reforms to the county’s bail hearings that were ordered earlier that year by Evans.

The reforms set new expectations for judges to release defendants on bonds they can afford when they are not considered a risk to public safety.

Marubio was also involved in the Illinois Supreme Court’s Pretrial Task Force/Commission on Pretrial Practices, which was tasked with giving recommendations to the court in preparation for changes mandated by the SAFE-T Act, which among other criminal justice reforms would make Illinois the first state in the nation to abolish cash bail.

The division Marubio now leads was expected to be significantly reoriented on Jan. 1 when cash bail was slated to be eliminated statewide. But those changes were halted by a decision from Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas Cunnington, who ruled parts of the bail reform law were unconstitutional.

Cook County, which would not have been effected by the judge’s ruling, planned to go forward with the reforms until an order from the Supreme Court mandated all counties wait for the high court to review Cunnington’s order.

Marubio was appointed an associate judge in 2016. She was elected as a Circuit Court judge in 2020, the chief judge’s office said. Marubio is a graduate of DePaul University’s College of Law, where she became an adjunct professor last year.

“I’m grateful to Judge Evans for this opportunity,” Marubio said in the statement released by the chief judge’s office. “I’m excited to continue the mission of the Pretrial Division in ensuring fair and safe pretrial practices.”