Category Archives: Criminal Defense

Lack of Convictions Spurs Search for Pot Test

Low numbers of arrests for driving high are perplexing the Illinois State Police, who are considering changes to the way they test for marijuana use behind the wheel. The search is on for a saliva test that can let cops know when a driver has consumed the drug. The kit would augment training that troopers… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 28, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense, Marijuana Law, Traffic Violations |

Judge Rules No Fruit Poisoned in Supressing GPS Search

A ruling in federal court will let the evidence in a jewelry store robbery collected when cops in Hinsdale gained illegal access to GPS data stand as it was gathered after they’d obtained warrants. Tobias Diggs and Joshua McClellan filed a motion to supress the subsequent searches of an SUV, a cell phone and social… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 26, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

Should Gun Owners be Fingerprinted?

The head of the Illinois State Police thinks so and is calling on legislators to take action. ISP Director Brendan Kelly wants the state Senate to pass SB 1966, which would require holders to provide a set of fingerprints upon renewal of their Firearms Owner Idenity Cards. First introduced in 1968, the cards enable the state… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 24, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

Lack of Asportation Moves Appeals Court on Kidnap Charge

The state’s failure to show evidence that a convicted robber intended to confine a clerk and her child when he knocked over a Chicago currency exchange in 2013 will see the man re-sentenced. This after an appeals court overturned a kidnapping conviction against Joel West rendered by a judge in Cook County Circuit Court. For… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 21, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

Gas Station Pat Down Sinks Gun Rap on Appeal

A convicted felon is seeing the six-year jail sentence he received for carrying a loaded gun overturned after judges in the 1st District Appellate Court reversed a ruling that cops were within their rights to stop and frisk during their volunatary encounter at a Chicago gas station. Terry Flunder sought to have the derringer suppressed… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 5, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

CSI: ISC as State Supreme Court Stays Murder Appeal

A former FBI agent’s lush description of a crime scene led the Illinois State Supreme Court throw out a Kane County man’s conviction for strangling his wife. In upholding an appeal’s court decision that will see Shadwick King re-tried, the court ruled that judges in the 2nd District were right to toss the conviction due to… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published February 3, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

Houston Affirmed as Boundary on Timeliness of Prison Filings

Citing the challenges inmates face when interacting with the judicial system, a federal appellate panel extended the US Supreme Court’s prison-mailbox rule for court filings to administrative actions under the Federal Tort Claims Act. In overturning a summary judgement, the US Court of Appeals Court for the 7th Circuit said that provisions in a second… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published January 22, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |

Petition Lets Prosecutors Bypass Pot Bust Bureaucracy

Prosecutors in Illinois are getting an end-around around a seemingly endless paper shuffle as they move to absolve low-level pot offenders in the era of legal weed. A provision for motions to vacate and expunge records contained in the guiding legislation for legalized recreational use of the drug lets state’s attorneys skip steps in clearing some… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published January 21, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense, Marijuana Law |

Does Legal Weed Affect Probable Cause?

Justices in the state Supreme Court are considering whether and how the decriminalization of cannabis possession changes rules that let police in Illinois execute on-the-spot searches absent a judicial warrant. The case, involving a man charged with cocaine possession after Marion County cops detected what they said was marijuana in his vehicle and executed a… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published January 17, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense, Marijuana Law |

Appellate Court Reverses Course in Krankel Ruling

A Chicago man sentenced to seven years on drug offenses could get a new trial after judges in the 1st District Appellate Court reversed their earlier ruling and said complaints indirectly reported to a lower court merited an inquiry into his defense. Cops said Alfred Dowling confessed to owning the two pounds of pot found… Read More »

By ChicagolandLawFirm | Published January 16, 2020 | Posted in Criminal Defense |