PEKIN, Ill. – A Pekin man charged this week with the death of a nine-week-old infant will remain in custody for now, as a judge won’t decide for another week and a half whether he gets out of jail or not, under the state’s new “cashless bail” law.
A detention hearing was held Friday for Hunter Waters, 19, charged with multiple First Degree Murder and Aggravated Battery Causing Great Bodily Harm counts, after the death Tuesday of young Addison Waters.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Waters allegedly lied about how his daughter was injured, prior to being taken to a Peoria hospital last Sunday. The affidavit states Addison suffered a number of hemorrhages, a lacerated liver, multiple broken ribs, and a fractured skull.
Hunter Waters claimed to a Pekin Police detective that Addison’s head may have hit an X-Box controller, but medical officials say injuries were inconsistent with that. Hunter later admitted to being “overwhelmed, frustrated, and angry” with Addison “and her inconsolable crying”, later confessing to handling her roughly, and among other things, “struck her head against his bedroom door.”
The hearing was continued to December 12th so that a determination can be made as to whether Hunter Waters is a flight risk. His public defender is asking for electronic home detention. Under the “cashless bail” provisions of the state’s SAFE-T Act, instead of bail, a judge must determine whether a suspect can be released from custody prior to trial. Locally, there has not been a murder case yet where the accused was released from custody.
