Posted on March 23, 2015 in Alimony

Ending a marriage, regardless of the reason, creates a variety of challenges for both partners as they move forward into the post-divorce period of their lives. In addition to finding a new place to live and other day-to-day concerns, spouses must often reestablish themselves as self-sufficient individuals, no longer reliant on the cooperation a marital partner. For many, the circumstances of the marriage and subsequent family life can make it difficult for one of the spouses to transition into self-sufficiency quickly. Spousal maintenance, or alimony, may be necessary to support a spouse in such a situation so as to reduce unnecessary hardship that may have resulted from the divorce.

New for 2015

Late last summer, Illinois lawmakers passed legislation that addressed what many considered a glaring need regarding spousal maintenance awards. For many years, family and divorce courts in the state were granted full discretion over every aspect of spousal support orders, including when they were necessary, how much was to be paid and for how long. Individual judges ordered what he or she felt was appropriate for each case, resulting in very unpredictable awards, the details of which depending very heavily on which judge was assigned to the case.

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 Posted on March 23, 2015 in DUI/DWI

Driving under the influence, or “DUI” is a criminal charge that carries with it a host of possible consequences. People who have been injured by intoxicated drivers or who have lost family members in car accidents often advocate for extremely harsh punishment for people caught driving under the influence. Surprisingly, however, even many of these advocates are on board with getting rid of the “hard time” 30-day suspension of the person’s driver’s license that accompanies a DUI arrest in Illinois.

What is a Hard Suspension?

A hard suspension of a person’s driver’s license is a suspension with no exceptions. During a hard suspension a driver is not allowed to drive at all. This is opposed to a suspension where the driver is only allowed to drive under certain circumstances, such as being required to use an ignition interlock device. These are the devices that can be installed in cars that require the driver to blow into them to prove they are not intoxicated in order to operate the vehicle. Hard suspensions prevent drivers from driving to work, taking their children to school, going to alcohol treatment, or fulfilling any of a whole variety of basic life functions. While people who live in certain parts of Chicago may have reliable enough public transportation to do all of these things without driving, those living in the suburbs or in rural parts of the state can lose jobs and support networks. If the goal is to prevent future alcohol abuse and encourage treatment, hard suspensions work against that goal. Yet under current Illinois law, there is a mandatory 30-day hard suspension that follows a DUI arrest.

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 Posted on March 18, 2015 in Sentencing

This firm has reported on criminal justice and sentencing matters multiple times in the past. From mandatory minimums to sentencing tools, it seems the sentencing structure in Illinois is in the process of an overhaul. Media reports provide further evidence of this in its description of the apparent cultural change going on in regards to criminal sentencing in the Illinois General Assembly.

A New Approach

In the past, Illinois lawmakers’ approach to dealing with crime involved imposing harsher penalties for their commission. The thought was that the enhanced penalty would effectively address the problem; however, lawmakers are starting to see that that is not necessarily the case. Despite the idea that harsher penalties for certain crimes often seemed like a good idea, lawmakers are starting to reject that notion, as evidenced by the significant decline in the number of sentencing enhancement bills that they have attempted to pass in recent years.

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 Posted on March 16, 2015 in Traffic Offenses

Not surprisingly, traffic offense cases are among the most common type of criminal law cases. It is much less likely for an average member of the public to be charged with a more serious crime than it is to be cited for a traffic offense such as a speeding ticket, reckless driving, or even drunk driving. Regardless of the severity of the offense, it is advisable for anyone who has been charged with any type of criminal matter to seek the advice of legal counsel in order to best improve the chances of a successful outcome in their case.

A Change in Penalties

The prevalence of citizens charged with a traffic violation makes any change in the regulations involving these crimes especially important for many members of the public. According to media reports , a bill that was signed into law last August says that drivers who are pulled over in the state of Illinois will no longer need to surrender their license in exchange for a citation. Previously, the law required motorists to hand over their license to law enforcement as bail.

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 Posted on March 11, 2015 in Criminal Defense

The so-called War on Drugs has been dragging on in the United States for decades. Despite law enforcement’s seemingly unending obsession with prosecuting drug laws, the use of illegal substances continues on. While many drug users are undeterred by the illegality of drug possession, others do fear the possibility of facing criminal charges or losing their jobs if they get caught with an illegal substance. So some of them, particularly younger people, result to using otherwise legal substances to get high. The theory is that if the substance is legal then they can not be prosecuted for using it. While this may make sense, in at least some cases it is not true.

