Posted on August 02, 2013 in Criminal Defense

The Chicago Sun Times recently published a story about a woman who has been arrested 396 times since 1978. She is now being housed in the Logan Correctional Center from which she is to be released in November of this year.

If the Chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has anything to say about it, Shermain Miles will be admitted to a mental health and substance abuse program as soon as she completes her sentence with the Illinois Department of Corrections. Her current counselor states that she has been “very cooperative and informed” while receiving care for her mental health issues while she has been in Logan.

While she has applied to several different programs and considered different options for her releases, the one that was rejected was for her to be paroled to the ward where she assaulted a council member. Most of her arrests have been for thefts, 92 in fact. She was arrested 65 different times for disorderly conduct, 59 times for crimes such as prostitution, and another 5 times for robbery related offenses. She has also been arrested under at least 83 different known identities.

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 Posted on July 30, 2013 in DUI/DWI

Most people would agree that it is the role of school employees to educate children and to serve as a good example to them. According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, a private school principal served as anything except a role model.

Joseph Academy principal, Michael Zajac, was arrested on DUI charges with a blood alcohol level that was two times the legal limit. What is ironic about the arrest is that Joseph Academy, located in Hometown, is a school that deals with children who have “severe emotional challenges”, as cited by the school’s website.

This is not Zajac’s first brush with the law. He received a DUI in 1997 as well as 2000. He also was convicted of battery in 2003 for which he received a sentence of 25 days of public service and 18 months of supervision by the court. With his current arrest, he is facing several charges. He has been charged with a felony aggravated DUI and he also received citations for improper lane usage, speeding, illegal transport of alcohol, and not having proof of insurance. He has been ordered by the Cook County Criminal Court to be held on a bond of $25,000.00.

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 Posted on July 28, 2013 in DUI

A Chicago man faces up to 12 years in jail after causing a fatal drunk driving car accident. Authorities say that the man's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he hit a parked Illinois State Police car early last year. The accident killed a stranded 42-year-old motorist who was sitting in the back seat of the car and seriously injured a trooper.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the man pleaded guilty to felony DUI charges arising out of the crash.

"I'm happy he's taking responsibility," the deceased motorist's sister said. "I hope it's for the right reason - because he feels remorse."

In Illinois, any DUI that results in great bodily harm, permanent disability or disfigurement is a class 4 felony that carries significant prison time. There are a variety of things that can be done to challenge a DUI including determining whether a breath test and adequately administered by a qualified individual.

Besides evidentiary issues, there are many cases in which prison time can be avoided when an individual pleads guilty to lesser charges. It is important to discuss your options with a qualified Illinois DUI lawyer before making any decisions regarding your particular case.

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 Posted on July 26, 2013 in Violent Crime

According to a recent report by DNA Info, a 23-year-old man is facing serious charges after an altercation with his pregnant girlfriend. The couple resided together in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Investigators found that the couple does have an 11-month-old child together but that Jovanny Martinez was not the father of the child that she was pregnant with. They started arguing about her pregnancy and the fight ended up getting physical. Martinez then started punching her in the stomach repeatedly. Soon after, the victim reported that she thought that her water broke. She realized that she was bleeding. The victim was then taken to the hospital where she gave birth to a stillborn daughter.

Initially, the victim told law enforcement officials that she had been attacked by a group of women and one man. However, later she recanted her statement and identified Martinez as the person who attacked her.

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 Posted on July 23, 2013 in White Collar Crime

White collar crimes cover a very broad spectrum because there is no exact definition. Most often, however, white collar crimes are thought of as crimes committed by business people that involve cheating and dishonesty. Usually these people commit these crimes under the cover of a legitimate business as well, so the crime can remain hidden for a long time without suspicion.

Because it is very difficult to create a definition that defines all white collar crimes, there are federal laws and state laws that are specific to certain types of white collar crimes and also umbrella laws that encompass anything else.

