Chicago DUI attorney comments on a judge correcting the media

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here and here about John Ardelean’s fatal DUI.  The uproar has not calmed down and even a judge has decided to co-author a letter to the editor regarding the lack of responsibility displayed by the media.

What seems to be missing today, is the understanding of what sets our justice system apart from so many throughout the world.  As Founding Father Benjamin Franklin said, "that it is better [one hundred] guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.” 

May 9, Chicago, Il

 Since April 28, the Chicago media has upbraided Judge Thomas Gainer Jr., who correctly ruled that certain prosecution evidence was inadmissible based on the constitutionally infirm arrest of Chicago Police Officer Ardelean.

As is often the case, the media failed to grasp the legal principles undergirding the suppression of some of the prosecution's evidence.

While the pretrial proceedings reveal, with conspicuous clarity, that Ardelean was the subject of an unlawful arrest, nonetheless the media took on the role of prosecution and victim advocates. To briefly explain why Judge Gainer's ruling was correct, a trio of settled constitutional principles are set forth:

First principle: Police officers, like teachers, lawyers and media members, are not second-class citizens.

In 1967, Justice William O. Douglas, writing for the U.S. Supreme Court majority in Garrity vs. New Jersey, explained that: "[W]e conclude that policemen, like teachers and lawyers, are not relegated to a watered-down version of constitutional rights. Further, the 14th Amendment prohibits the use in criminal proceedings of certain statements . . . and [that] it extends to all, whether they are policemen or other members of our body politic."

Second principle: The Fourth Amendment to the federal constitution states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

Our Illinois Constitution similarly states: "The people shall have the right to be secure in their persons ... against unreasonable searches, seizures, invasions of privacy."

Reaching back at least 60 years, the United States and Illinois Supreme Courts have held that the arrest of any person, without probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, is constitutionally prohibited. Thus, irrespective of the crime at issue, evidence gathered following an unlawful arrest cannot be presented by the prosecution.

Third principle: The role of an Illinois judge. The Illinois Supreme Court has often observed that: "The right of a defendant to an unbiased, open-minded trier of fact (judicial officer) is so fundamental to our system of jurisprudence that it should not require either citation or explanation."

 

A few days ago I commented on Judge Gainer.  I know he isn’t light on DUI and I am confident that he used his considerable legal acumen to draft a lengthy opinion in making his ruling.  It is not often that judge’s draft lengthy opinions in DUI cases, whether there is a fatality or not.

Do you want to know the flipside of what Benjamin Franklin said?  Here it is, Better to arrest ten innocent people by mistake than free a single guilty party. It really shouldn’t be separated from this one, [b]etter to kill an innocent by mistake than spare an enemy by mistake."   Many of you may agree with these statements and even believe, in these difficult times that perhaps we should follow the flipside of Mr. Franklin’s statements.  Before you get comfortable, always know the source.  The notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot made the two statements above.  Seriously, is this the best America can aspire to today?