| 24 HOUR | ANSWERING | | | 847-253-3100 |
| SERVICE | |||
3030 Salt Creek Lane, Suite 120, Arlington Heights, IL 60005 | |||
24 HOUR ANSWERING SERVICE
Recent Blog Posts
Giving a False Confession
Many people who have been taken into custody feel pressured and scared. When criminal suspects do not know their rights, there is a chance that law enforcement will take liberties with the suspect, questioning them and trying to draw out a confession, when the suspect should have asked for an attorney. Juveniles accused of a crime are particularly at risk for this to happen to them. Sometimes, law enforcement will say that the suspect admitted to something, or confessed, when in reality they did not, or sometimes law enforcement will twist something the suspect says and call it a confession. Regardless of how it happens, these are not true confessions. They are fake or coerced, and should not be taken as the truth.
Police and prosecutors will treat a false confession as if it were real, and proving that the confession was fake or coerced from the start can be challenging. A false confession can lead to a criminal conviction, a long prison sentence, and a lasting criminal record.
Forgery: White Collar Crime
When an act of forgery involves money in someway, the crime is generally characterized as a white collar crime. According to 720 ILCS 5/17-3, forgery occurs when a person knowingly, with the intent to defraud someone else, makes a false document, object or statistic, or alters any of these to make them false. The forgery must be capable of defrauding another individual. Simply supplying a document that you know to be false can be considered forgery, as can merely having a forged document in your possession, with the intent to defraud another.
Forgeries can take many forms. Some of the most common examples of forgery include:
Identity Theft
Forged documents are commonly used in identity theft cases. One person poses as another by misrepresenting their identity, which can be as simple as filling out a form as if you were someone else, or manufacturing a fake passport or driver’s license with your photo, but someone else’s personal identification information. These crimes often arise when a person tries to take out a line of credit or obtain a credit card with personal identification information that has been misappropriated or stolen.
Criminal Pleas in Illinois
If you are being charged with a crime in Illinois, your charges will be formally read to you at your arraignment hearing. You will be required to enter a plea, or an official statement as to whether you are guilty or not, at this time to the charges you face. You have four plea choices in Illinois: not guilty, guilty but mentally ill, guilty and no contest.
Not guilty, guilty but mentally ill and guilty pleas are specifically provided for under 725/ILCS 5/113-4(a). Pleading no contest is limited to only certain situations, and the court does not have to accept a no contest plea.
In all cases, it is very important that you consult with an experienced criminal defense lawyer to determine which plea is best for your particular circumstances. Which plea you choose will play a significant role in how your criminal case will proceed, and your plea choice could also have a lasting effect on your life since pleas are made part of your criminal record.
When Can a Summary Suspension Be Rescinded?
When an individual is arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and refuses to submit to chemical testing or submits to a chemical test that reveals a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, that individual will be subjected to a statutory summary suspension of his or her driving privileges under Illinois law. This can be a terrible situation for an individual who needs to be able to drive. If you have been subjected to a statutory summary suspension of your driver’s license in Illinois, you need to consult with a criminal defense attorney to see if there is any way for your suspension to be rescinded.
Summary suspensions can be rescinded (meaning taken back or canceled) for a number of reasons, if a petition to rescind is filed within 90 days of the service of the notice of summary suspension. A skilled DUI defense attorney can identify any potential reasons why your summary suspension should be rescinded and can help you file your petition within the statute of limitations for a rescission.
Defending against Shoplifting Charges
The holiday season is a big time for accusations of shoplifting and retail theft to arise. Stores are packed with people, and purchase items might accidentally get placed in a purse, or might not get paid for. Retailers are on high alert and are extra accusatory this time of year, but when a person stands accused of stealing merchandise when they are innocent, it is a problem. Shoplifting under Illinois law is usually a misdemeanor offense, but when the value of the allegedly stolen item is more than $300 or the accused is a repeat offender, the charges can be upgraded to a felony. When you are facing shoplifting and retail theft charges, you need an experienced criminal defense lawyer to help protect your rights.
