Posted on December 05, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Kidnapping, rape, robbery, and carjacking are among the charges filed against a man, who is already in jail awaiting his murder trial. According to authorities, the man has been in jail awaiting his trial for slaying a woman since 2009. The Chicago Tribune reported a story on the man and the impressive list of charges against him.

The new charges that Melvin Fagan is facing are not connected to his previous charges for slaying the woman, who was found strangled in a vacant building.

Fagan is now accused of kidnapping a woman and sexually assaulting her for more than two days. The alleged sexual assault took place in March of 2010. In addition to these charges, he is charged in the robbery and carjacking of an elderly man, 76, in December 2011.

Fagan, 38, had been serving a misdemeanor sentence when he was charged for the strangulation, which he is awaiting trial for. This happened back in December 2009, when police were called to a building where they found a body that was almost frozen.

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 Posted on November 30, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Investigations regarding the death of an 89-year-old Crest Hill woman continue, as police suspect the woman was slain before her home was torched. The case is being looked into as a homicide after an autopsy, according to police. The story was reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Dorothy Dumyahn, 89, was found dead in her burning home on November 18. Crest Hill Deputy Police Chief Ed Clark said police are investigating the case as homicide based on an autopsy report from Nov. 19. According to Clark, the fire was set deliberately, and it was an attempt to cover up the murder.

Dumyahn’s one-story home on Caton Farm Road burned well enough for people to smell the ashes days later. With the windows and doors boarded up and piles of debris at the site, the burned down building is a sad reminder of what happened there.

According to Dumyahn’s neighbor, she was a nice old lady.

Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Paul Hertzmann said there was heavy smoke coming from the building when firefighters got to the scene. Crews found the 89-year-old Dumyahn inside and brought her out of the fire, but they were not able to resuscicate, according to Hertzmann.

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 Posted on November 28, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A bartender in the Magnificent Mile heard a chilling scream and saw a man run through the Westin Hotel and to the streets, and reacting on pure instinct, he ran after the man. The chase ended in the bartender getting knifed, but he survived the incident. The Chicago Tribune reported a story about the chase that took an ugly turn.

Bradford Burner, 35, who was tending the bar at Westin Hotel Grill when he heard the scream said it was ”bone-chilling.” Burner pursued the subject on the streets, closing in on the man near some shops at the Hancock building. He said the man displayed a knife when Burner got closer.

“Someone yelled something. The gentleman turned around (and) saw me coming toward him,” Burner told the Chicago Tribune.

The next thing Burner knew was that the man was coming at him with a knife. Burner was cut on his chest, and he fell to the sidewalk after getting knifed.

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 Posted on November 23, 2012 in Criminal Defense

It is not unusual to hear the saying “snitches get stitches” around the streets of Chicago. While it may sound like a child’s rhyme, it is a serious and threatening statement that witnesses to criminal acts. This can be especially daunting when someone witnesses a crime of violence.

Most people believe that it is the job of the police to solve the rising crimes and there is very little community trust in the police. Residents of high crime areas do not feel that the police are there to serve and protect and would rather not make their jobs easier by telling what they have seen. This reluctance to tell is just what police say makes it even harder to solve crimes that happen every day in these communities.

Chicago Police Department statistics state that arrests have been made in approximately 30 percent of shooting homicides and over 70 percent of nonfatal shootings continue to go unsolved. Not only are witnesses unwilling to talk but often times the victims themselves are unwilling to tell even when they know the perpetrator of the crime. These numbers are astounding. Police are afraid that when the perpetrators go unpunished, they will continue to victimize other people.

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 Posted on November 20, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to the Sun Times, there is little known about the impact of the ceasefire within the city. There may be significant changes in the gang related killings of the area, but there may not be depending on the time frame and how they are doing it.

Police Supt. Garry McCarthy says it’s still a work and progress and an anonymous person said it may take two weeks or more in order to find out if this kind of solution is really working in the community.

Tio Hardiman believes it’s working in helping with the crime rate in areas that are being worked with in this pilot program. He thinks that this will help with the crime and that it will also make things easier for everyone if the program works for this city. He understands that some officers are reluctant to do the program because it includes ex-convicts to help with the program. He also believes it’s a two way street and that the police departments also need to communicate with them so they can see how well the program is working for them.

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 Posted on November 18, 2012 in DUI/DWI

DuPage County has put in place a new way of thinking for first-time offenders. The new program allows these first time offenders to have a felony conviction wiped from their record.

Last week, State’s Attorney Bob Berlin announced a pretrial diversion. Berlin said the new program would do more to rehabilitate low-level felons and free up resources to fight for intense, violent crime. Since Berlin took office two years ago, this new program is based off of similar efforts in Kane, McHenry, and Cook counties, but it slightly unique.

