A Lake County man was arrested and charged in a massive drug case that involved high school and university students in two states. According to Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, 20-year-old Petar Velkov began his drug selling and buying activity at Crown Point High School and continued these habits at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, where he conducted transactions with students at that campus and in Bloomington, Indianapolis, and West Lafayette. Sheriff Buncich called the investigation “eye opening” because of...

Some people erroneously assume that once they are eligible for driver's license reinstatement following DUI convictions, they can assemble their paperwork, make an appointment with a nameless bureaucrat, say they have “learned their lesson” about the dangers of drinking and driving, briefly explain their hardship, pay a reinstatement fee, and drive off the parking lot. However, it is not that easy, at least in most cases. The counseling and education requirements are only the bare minimum necessary for reinstatement, so...

Lawyers and witnesses can greatly influence the outcome of a criminal trial by the words they use, and this dynamic is particularly present in DUI cases that involve Field Sobriety Tests. In these trials, the officer always says that the suspect “failed” the tests, and that word gives jurors the impression that the suspect performed extremely poorly. That is because most of us believe that people fail tests when they get most of the questions wrong. But when officers use...

Chicago Police Department leaders are helping officers gear up for an expected uptick in violent crime by forming a special division to deal with disturbances at beaches, public parks, and other summertime gathering locations. At least 100 officers are eligible to participate in the program, which involves ATV, horseback, and bicycle beach patrols as well as an increased presence in suspected gang areas. Additionally, traffic enforcement officers on Lake Shore Drive will be conducting more stops and search vehicles without...

In a 7 to 1 decision, the United States Supreme Court declared that Georgia prosecutors denied a black man a fair trial in a criminal case. Facts During jury selection at Timothy Foster’s 1988 capital murder trial, Butts County prosecutors highlighted the name of each black prospective juror in green; the list also contained handwritten notes like “no black churches” and “if it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors, [this one] might be okay.” The...

Emotions ran high at a recent Cook County bond reduction hearing in a high-profile murder case, and these feelings spilled over into a nearby parkway. No arrests were made after family members argued and briefly exchanged fisticuffs. The underlying case involves a 13-year-old girl who is accused of fatally stabbing a 15-year-old girl; the bond hearing was for 35-year-old Tamika Gayden, the alleged assailant’s mother. According to prosecutors, Ms. Gayden told her daughter to grab a switchblade knife from her...

Local authorities rounded up 140 citizens, including 95 known gang members, and charged them with various gang-related criminal offenses; all but six of these individuals face possible incarceration. In addition to the arrests, police seized $7,000 in cash, an unspecified quantity of drugs, and twenty-three firearms. At a press conference, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the department focused its efforts on the West Side during the sweep. Eight arrestees were eligible for a pretrial diversion program because they...

Contrary to popular belief, an effective criminal defense often does not begin when the charging instruments are filed, when the suspect is booked into jail, or even when flashing lights appear in the rearview mirror. In many cases, and especially DUIs, an attorney starts looking for defenses before the officers even get out of their patrol cars. Judges closely scrutinize pre-arrest procedures, and in many cases, a procedural defect at this phase causes the judge to throw out the prosecution....

In the 2002 film Minority Report, police officers in a future Washington, D.C. used psychic teenagers who could predict the future to arrest murder suspects before they committed their crimes. Today, the Chicago Police Department believes that it can do roughly the same thing with a computer algorithm. The Strategic Subject List was first introduced in 2013. Yale sociologist Andrew Papachristos theorized that such a list would be useful, and Illinois Institute of Technology Professor Miles Wernick developed the algorithm....

The American Automobile Association estimates that almost 38 million people will travel at least 50 miles from their homes over the coming holiday weekend, and 90% of them will drive to their destinations. Although prices have increased recently, gasoline has not been this cheap since Memorial Day 2009, which will mean more cars on the road. Hotel rates will edge up about 5% as well, according to projections. More importantly for our purposes, the last half of May is also...

During recent oral arguments, the US Supreme Court Justices were skeptical of laws in nearby Minnesota, and twelve other states, which make it a crime for drivers to refuse intoxication tests. Several Justices appeared to seek a middle ground, since the Court currently has only eight members. Justice Stephen Breyer spoke for several of his colleagues when he said that states could render the matter moot by simply obtaining warrants prior to these tests. He stated that it takes only...

Only about 0.0015% of offenders in Illinois are eligible for a restricted driving permit under the state’s new laws regarding DUI and driving privileges. That number includes fewer than 1,500 offenders in all of suburban Chicago. Persons with four prior DUI convictions may obtain RDPs if they agree to have ignition interlock devices installed in their vehicles and they have been out of prison at least five years. State Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), who originally sponsored the measure, believes that...

A pair of former Northwestern University students face multiple serious charges after an alleged vandalism incident at an on-campus building. Prosecutors claim that 18-year-old Matthew Kafker and 19-year-old Anthony Morales spray-painted homophobic phrases, racial and ethnic slurs, phallic images, and the word “Trump” on the walls of the campus’ Alice Millar Chapel. The case is made primarily of surveillance video which supposedly shows Messrs. Kafker and Morales entering the chapel with cans of spray paint in the early morning hours;...

Thirteen years after government agents used forfeiture laws to seize over $100,000 in cash from an area man, even though he was never charged with a crime, he is still fighting to get it back. Wood Dale resident Douglas Marrocco says he was unable to get a bank account, so he kept large amounts of cash in a shoebox, in a bowl, and even in his clothes. In 2002, he gave $101,200 to Vincent Fallon, a trusted friend who was...

A nationwide movement is afoot to reconsider the bonding and pretrial release systems that most states use. In most cases, when criminal suspects are arrested, they are jailed immediately and indefinitely until they post bond. In most cases, the judge determines the amount according to the severity of the offense, the defendant’s criminal history, and perhaps a few other relevant factors. But according to the Justice Department and many advocacy groups, setting bond without regard to indigency violates the Fourteenth...