Defense Strategies for Shoplifting Charges
When it comes to shoplifting charges, a criminal defense lawyer who normally handles shoplifting cases can help you identify the best defense strategy that is available to you. Some more common shoplifting criminal defense strategies involve the following:
When Mistaken Identity Could Be a Criminal Defense
Countless innocent individuals are wrongly accused because they are mistakenly identified as the person who committed the crime. When this is the case, criminal defendants can and should raise mistaken identity as a defense to the criminal charges that they face. Mistaken identity can be a good defense and it is a defense of innocence.
Every defense strategy that is available to you should be utilized when defending against a crime you did not commit. Mistaken identity defenses should be raised in addition to other defenses that support your position and your criminal defense lawyer should attempt to discredit eyewitness’ identification of you, as well as refute the evidence against you.
Why Does Mistaken Identity Happen in the First Place?
Sometimes an eyewitness is available in a criminal case who swears that the defendant is the person he or she saw commit the crime. While the witness’ belief is completely wholehearted (meaning the witness does not believe that he or she is wrong and that the witness is not lying), the witness’ recollection of the defendant simply might be mistaken. A number of factors can affect a witness’ ability to recall what criminal perpetrator looked like. For instance:
Field Sobriety Testing in Illinois
Law enforcement in Illinois takes driving under the influence of alcohol very seriously. Police regularly conduct DUI checkpoints, and pull over drivers who are suspected of operating a vehicle while under the influence. Before making an arrest, officers generally will ask a suspected drunk driver to participate in field sobriety testing, in accordance with 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2(a-5).
What Are the Standard Field Sobriety Tests in Illinois?
Many people have heard of field sobriety tests, but are not clear on what these tests are or what they entail until they are faced with them while pulled over on the side of the road. The standard field sobriety tests (FST) were developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and consist of three tests designed to present indicators of intoxication of an individual. The tests include:
Criminal Defenses: Having an Alibi for Criminal Accusations
Criminal charges are based on some sort of evidence that was found at the scene of the crime, that tends to point to a particular person. The evidence might not necessarily confirm that a suspect committed the crime, but the evidence suggests that the suspect has some relationship to the crime, such as having been present at the scene of the crime at some point in time or that the suspect had ties to the victim, etc. Alibis are a powerful tool for criminal defense as they can refute criminal accusations.
What Are Alibis?
When a suspect has an alibi, it means that the suspect was somewhere else, doing something else, or was with someone else at the time the alleged crime was committed. A valid and confirmable alibi provides evidence that the suspect/defendant is not the person who committed the crime because he or she was somewhere else or doing something else. An alibi is not an affirmative defense in Illinois, meaning even if the criminal defendant can prove the alibi, the jury is still tasked with making the decision as to whether to convict or not. However, a strong alibi is difficult for the prosecution to refute and the jury to ignore.
Strategies for a DUI Trial
Many people who are charged with DUI under Illinois law are first-time offenders, and they have no idea what the DUI trial process will be like or even how it should be approached to either get the case dismissed or get the charges reduced. An experienced DUI criminal defense attorney with many years of trial experience can acquaint you with the process, and after developing an understanding of the facts about your specific DUI case, your attorney will be able to help you develop the best strategy for your trial.
The fines and penalties for a DUI conviction are significant and cannot be taken lightly, so presenting your best possible defense to the charges you face is in your interest. You want your DUI charges to go away, and a skilled and experienced criminal defense attorney will be able to evaluate the options that are available. to you. There are a number of strategies you may be able to utilize. For instance, you may present any of the following:
Statute of Limitations for Criminal Charges
Criminal charges need to be brought as soon as possible in order to expedite justice and to ensure that critical components of the crime, such as evidence and witnesses’ recollections of the events that took place, are fresh and viable. But that is not to say that some charges cannot be brought against an accused many months or years after the actual crime took place. As such, one question remains: is there any limit on how long after a crime that charges can be brought?
Most criminal charges are subject to a statute of limitations, which is a window of opportunity in which charges for a crime must be brought against the accused or else they will be time barred, at which point a court will no longer hear the case against the accused. A statute of limitations begins either after the crime is committed or a victim learns that a crime has been committed against him or her. The statute of limitations forces the state’s prosecutors to move forward on a criminal case in a timely manner.
Contact Our Firm
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
