Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog

How to people learn? By making mistakes. Everyone has to live a little, experiment with their surroundings, and make mistakes in order to learn for themselves how the world works. At no time is this truer than when we are growing up – and as we grow, the potential of those mistakes to be bigger…

When an officer of the law in Illinois pulls you over under suspicion of DUI, he or she many choose to administer a field sobriety test. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has approved several standardized tests to assess one’s sobriety while on the road. Here’s something a lot of people don’t know, though:…

As time passes, it can become more and more difficult to provide clear, definitive evidence that a crime did or didn’t happen. Because of this, Illinois has created a statute of limitations for most criminal offenses – including theft. After a preset amount of time, you are no longer legally able to be charged with…

In December 2018, a 19-year-old man from East St. Louis was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 13-year-old child. Now, that sounds really bad – and it is – but what exactly does “aggravated criminal sexual abuse” mean? What does someone have to do to be convicted of this sex crime? How serious…

Whether you are a police officer, a criminal defense lawyer, or someone who is facing violent crime charges, we can all agree: America has a prison problem. How big is the problem? While our country has just under 5% of the world’s population, we account for 22% of the world’s prison population. Why? In recent…

Being arrested by a law enforcement officer is something that no one ever wants to experience. The arrest process is, to say the least, unnerving, leaving the accused flustered and more prone to making lapses in judgement. Unfortunately, law enforcement is well aware of this, and officers often take advantage of the situation by tricking…

Have you been charged with domestic violence in Chicago, even though you were simply defending yourself? In this post we’re going to explain the double-edged sword of self-defense – how it can sometimes lead to charges, and how you may be able to use it to fight back against your charges in certain circumstances. How…

Have you been given a probation sentence in Illinois? Probation is often tacked on to a jail sentence and served after your time in jail is finished. It can also be an alternative sentence to jail time. You can live with freedom on probation – as long as you meet all the requirements under Illinois…

If someone gets arrested and then convicted for a crime, they will have a criminal record. Most people understand this innately.What if you beat your charge, though? Will you still have a criminal record? What if you never set foot in a courtroom? At what point is a criminal record created. In this post, we’re…

If you have been charged with a property crime in Illinois, you need to take it seriously and work to put together the strongest possible defense to fight back. Depending on the nature of your alleged crime, you could be facing years in prison, high fines, and more. How do you know which strategy is…