Huffing or Inhaling a Perfectly Legal Substance to Get High is a Crime in Illinois

Many people, especially young people, “huff” or inhale regular household products or other legally possessed chemicals in order to experience a high. Doing this is a crime in Illinois. The law that makes it a crime is called the “Use of Intoxicating Compounds Act.” Under this law it is a crime to ingest, breath, inhale, or drink any compound, liquid, or chemical for the purpose of getting high. Additionally, it is a crime to sell any compound, liquid, or chemical that will induce an intoxicated condition to a minor under the age of 17 without the written permission of the minor’s parent or guardian. Its illegal to make a such a sale to a person of any age if you have a reason to know that the purchaser’s intent is to use the substance to get high. Depending on how many times a person is found guilty of a crime under this law and the type of substance involved, the crime can be a misdemeanor or a felony.

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 Posted on March 09, 2015 in Criminal Defense

Trespassing, in a very basic sense, is being where you are not supposed to be. People often think of it as being on another person’s land without permission. But Illinois’ trespassing statutes actually prohibit much more than that. It is important to understand what constitutes trespassing because ignorance of the law is not a defense, and if you wind up trespassing you may find yourself in need of a criminal defense lawyer.

Criminal Trespass to Vehicles

Illinois statute prohibits what it calls “trespass to vehicles.” A person commits this crime when he or she knowingly enters or operates a vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or snowmobile without authority. This crime is a Class A misdemeanor.

Use of Electronic Tracking Devices

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 Posted on March 04, 2015 in Criminal Defense

We all know that if we break or destroy something that belongs to another person we are likely on the hook for the costs of replacing or repairing what we damaged. What some people do not realize until they find themselves in need of a criminal defense lawyer is that breaking the property of another is often a crime that can carry jail time.

Criminal Damage to Property

Illinois statute creates the offense of criminal damage to property. There are nine different ways a person can commit this offense. They include:

1. Knowingly damaging another person’s property without the owner’s consent;
2. Recklessly damaging another person’s property with fire or explosives;
3. Knowingly starting a fire on someone else’s land without the owner’s consent;

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 Posted on March 03, 2015 in Criminal Defense

Thousands of people have been prosecuted in Illinois for having guns. Up until the last couple of years, Illinois was the lone holdout state that did not even allow for concealed carry permits. Our gun crime laws are harsh. However, in addition to being harsh, as it turns out, some of them are also unconstitutional. When a criminal law is held unconstitutional, then prosecutors are no longer allowed to prosecute people under that law.

What Gun Law is Unconstitutional?

Illinois law includes a crime called “aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.” This statute makes it illegal to possess a firearm under various different sets of circumstances. Some of this law is still enforceable. But other portions of it are unconstitutional because they violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. For example, the portion of the law that makes it always a crime to carry an uncased, loaded, immediately accessible firearm on your person or in a vehicle goes too far. It acts as a comprehensive ban on the use of firearms for self-defense outside the home, thus rendering it unconstitutional. Similarly, the part of the law that prohibits all carrying of such guns on public ways is unconstitutional for the same reason.

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 Posted on February 26, 2015 in Criminal Defense

We have all heard the expression “don’t do the crime if you don’t want to do the time.” But in Illinois, as in most states, there are ways you can wind up doing the time even if you yourself were not the one to do the crime. These are known as inchoate offenses, and they include offenses such as attempt and solicitation. One of the interesting things about Illinois law is that not only do we have laws against attempt and solicitation, but here it is also illegal to attempt to solicit.

What are Attempt and Solicitation?

Both attempt and solicitation are defined by Illinois statutes. One is guilty of solicitation when he or she, with the intent that a criminal offense be committed, commands, encourages, or requests that another person commit the criminal offense. A person commits “attempt” when he or she, with the intent to commit a specific crime, takes a substantial step toward committing that crime. Thus if you ask or pay someone else to commit a crime for you, that is solicitation. If instead you take a substantial step toward committing the crime yourself, then attempt is what you are guilty of doing.

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 Posted on February 24, 2015 in Illinois Laws

Typically when people think of criminal cases, they think of things like theft or murder or drug dealing. However, each state also criminalizes some relatively inoffensive conduct. For example, Illinois has made it a criminal offense to sell or rent certain violent video games to minors.

What Illinois Considers to be a Violent Video Game

The Illinois legislature took it upon itself to define what constitutes a “violent” video game. It crafted a law that defines a violent video game as any video game that depicts human-on-human violence where a player kills or otherwise causes serious physical harm to another human. This serious physical harm includes things like death, dismemberment, decapitation, mutilation of body parts, amputation, or disfigurement. It also includes rape. What this means is that games where the player’s character is human and the player kills another human character, would be covered. Meanwhile, games where the player kills other characters, but those characters are aliens, would not be covered.

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