Posted on September 04, 2013 in DUI/DWI

Knowing what to expect in a DUI arrest can be helpful if you are involved in an incident. Knowing what’s required of the officer and what steps should be taken to protect your rightscan also make a difference in the success or failure of your DUI case. If you have been charged with a DUI in Illinois, you need the help of an experienced criminal attorney.

At the outset of the arrest, the officer will stop a vehicle at a roadside safety check or for probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or unusual operation. The officer should then observe the driver and request proof of a driver’s license, insurance card, and vehicle registration information. In the event the officer does not suspect operation of the vehicle under the influence, he or she will release the driver without any further charges.

If the officer suspects that the driver is under the influence of alcohol, he or she will ask the driver to submit to field sobriety tests. If the field sobriety tests give the officer probable cause, the driver can be arrested for DUI and taken to the local police station. The driver should be asked to submit to chemical testing for the breath, blood, or urine.

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 Posted on September 02, 2013 in Criminal Defense

Last week we extensively covered a case involving a Chicago man named Gary who was challenging his conviction of aggravated battery against his neighbor's girlfriend. Ultimately the problem is that sufficiency of evidence appeals are notoriously hard to win in cases that hinge on the testimony of witnesses rather than hard physical evidence.

In reviewing a case based on sufficiency of evidence, a Cook County appeals court asks whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of a criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution and makes all reasonable inference in the prosecution's favor.

This means that that even if the appeals court judge would have decided the case differently, the court will uphold a verdict if it is possible that any reasonable trial court or jury could have decided in favor of the prosecution.

This makes it easy to see why the court could not overturn the Gary's aggravated battery conviction. Although it's highly likely that his neighbors were more intoxicated and hostile than they admitted to, it is also likely that Gary had ill-will toward his neighbor and hit Tara in the heat of the argument.

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 Posted on August 30, 2013 in Theft

Late last year, Clark Merrefield from The Daily Beast reported on a minor who committed a crime, was sentenced in court as an adult, and brought out concerns about what was the proper age to begin charging children as adults.

After he was found guilty of robbing two local businesses, Sean Shevlino, now 22, was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

In 2006, when Shevlino was 16 years old, he robbed a Piggly Wiggly. His friend’s older brother, who was an employee of the southern chain at the time, told him how easy it would be to rob the store.

Sean’s mother, April, told The Daily Beast that although his father and herself were providing a positive, college-bound life for Sean and his brothers, Seamus and Alex, when Sean turned 15, he became very angry and began to act out.

Sean said that his friends thought he was crazy when he told them about his idea to rob the Piggly Wiggly, but once he got away with money, they quickly changed their minds.

He wanted the money to repay his friends for allowing him to stay at their houses, but once they got it, they wanted toget enough money to get their own apartment. Sean had every intention of completing school, but doing so outside of his family home.

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 Posted on August 29, 2013 in Criminal Defense

During the past week we have followed a case involving a fight between two Chicago neighbors named Gary and Ken. During the fight Gary punched Tara in the face. Gary alleges that this happened because Ken swung at him, and then used Tara as a shield when Gary attempted to return his blow.

No one contested the fact that Gary hit Tara and that she was severely injured as a result. Gary argued that he lacked the requisite intent to harm Tara as he was attempting to return Ken's punch.

The trial court rejected the defense's version of events and said that it was unlikely that Ken would be able to pull Tara in front of him during the short time it would have taken Gary to return Ken's punch.

Gary also argued the fact that Ken and Tara had been drinking prevented them from being able to accurately remember the incident. The trial court noted that although intoxication is relative to the value of a person's testimony, it did not preclude the trial court from accepting their version of events.

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 Posted on August 28, 2013 in Criminal Defense

This week we are covering an aggravated battery case that arose out of a fight on South Homan Avenue in Chicago. The fight involved a man named Ken and his girlfriend Tara who got into an argument with a neighbor named Gary one July evening.

The evidence indicates that Tara was punched in the face while talking to a woman who hanging out with Gary. Tara and Ken say that the punch was the culmination of Gary's hostile behavior throughout the evening.

The woman that Tara was talking to was named Kelly, and she had a drastically different version of events that night.

Kelly testified that she was over at Gary's house for a barbeque and that she had nothing to drink that evening.

Kelly says that Gary and another man were sitting on the porch when they saw Gary's neighbor Ken pull up to the drive way.

