Chicago Police Body Cam Discovery With Peter Lewis: What To Do When You Don’t Get It
Sun-Times: Chicago cops lied about last year’s ‘first’ gun arrest
In 2019, the Chicago Police Department made national headlines after it announced that its very first gun arrest of the new year had taken place just one minute after midnight of January 1st. The announcement highlighted the department’s focus on making weapons arrests – except that it was not the first gun arrest of 2019. And two weeks after the arrest, the weapons charge was dropped.
One more thing: the only ones who were punished for the arrest were the arresting officers and the sergeant who signed off on the arrest report. All three were suspended for falsifying the time…
Appellate Counsel was not Ineffective for Failing to Brief All Issues in Motion for New Trial
The appellant in People v. Borizov, 2019 IL App (2d) 170004 appealed the decision of the trial court dismissing his pro se post-conviction petition, which alleged ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failing to raise each issue in the motion for a new trial. The Appellate Court of Illinois Second District affirmed the decision of the circuit court.
Borizov was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of solicitation to commit murder. Following conviction, Borizov filed a motion for new trial, alleging 31 trial errors. One of the alleged errors was that a juror should have been…
Three Chicago-area men charged in alleged fencing operation
Just four miles north of Chicago’s northern border, Wilmette is often ranked as one of Illinois’s best places to live, partly because of its school system and partly because of its low crime rate. Three men recently arrested there on charges that include money laundering and continuing a financial crimes enterprise might well question whether law enforcement officials are wrongly blaming them for what others did.
Police claim the men have been operating a retail theft and fencing ring for nearly a year, buying stolen merchandise and then reselling the items online.
According to a WLS-TV report, the Illinois Department…
THE CRIME OF DEFACING A WEAPON IN ILLINOIS
Defacing a firearm in Illinois is serious business.
If you knowingly or intentionally changed, removed or obliterated the name of the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number from any firearm, you can be charged with a Class 2 felony.
Simply possessing a firearm where the serial number has been changed or removed is a Class 3 felony. See 720 ILC 5/24-5. To convict you for possession, the State need only prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you knowingly possessed a firearm which was defaced. The state need not show that you knew the weapon was defaced.
The law exempts people…
DO I HAVE TO COME TO COURT ON MY ILLINOIS DUI WHEN I LIVE OUT OF STATE?
The answer is usually yes. However, there are things an attorney may do to minimize some of the pain and inconvenience. For example, an attorney may be able to move the court date or request a longer interval between court dates when you have scheduling conflicts.
After a DUI arrest, the officer will give you your first court date. On that date, your attorney will enter his or her appearance. The attorney may subpoena the evidence against you in advance and may then receive evidence. If you are seeking to overturn the automatic suspension of your driver’s license, your attorney…
Suburban Chicago woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 from employer
If you drive about an hour north of downtown Chicago, you will arrive in McHenry County. A woman there was recently charged with felony theft and forgery for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from her suburban Gilberts employer.
The 39-year-old Spring Grove woman is accused by Kane County prosecutors of taking the money from 2016 to earlier this year.
The Kane County state’s attorney’s office says the woman worked as a secretary at the Gilberts business, allegedly writing business checks to herself and then forging the owner’s signature on them. She’s accused of taking $135,085.
Chicago’s WLS TV reports that…
Appellate Court Questions Whether Appellate Defender’s Office Should Handle Post-Conviction Appeals
The basic facts of People v. Buchanan, 2019 IL App (2d) 180194 are not very notable. The defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The defendant later filed a 2-1401 petition, alleging that his conviction and sentence were void because an associate judge presided over his case. The petition was dismissed, the defendant appealed, and the Office of the State Appellate Defender (OSAD) was appointed.
OSAD then moved to withdraw in the Appellate Court under Pennsylvania v. Finley and People v. Lee, arguing that Buchanan’s claim was properly dismissed by the trial court. What the Appellate…
Rolling Meadows – DUI Lawyer Case Study
Police Say 13-Year-Old Is Person of Interest in Chicago Murder
Chicago police recently named a 13-year-old boy as “a person of interest” in last month’s shooting death of a nurse in the Little Village neighborhood. We do not know why police have singled the young teen out, but we do know that in other situations, police use the “person of interest” label because they believe the individual might have witnessed a crime or participated in criminal activity.
No charges have been filed against the boy. However, a 19-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting of the 32-year-old nurse who was struck in the chest by…
ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS STATUTE REQUIRING A DRIVER TO SUBMIT TO BLOOD, BREATH AND BODILY FLUID TESTING
Overturning a lower court’s decision, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a part of the Illinois statute on alcohol testing which requires that a driver submit to blood, breath or bodily fluid testing for drugs or alcohol where an officer has probable cause to believe that the driver caused death or personal injury while driving under the influence.
The First District Appellate Court in the earlier People v. Eubanks had held that 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2(c) was facially unconstitutional. The defendant in that case caused a fatal accident. An officer asked defendant to submit to blood tests, which defendant refused. The officer…
WHAT IS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE IN ILLINOIS?
Two officers were chasing a suspect down an alley. The suspect happens to be your cousin. The officers asked you which way you he ran and you pointed them in the opposite direction.
Can you be charged with a crime? The answer is yes.
In Illinois, you can be charged with Obstructing Justice if you intend to prevent the apprehension or obstruct the prosecution or defense of any person (including yourself), and you knowingly:
Destroy, alter, conceal or disguise physical evidence, plant false evidence, furnish false information;
Induce a witness having knowledge material to the subject at issue to leave…
Ill. Sup. Ct. holds that State’s motion to reconsider sentence could not be heard after defendant filed notice of appeal
The appellant in People v. Abdullah, 2019 IL 123492 appealed the trial court’s order denying his petition for relief from judgement pursuant to section 2-1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the decision of the circuit court, with directions.
Abdullah was charged and convicted of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, and aggravated battery with a firearm in June 2005. Id. at ¶ 3. Abdullah was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 40 years (for first degree murder) and 20 years (for attempted first degree murder). Shortly thereafter, the State filed a…
Scandal-ridden Chicago police lash out at Facebook
Last year, the Chicago Police Department announced what it said was a multi-year effort to reform itself in the wake of a 2014 video that showed a white cop shooting a black teenager 16 times. Last year, the officer was found guilty of second-degree murder. CPD said the reform would result in improved policing and public accountability.
Yet less than two week ago, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was fired for what Mayor Lori Lightfoot described as “ethical lapses.”
Rather than retrench and restore public confidence in a battered department, CPD is taking on a new foe: Facebook. Even as First…
VIOLATING AN ORDER OF PROTECTION IN ILLINOIS
Your ex-spouse has an order of protection against you. You thought it was still okay to call her best friend, but now the police have arrested you for violating the order.
What is the law? What can you do?
You can be charged with violating an order of protection if you 1) knowingly commit an act prohibited by the order or fail to commit an act ordered by the order, and 2) you have been served notice or have actual knowledge of the contents of the order. To avoid trouble, you should read any order carefully and err widely on…
Illinois Supreme Court holds that trial court is not required to conduct Krankel inquiry unless it is initiated by the defendant
In People v. Bates, 2019 IL 124143, the Illinois Supreme Court was asked to decide whether statements made by counsel during a hearing on a motion for new trial, stating his surprise at the depth of evidence introduced and admission that he would have had the evidence tested by experts if he’d known the depth, constituted an admission of ineffective assistance of counsel requiring a Krankel hearing.
Bates was originally arrested and charged with home invasion, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and other crimes arising from two separate incidents. Id. at ¶ 3. The state alleged crimes against two separate…