Orangelo Payne, 35, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the FBI, Chicago police, the Cook County probation department, an FBI agent as well as individual police and probation officers. He alleges that while he was on probation for a drug offense in 2013, his home was illegally searched…
Chicago DUI Lawyer Blog
Man Charged with DUI at McDonald’s Drive-thru in Aurora
An Aurora man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after allegedly threatening to fight a customer in the McDonald’s drive-thru line. Just after midnight on Monday, Aurora police were called to a home after reports that someone was playing music too loudly in a maroon Jeep. When police arrived,…
Lake County Man Released From Prison After 20 Years For Crime He Did Not Commit
Angel Gonzalez, of Waukegan, spent 20 years behind bars before being formally exonerated of rape and abduction charges on Monday. The basis of the exoneration was DNA. While bodily fluids implicate two different men in the crime, neither DNA sample matched that of Gonzalez. Gonzalez appeared in a Lake County…
Failure to Log DUI Arrests Allows Offenders to Keep Driving
A Tribune investigation revealed that the driver’s licenses of thousands of drunk drivers have not been suspended because the arrests of these drivers are not being logged into state computers. While state officials blame the police for failing to send their reports to the Illinois Secretary of State, the police…
Report Shows Lake County Leads State in DUI Arrests
According to the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (“AAIM”), a non-profit citizens action group that has tracked Illinois DUI arrests since 1982, Lake County made the most DUI arrests in the state in 2013. The 233 officers averaged 1.49 arrests per officer, bringing the total number of arrests to 348. Right…
Freed Inmate Sues Northwestern for Unethical Conduct Leading to Double-Murder Conviction
A former Northwestern professor, a private investigator and a lawyer are accused of conspiring to frame Alstory Simon, who spent 15 years in prison, for a 1982 double-homicide in Chicago. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Simon, and seeks $40 million dollars in damages, alleging unethical conduct on the…
Florida Attorney’s DUI Checkpoint Advice
A Florida attorney has a recommendation for dealing with DUI checkpoints. He says that individuals should place their license and registration up to their window with a flyer saying that they have no comment, will not permit a search, and want a lawyer. Warren Redlich and an associate, Jeff Gray,…
First Round of Medical Marijuana Licenses Issued in Illinois
While the fate of medical marijuana licenses in Illinois was questionable amid a new governor taking office, Governor Bruce Rauner made a surprising move and awarded dozens of licenses on Monday. Letters were sent out to 18 cultivation centers and 52 retail shops confirming that they have been selected to…
Medical Marijuana Cultivation Centers and Dispensaries Put on Hold as Rauner Takes Office
The question of whether medical marijuana cultivation centers and dispensaries will receive their licenses has been put into the hands of the new governor, Bruce Rauner. Governor Pat Quinn left office without issuing the contemplated licenses and it is unclear whether Rauner will issue them. Rauner showed his opposition to…
7 New Illinois Laws You Should Know for 2015
1. The liability of parents for underage drinking no longer only applies to residences or private property. State law will be expanded in 2015 to penalize parents who allow those under the age of 21 to consume alcohol in vehicles, trailers, campers or watercrafts under their ownership or control. Parents…