A local 27-year-old man must wait for his trial date in jail, after a Cook County judge denied pretrial release. He was running from Chicago police trying to make a traffic stop on North Le Mai Avenue when the man went through two stoplights and smashed into a taxicab. That cab, which was at the intersection of Grand and Dearborn, carried a 66-year-old woman in the rear seat. She was killed almost instantly, according to authorities. Three other people — the cab driver and two pedestrians — suffered minor injuries.
In addition to murder, this man faces various other charges, including multiple counts of felony evading arrest.
The Types of Homicide in Chicago
The Chicago murder rate has gone down a little recently, though it is still higher than in New York and Los Angeles. No one can explain the spike. When these cases go to court in Illinois, prosecutors have four basic options in terms of which offense to charge.
- First Degree Murder: This homicide charge involves a murder along with some aggravating circumstances. Evidence of premeditation or planning usually bumps the charges up to first degree murder. At the charging phase, prosecutors do not need much evidence. So, first degree murder is usually the most commonly-charged intentional homicide crime in Illinois. Prosecutors calculate that, if the evidence is weak, they can reduce the charges and the defendants feel like they are getting a good deal.
- Second Degree Murder: Similarly, this intentional homicide charge also involves special circumstances. But this time, said circumstances make the crime less severe instead of more severe. The “sudden passion” circumstances are among the most frequent ones.
- Involuntary Manslaughter: If the defendant only intended to hurt the victim and acted recklessly, involuntary manslaughter is the appropriate charge. If you point a gun at someone, do not know it is loaded, and the gun discharges, that is clearly reckless behavior that qualifies as involuntary manslaughter.
- Reckless Homicide: In Illinois, this charge is restricted to homicides in which a vehicle, such as a car, truck, or snowmobile, is the murder weapon. However, if you intentionally try to run someone over, the proper charge would probably be second degree murder or maybe even first degree murder. So, it is rather surprising that prosecutors apparently charged the an mentioned above with murder instead of reckless homicide. As mentioned, prosecutors usually strike hard and fast, then they back off if an attorney forces them to retreat.
Intent is the big difference between murder and manslaughter. Murder is a specific intent crime, meaning that the defendant must intend both the conduct and the result. As a matter of law, intoxicated people usually cannot form a specific intent. So, voluntary intoxication may be a defense to murder but not to manslaughter.
Homicide Defenses in Cook County
Lack of evidence is usually the best defense in any Illinois criminal case. The prosecutor must establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That is difficult to do, especially in cases that rely mostly on circumstantial evidence. If the defendant creates a reasonable doubt in the mind of even one juror, that jury, by law, cannot return a guilty verdict.
Work with Experienced Attorneys
Homicide cases involve complex legal and factual issues. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense lawyer in Schaumburg, contact Glasgow & Olsson.
(image courtesy of Oliwier Gesla)