In November of 2017, despite his attorney’s pleas that his client was sincerely remorseful, a Chicago federal judge sentenced a reputed career train burglar to 11 years in prison. According to prosecutors, 38-year-old Patrick Edwards and several accomplices slipped into a train yard and broke into a freight train bound from the Ruger Company in New Hampshire to Spokane. Things already looked bleak for Mr. Edwards, as Judge John Tharp had just sentenced one of his co-defendants to 10 years...

Because the law in this area was so uncertain until a few years ago, only people with substantial separate property who entered into shaky marriages bothered with prenuptial agreements. Otherwise, the risk did not seem worth the reward.

Almost all DUI cases begin with traffic stops. Third-party tips, either ones phoned in from citizens or reported over police radios, initiate a handful, as well. Jurisdictions that rely on responsive policing, in which officers keep a low profile unless there is an emergency, almost exclusively rely on one-on-one stops. Most jurisdictions employ a high-visibility deterrence theory. One-on-one stops are important in these jurisdictions, but officers also use either DUI checkpoints or saturation patrols. The type of stop matters a...

Mostly because it is 100% legal, relatively inexpensive, and easy to purchase, alcohol-related DUIs will probably always constitute the majority of DUI cases. In many jurisdictions, however, drug-related DUIs are almost as common. When they go to trial, DUI-drug cases present their own unique kinds of issues. If the defendant submits to a breath or blood test, and most do, the prosecutor can use the DUI law’s per se section to prove intoxication without any additional evidence. Even in the...

If a DUI defendant either refuses to provide a chemical sample or has a BAC above the legal limit, the state automatically begin Statutory Summary Suspension proceedings, or SSS proceedings. After 45 days, the full suspension automatically goes into effect unless the defendant successfully challenges it. For various reasons, many defendants do not even bother challenging the SSS. The odds of success are not as long as some people think, and furthermore, the process itself often proves invaluable in terms...

Chinese thinker Sun Tzu once wrote that “Every battle is won or lost before it’s ever fought. That may or may not be entirely true, but it is certainly true that what happens before a military battle (or a legal one, for that matter) is almost as important as the events that transpire during said battle. Many times, successful defense in a criminal case hinges on a procedural defect or irregularity because it is impossible for the prosecutor or anyone...

In 2015, Illinois lawmakers significantly reworked the state’s spousal maintenance, or alimony, laws, which first appeared in 1977 and were liberalized in 1993. Many people felt that the existing subjective test gave judges too much discretion. These advocates wanted a system that made

Criminal cases are often fact-intensive. If a defendant provides a chemical sample and the sample is substantially above the legal limit, the best lawyer on the planet would be hard-pressed to defend the matter, unless there was another issue like lack of reasonable suspicion for the stop. However, if the result is only slightly above the legal limit, perhaps .09 or .10, the legal landscape is dramatically different. In many of these cases, it may be a good idea to...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter, Brianna, with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsided, Brianna ran away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter, Brianna, with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsided, Brianna ran away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle, and taking Charles into custody, as well, for suspected domestic battery, when his daughter was discovered with scratches on...