Here are two examples of white collar crimes:

Obstruction of Justice

Obstruction of justice can be committed in many ways, as long as it somehow interferes with one of the three branches of government. Some examples of obstruction include influencing a juror outside the courtroom, altering a record process, obstructing any criminal investigation by law officials and assaulting a process server.

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 Posted on July 22, 2013 in Criminal Defense

An Illinois court recently affirmed the domestic violence conviction of a man arising out of an incident with his girlfriend. The man and the woman had been dating on-and-off for about seven years by the time of the March 2011 incident.

According to court documents, the man and his friend were standing outside of the woman's house when she allegedly yelled out of a window that she had slept with the mailman. The man allegedly responded by going inside, grabbing the woman by the neck, and pinning her down on her bed for a few minutes.

The incident did not leave any bruises on the woman, and she waited more than five days to report the incident.

A week after the incident the woman called the district attorney's office and asked for the charges to be dropped. She specifically said that the incident was not as serious as she first reported and that her boyfriend had not touched her. By this time it was too late and the district attorney said she could not drop the charges.

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 Posted on July 20, 2013 in Criminal Defense

If you have been charged with and found guilty of a crime in the U.S., you may have to pay a fine, serve jail time and/or be on probation for a certain length of time. Probation is usually after you get out of jail, although sometimes it is a less severe alternative, when you can live home, but you are still under strict supervision by law officials and you are still limited to what you can and cannot do.

When you are being supervised for probation, your officer makes sure that people on probation follow all the conditions that were set by the court when he or she was released.

Probation officers are also responsible for the safety of the community in which the person on probation is released into. Along with the safety of the community, probation officers also help with the health of the person on probation. This includes medical care, employment assistance and mental health treatment, basically anything that will help him or her to re-enter into the community.

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 Posted on July 16, 2013 in Violent Crime

A Chicago grandmother, Helen M. Ford, 51, is being held on no bail and is facing a murder charge in the death of her granddaughter, according to the New York Daily News. According to the Daily News, Ford had been inflicting “abuse for so long that the dead little girl had maggots living in a head wound that had gone untreated.” The girl, Gizzell Kiara Ford, was eight years old. She was dead, and her body had already gone cold, when cops responded to a call of a person not breathing, according to the Daily News. “The girl lived with her grandmother and bedridden father, both of whom were home when the girl died,” reports the Daily News. “Ford initially told cops the girl inflicted the injuries herself, but police found several bruises, burns, and cuts on her body, lying face up in a bedroom in the home.”

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 Posted on July 14, 2013 in DUI

In our last post we discussed drunk driving charges being brought against a 24-year-old man who crashed his car near Naperville. Another man was arrested for speeding while intoxicated this weekend, and authorities say that this is not the man's first drunk driving conviction.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the principal of Joseph Academy has been arrested for driving while intoxicated. Authorities say that the 36-year-old Itasca man had a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit when he was stopped by authorities in Harwood Heights. Cook County court documents indicate that the man was stopped around 1 a.m. early yesterday morning.

The principal of the south suburban private school was held in lieu of $25,000 bail on charges of aggravated DUI felony, speeding and improper lane usage, among other things.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the man has two prior drunk driving charges, but both of these are over two years old.

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 Posted on July 13, 2013 in DUI

A 24-year-old Lisle man is facing two drunk driving charges after causing a serious car accident in Naperville. Authorities say that the man was intoxicated and driving over 100 mph when he crashed into two parked cars and a lamp post earlier this week.

In addition to his drunk driving charges, the man was also cited for improper lane use, reckless driving and speeding more than 40 mph over the posted speed limit according to the Chicago-Sun Times.

CBS Chicago reports that the crash happened at a strip mall at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Naper Boulevard at the border of Lisle and Naperville.

Authorities say that the man was traveling alone at the time of the accident and not seriously injured. No one else was hurt in this particular crash and CBS Chicago was unable to find any prior criminal history for the man.

Speeding and DUI charges are highly common in the Chicago area. There are multiple ways that a defendant can overcome drunk driving charges including proving that breath test equipment was fault and demonstrating that the person who administered the breath test was not qualified to do so.

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