Contrary to Ken's testimony that he was not drunk, Kelly said that Ken "missed the driveway," ran over the curb and onto the grass. Kelly said that Ken and Tara then fell out of the car and had to lean on each other to make it to the house.

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 Posted on August 27, 2013 in Criminal Defense

This week we are following the case of a man who was convicted of aggravated battery after a getting into a fight with his neighbor, Ken, and Ken's girlfriend, Tara. The fight happened early one summer evening and the two sides have drastically different versions of events.

Ken and Tara testified that Gary immediately started screaming at them after they returned home from a bar one evening. The couple said that they had been drinking, but were not drunk, and that Gary's profane insults were wholly unprovoked.

Tara said that she wanted to mend the feelings between the two men, so she went back outside to try and make peace with Gary. Upon approaching the fence that divided the two houses, Tara testified that she asked Gary to shake her hand, but he would only curse at her.

The woman who was with Gary then walked up to Tara and the two had a calm conversation about how the two men should resolve their differences.

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 Posted on August 26, 2013 in Criminal Defense

In our last post we discussed a Chicago neighborly feud which turned violent one July evening. The feud resulted in one man being sentenced to aggravated battery and sentenced to two years of intense probation.

An appeals court recently reconsidered the case and affirmed the man's conviction. The man alleged that there was not enough evidence to support his conviction because he and his neighbor had drastically different accounts of what happened that evening.

So what happened?

The incident took place on July 13, 2009, on the 10800 block of South Homan Avenue in Chicago.

Version one of events:

According to trial documents, the neighbor, Ken, testified that he was out drinking with his girlfriend Tara. Ken said that he had "less than six drinks" and that he and Tara were not drunk when they returned home.

Upon pulling into his driveway, he noticed that his neighbor Gary was sitting on the porch next door. Gary had two friends with him, a woman and a man.

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 Posted on August 25, 2013 in Criminal Defense

According to Illinois law, selling and distributing any type of alcoholic beverage to anyone under the age of 21 is illegal. Even though it is against the law, many people still serve alcohol to minors without fear of consequence.

If someone chooses to sell, deliver, or serve alcohol to a minor, or to any already-intoxicated person, the penalty is that of a Class A Misdemeanor. This applies to any vendor of alcohol, like bars, or any grocery store, drug store or party store. This penalty includes of fine of at least $500 and a jail sentence of up to one year.

Along with a fine and jail time, a business’s liquor license may also be revoked and/or criminal sanctions can be imposed onto the license, putting restrictions on the license and a “warning.”

This penalty is also for anyone who is over 21 and chooses to purchase alcohol and give it to deliver it to anyone below the age of 21.

Although it is illegal to sell to minors, the minors themselves will also get into trouble for being in possession of alcohol and consuming it. If someone under the age of 21 is in possession of or has consumed alcohol, they have committed a Class C Misdemeanor. If this occurs in a public area, such as a highway or other street, it will be classified as a Class B Misdemeanor.

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 Posted on August 24, 2013 in Criminal Defense

The bond between neighbors is one of the things that makes Chicago such a great place to live. Ties with neighbors create a sense of community and can greatly enrich the quality of a person's life.

Just the opposite is true for strained neighborly relationships. A toxic relationship with a neighbor can be a minor annoyance, at best, or result in serious criminal charges.

One Chicago man was recently convicted of aggravated battery after a feud with his neighbors turned violent. The man was sentenced after a bench trial and was ordered to serve two years of intensive probation.

An appeals court recently upheld the man's conviction, which he challenged based on the sufficiency of the evidence.

The trial documents show that the incident which led to the man's charges occured during the early morning hourys of July 13, 2009 on the 10800 block of South Homan Avenue in Chicago.

That evening the man hosted a BBQ with several friends. He and his friends were sitting outside when his next door neighbor pulled up next door.

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 Posted on August 20, 2013 in Violent Crime

In 2012, a Chicago Tribune investigation uncovered a high number of criminal suspects flee the state of Illinois to avoid sentencing. It is a problem that existed across all levels of law enforcement.

The Tribune found that police departments have allowed over 60 fugitives escape justice when they ran to Mexico. When they submit extradition paperwork it often overwhelms the county officials who need to process these requests. Of the fugitives in Mexico, at the time of their investigation, officials were only seeking the deportation of 12 suspects.

There is also an issue with the judges who held bond hearings. They set low bonds for suspects who were being charged with crimes such as rape and murder. They also were not required to confiscate passports from suspects with dual citizenship. But now Illinois lawmakers have passed a law to limit these avenues for suspects to escape justice.

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