The Illinois General Assembly has passed a new law allowing for deferred prosecution for certain non violent, probationable felony offenses. This is a great new law for people charge with felonies such as retail theft, theft, burglary, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, forgery, possession of cannabis, and possession of a controlled substance, among [...]
Read More Aggravated DUI, Burglary, Domestic Battery, felony, Forgery, Non violent felonies, possession of a controlled substance, Possession of a stolen motor vehicle, Possession of cannabis, Probation, retail theft, theftThere are many collateral consequences involved when someone is charged with a criminal offense that many people do not give appropriate consideration to when handling their case. What is a collateral consequence? It is any consequence of the criminal charge outside the court consequences, which I will call direct consequences. An example of a direct [...]
Read More Aggravated DUI, court supervision, defense attorney, deportation, Domestic Battery, domestic violence, driving on a supsended license, drugs, DUI, DUI blood draw, DUI conviction, misdemeanorThere is a lot of misinformation out there concerning expungements in Illinois. I get many phone calls from people who assume they are eligible for expungement but they are not. Here, I will attempt to give a little more information about expungements. This is by no means a full explanation of expungements, just some common [...]
Read More Aggravated DUI, assualt, battery, court supervision, Domestic Battery, DUI, DUI conviction, Reckless Driving, retail theft, theftHaving talked to many clients as a defense attorney handling domestic violence offenses and to many victims as a prosecutor, I have learned that there is a lot of misinformation out there concerning how the court system handles domestic violence cases. This blog hopefully will clear up some of those misconceptions. When a defendant is [...]
Read More Domestic Battery, domestic violence, order of protectionThe next stage in the progression of a criminal or traffic case is a bench or a jury trial. If the matter is set for a bench trial, a judge will hear all of the evidence introduced during the trial and make a finding of guilty or not guilty. In a jury trial, 12 people [...]
Read More Aggravated DUI, bench trial, defense attorney, Domestic Battery, DUI, jury instruction, jury trial, prosecutorThe next court date for a criminal defendant charged with a misdemeanor offense is generally a status date for the defendant to have his defense attorney file an appearance and request any evidence in the case that the State will be using against the defendant. If the case is going to result in a plea [...]
Read More arraignment, Domestic Battery, drugs, felony, grand jury, indictment, misdemeanor, preliminary hearing, probable cause, true billOften times criminal defendants and their attorneys think that court supervision is the best solution for a client and should always be taken if offered by the prosecution. In most cases, supervision is a very good disposition of the case. It does not involve any jail time. It is non-reporting, so you don’t have to [...]
Read More court supervision, deportation, Domestic Battery, DUI, expungement, Reckless Diving