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At Fagan Fagan & Davis, this is a question we get frequently.  Choosing an attorney to represent you when you are facing the full weight of a prosecution for Driving Under the Influence can be confusing, and many people simply don’t know what to expect.  The skilled, experienced attorney’s at our…
Continue Reading Why do you want to see all of my documents before we have our DUI consultation?

Illinois State Police Troopers have been giving motorists special attention lately, focusing on enforcement of Scott’s Law or Failure to Yield to an Emergency Vehicle. Not a lot of Illinois motorists know about this law, and unfortunately, that lack of awareness has resulted in serious injury and death to several police officers in the past several months.
What is Scott’s Law, or the Move Over Law?

While slowing is subjective, we recommend slowing enough so that the officer can visibly see the deceleration. While you can fight about whether you slowed in court, the officer won’t even stop you if
Continue Reading What is the Illinois Scott’s Law?

DUI Evaluation at the Skokie Courthouse
If you were arrested for DUI, not only is it important to secure representation by a qualified Illinois DUI lawyer, in almost all cases a drug and alcohol evaluation is required at some point. While the State of Illinois requires the evaluator be licensed and authorized by the State, each county can, and often does, have it’s own requirements. In Cook County DUI cases, evaluations must be conducted by CSI or Central State Institute, and for DUI cases appearing in the Skokie courthouse at 5600 Old Orchard Road.

Because the DUI drug and
Continue Reading Skokie DUI Drug and Alcohol Evaluations

Legislators in Illinois are again moving to act on convincing recent research which shows what many parents already knew – the part of the brain which formulates rational behavior is not fully developed in most people until around 25 years of age. In the past, changes in Illinois criminal law have included changing the jurisdiction of the adult criminal system over even nominally juvenile offenders. Now, according to a Chicago Tribune report, there’s a new parole law focused on young offenders as well. 

Under the new law, people convicted as adults of most crimes committed before they reached the age of 21 will
Continue Reading New Illinois Parole Options for Crimes Committed Under 21

How Illinois Expungement or Sealing Normally Works
In most cases that are dismissed (or that result in a not guilty, or acquittal as it is formally called), the defendant can file a petition with the court seeking to seal or expunge their record. As long as there are no other bars to doing so, that petition can be filed immediately with the Clerk of the Circuit Court with no waiting period, pursuant to 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(b)(2)(A). Notice is then sent to the prosecutor, the chief legal officer of the municipality in which the arrest took place (in Chicago, that’s
Continue Reading Was the Order Sealing Jussie Smollett's Criminal Case Illegal?

Is it possible to trick an Illinois breath test into providing a false breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) reading? Actually, it’s not that difficult – it may just be as simple as varying your normal pattern of breathing.

Breathalyzers, which can be used as an investigatory tool in an effort to determine the guilt or innocence of a person in a DUI case, are not the reliable devices despite what is claimed by law enforcement agencies. In Illinois, the most commonly used breath test device is the Intoximeters EC/IR II pictured here (picture from their website).

An example of potential unreliability
Continue Reading Can the DUI Breath Test Be Tricked?