Posted on April 07,2021 in Uncategorized

Although television legal dramas might lead you to think the criminal justice system is infallible - the heroic police and prosecution always manage to catch the clearly guilty defendant - the reality is there are many people in Illinois sitting in prison for crimes they did not commit. In fact, the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan reports 195 wrongful convictions in Illinois - most of them from Cook County - have been identified and overturned since 1989.

Illinois Man Exonerated After Years in Jail

Defendants in sexual assault cases are especially vulnerable to false convictions based solely on the testimony of an unreliable accuser. An Illinois appeals court recently looked at whether or not an accuser may challenge a defendant's actual innocence even when the state concedes there was a wrongful conviction.

The defendant in this case was convicted of rape in 2004. Nine years later, prosecutors moved to reopen the case, vacate the defendant's conviction, and release him from prison. An Illinois judge granted the state's petition and later issued the defendant a "certificate of innocence." Such certificates clear a defendant's criminal record and allow him or her to seek compensation from the state for wrongful imprisonment.

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 Posted on March 26,2021 in Uncategorized

Getting into any type of car accident can be a very unpleasant experience. Depending on the situation, you could be facing extensive damage to your vehicle or even serious injuries to yourself or your passengers. If you are in an accident with a driver who is uninsured or underinsured, the complexity of your situation increases quite a bit. Every driver in the state of Illinois is required to have a certain amount of coverage for collisions that are their fault, but not every driver obeys that rule. According to a 2017 study from the Insurance Information Institute, around 13 percent of drivers in the United States did not have any type of car insurance. This can be problematic for everyone involved in an accident, especially if you are a victim.

Dealing With an Accident With an Uninsured Driver

Usually, when you are in a car accident, the insurance company of the driver who is found to be at fault pays for the costs associated with the accident. When you are in an accident with a driver who does not have insurance, it can become a problem when trying to get your own insurance company to pay for damages. Even if a driver does have insurance, they may not have the right amount of insurance or enough to cover the costs of the damages. If you have been in an accident with an uninsured or underinsured driver, here are a few things to keep in mind:

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 Posted on March 10,2021 in Uncategorized

The right to own firearms is part of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution and cannot be taken away by the government. However, lawmakers in each state have the authority to make their own laws pertaining to the use, sale, distribution, and ownership of firearms and to legally restrict certain people from owning one. In Illinois, owning a firearm is legal and even carrying a concealed firearm can be legal. If you are a firearm owner, there are a few things you should know about carrying a concealed weapon in Illinois.

You Must Possess the Proper Licensure

In the state of Illinois, if you want to carry a concealed weapon with you, you must first obtain both a firearm owner identification (FOID) card and a concealed carry license (CCL). Everyone in the state who owns a firearm must possess a FOID card, while only those who wish to carry a concealed weapon must also have a CCL. To be eligible for a CCL, there are a variety of requirements, such as:

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 Posted on March 05,2021 in Uncategorized

Since the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1970, the U.S. government has placed an increased focus on decreasing the number of injuries happening in workplaces across the country. Today, OSHA still pushes for workplace safety and adequate training and precautions to try to prevent as many workplace injuries as possible. Unfortunately, workplace injuries are still common. According to the latest information from the Illinois Department of Public Health, there were an estimated 132,400 workplace injuries recorded throughout the state in 2017. Though an injury can happen in any workplace, there are certain industries that have more workplace injuries than others.

1. Health Care and Social Assistance: Most of the time, people think that the most dangerous industries to work in are those that use heavy machinery such as construction or factory work. In reality, the health care industry is typically the industry that has the highest number of workplace injuries. In Illinois, there were an estimated 21,300 injuries in this industry in 2017. Workplaces in this industry commonly include nursing and residential care facilities and hospitals.

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 Posted on February 27,2021 in Uncategorized

Before police even pull you over for a DUI stop, they will be watching your actions and the way you are driving to determine if a traffic stop is needed. The police officer will be looking for signs of alcohol impairment, such as failing to maintain proper lane position, speeding and braking problems, poor judgment and lack of vigilance. Once the officer believes they have enough evidence to initiate a traffic stop, they will pull you over and may ask you to step out of the vehicle. If the officer suspects that you might be under the influence of alcohol, they will ask you to complete a series of tests, which are called field sobriety tests. These can be standardized or non-standardized, although standardized field sobriety tests tend to hold up better in court because they have been extensively studied.

Standardized Tests

Standardized field sobriety tests have been studied and determined to be fairly accurate in determining if someone is impaired by alcohol. An officer will ask you to perform these tests during almost every traffic stop for suspicion of DUI. There are three types of field sobriety tests that are considered to be standard:

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 Posted on February 11,2021 in Uncategorized

The Constitution affords all criminal defendants, such as those facing drug charges, the right to "confront" the witnesses against them. This means that if you are arrested and charged with a crime, you have the right to cross-examine the arresting officer and any other prosecution witnesses at trial. However, law enforcement often tries to undermine a defendant's right to confrontation by withholding information that might benefit the defense and undermine the prosecution.

Drug Conviction Reversed After Improper Invocation of Privilege

Some Illinois courts recognize what is known as a "surveillance location privilege." This often comes up in the context of drug cases where a police officer on stake out claims to observe illegal activity. At trial, the prosecution then argues that the officer should not be required to disclose his or her "secret" surveillance location.

Although the Illinois Supreme Court has never expressly approved of the surveillance location privilege, the state's intermediate appellate courts do. The privilege itself is not unlimited but rather must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

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