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.

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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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 Posted on November 05, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A 15-year-old high school student is charged with aggravated battery of a school official, reports the Chicago Tribune. The Larkin High School student walked into a classroom on October 24^th during a break and attacked a 51-year-old male teacher. He knocked the teacher on to the ground and punched him in the face many times, the officials say.

There were other students in the classroom who managed to stop the attacker and then called for help. The violent student was taken away by the school’s resource officer and dean’s office employees, and eventually he was taken to the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center. The teacher is recovering from his minor injuries in a hospital.

In addition to the charges, the aggressive student might face suspension or expulsion from the school.”This is a senseless act of violence toward another person,” said John Heiderscheidt, District U-46 safety coordinator, who was unable to provide a motive for the attack. “There really is no explanation.” This is the first time the student has committed a crime.

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 Posted on October 29, 2012 in Weapons

In the evening of Saturday, October 20^th, a father and son argued about a handgun. The gun itself belonged to the father, a convicted felon, named Charles Johnson. According to police reports, Johnson had originally hidden the gun in his garage but it had gone missing nearly 6 months ago. The problem arose when his 17-year-old son left the gun on his desk in his room. The confrontation took a turn for the worse as the two started to wrestle for control of the weapon.

This occurred at their home near the 1300 block of West Estes Avenue in the Rodgers Park neighborhood of Chicago. “It appears the son had (the gun) and he was trying to take it away from him,” Police News Affairs officer Robert Perez reported.“It discharged in the process.” The teenager was shot in the head by his father’s gun. The wound was located around his right check. He is currently in critical condition as late as Monday morning after the event. He is being treated at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston.

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 Posted on October 26, 2012 in Criminal Defense

On October 6^th, a pot farmer living in Aurora was taken into custody. He was trying to keep his pot plants warm after midnight on that Saturday night by creating two huge bonfires. His efforts to save his pot from the cold only helped to have them seized. These blazes alerted the local police to possible illegal activities and ended up getting Daniel Selmon, 23, arrested for his illegal plants.

A police officer for the city of Aurora was on his nightly patrol when he saw the two bonfires near the 800 block of Robert Street around 2:45 on Saturday morning. Upon investigating these illegal fires, the officer came to find what looked like three large marijuana plants growing in the corner of the yard. When the police officer confiscated the plants, they found it to weigh nearly seven pounds total. The police have not declared what the street value is for such a large amount of pot.

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 Posted on October 23, 2012 in Theft

A former manager of an assisted living home for the developmentally disabled has been accused of stealing more than $9000 from four residents of the home by using their bank cards without their permission. Linda Cottrell, 37, was arraigned on charge of financial exploitation of a disabled person. Her bail was set at $50,000 by the court.

According to a report in the Daily Herald, prosecutors told that court that Cottrell had access to the safe where the residents’ bank cards were kept. The alleged thefts began occurring in December 2008 and continued up until December 2011. Cottrell is accused of making multiple unauthorized withdrawals, ranging in amounts between $110 up to $7,698, with a total amount of $8,848 taken.

Cottrell was charged when another employee of the home noticed a discrepancy in some of the accounts. A statement released by State Attorney Robert Berlin said his office would prosecute Cottrell to the “fullest extent of the law.”

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