To be eligible, defendants must be first time offenders charged with nonviolent felonies including retail theft or forgery, and be referred for the program by their own attorney or the state’s attorney’s office. Eligible candidates are them interviewed by a program director, after which they appear before a panel of citizens. In each setting, the defendant must take responsibility for his or her crime. A recommendation is made by the panel, and Berlin’s office makes the final decision whether or not to accept the candidate.

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 Posted on November 15, 2012 in Criminal Defense

The 42 year old live-in-boyfriend of a missing Calumet City woman has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide. Although the body of Gena Chiodo has not been located, police say there is enough evidence to support the charges against Donal Clark, a man who has a reported history of domestic violence.

According to the Chicago Tribune, friends of Chiodo, many of who reported seeing the victim with bruises on her arms and throat during her 18 month relationship with Clark, became concerned when shedidn’tshow up for work or answer calls. The police were contacted and sent to the couple’s home. They found Clark at home, and he claimed hedidn’tknow where she was.

Police also found a bloody scene inside the home, leading to the first-degree murder charge. There was blood was splattered on the walls, a desk and a treadmill in a weight room on the first floor. The bathroom had a strong smell of bleach and police found blood around the toilet bowl. There was no shower curtain in the bathroom, but police did find one outside in the garbage, covered in blood. One bedroom had a blood soaked pillow; another bedroom had a shattered mirror. Police also found a pool of blood on a carpet inside the backdoor landing.

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 Posted on November 13, 2012 in Criminal Defense

CBS Chicago reports that Charles Johnson faces charges of unlawful use of a weapon after his 17 year old son was accidentally shot on October 20th.

Johnson was apparently arguing with his son and they were struggling for control of the weapon when the gun discharged and the son was shot in the head. The dispute came about after Johnson found the gun in his son’s room. Johnson confronted his son about having the weapon and was trying to take it from him and that is when the argument ensued. The 17 year old is reported to be in critical condition at Saint Francis Hospital which is located in Evanston.

It is currently undetermined if Johnson will face additional charges because he is a convicted felon and is therefore legally disallowed from being in possession of a handgun. The penalty for a felon possessing a handgun can be up to ten years’ imprisonment.

Gun violence is not a new thing in the Chicago area. In fact, it has been a problem that has plagued the city and surrounding areas for decades. For this reason, the courts can be especially hard on cases involving firearms. If you find yourself in a situation where you are charged with a firearm offence, you need to have an aggressive and knowledgeable Illinois criminal defense attorney by your side to defend you. All cases are not open and shut cases and the outcome cannot be easily predicted. Your attorney can assist you from the bond hearing all the way to the trial, if there is one. It is the prosecution’s responsibility to prove the case against you. Remember that you are innocent until proven guilty and your attorney will make sure that all of your rights are protected through the judicial process.

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 Posted on November 10, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Juan Rivera Jr. went through three trials and endured nineteen years in prison for a crime hedidn’tcommit. Now the Illinois man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Lake County state’s attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department for conspiring to deny him his Constitutional rights. Also specifically named in the lawsuit are former Sheriff Gary Del Re; current Sheriff Mark Curran; State’s Attorney Michael Waller; assistant state’s attorneys Jeffrey Pavletic, Michael Mermel and Matthew Chancey; Lake County Major Crimes Task Force officers Chuck Fagan, Lucian Tessman, and Donald Meade; the cities of Waukegan and Lake Forest; and the village of BuffaloGrove.

In 1992, Rivera was 19 years old and already in custody on a burglary charge when he became a suspect for the rape and murder of an 11 year old girl. In the lawsuit, he says he was subjected to several days of intensive interrogation, which lead to a mental breakdown on the third day. Medical officials at the jail diagnosed him as being in “acute psychosis” and he was put in constraints and placed in a padded cell. On the fourth day of interrogation, Rivera signed a confession written in English, a language he didn’t have the ability to read or write.

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 Posted on November 07, 2012 in Criminal Defense

An attempted robbery led to the death of a high school student in the Southeast Side’s Jeffery Manor neighborhood on October 20. Terrance Wright, a senior at Banner Academy South High School, was shot and killed by a group of robbers as he was leaving school, according to Chicago Police.

The 18-year-old Wright was fighting the robbers when one of them shot him in the chest. The young man was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where it was confirmed that he died of a gunshot wound to the chest. His 19^th birthday was only a week away. Wright had been bullied at his former school because he was gay. He transferred to Banner last year where he quickly made new friends, said Kathy Jackson, the victim’s aunt. “He had made a big turnaround from the old school to this one,” Jackson said. “And now this happened.”

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