Today marks the unofficial start to summer and with that start comes a need for many of us to hit the road. We head out for pic is, cookouts,and time at the Dunes, but keep in mind it is a holiday weekend and law enforcement will be out.
This Chicago DUI attorney wants to alert you to buckle up, make sure you have a valid driver's license, insurance, and if you are driving avoid drinking. I know it goes without saying but it's not a good weekend to smoke weed either if you are going to be driving either.
There are two roadside safety checks planned by the Chicago Police Department. There is one tonight at 5440 W Madison. It will commence at 8 pm and conclude around 4 am tomorrow morning. Additionally, there will also be another roadside safety check tomorrow night, May 26, 2012 somewhere in the Gresham (6th District) community. It will run during the same time period as the one now.
Keep in mind, that even with these roadblocks there will also be saturation patrols throughout the duty.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Sometimes It Isn’t What It Appears to Be
This Chicago DUI Attorney has posted here and here about the
signs officers use to make a DUI arrest.
A strong practitioner can sing these signs the way a 3 year old can sing
their ABC’s. Almost every arrest
includes the following:
- A strong odor of alcohol
- Eyes that are Bloodshot and/or glassy, and/or red
- Speech that is slurred, mumbled, thick- tongued, confused
And every time I have an officer testifying about these
signs, I ask if there are any other reasons a person could possess those signs
that has nothing to do with a DUI. Most
will be honest, although they may physically pout, and answer “yes”.
So what happens when the arresting officer shows up with
those signs? Today I asked an officer I
knew what was wrong with her eyes.
Me: You know they (her eyes) are bloodshot and red don’t you?
Officer: Ava, I’m exhausted I haven’t slept in almost 48 hours.
Me: Have you been drinking?
Officer (caught by surprise): Of course not!
All those signs of intoxication should be challenged,
because the officer has often experienced those very same signs when they are
not under the influence.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on The Criminalization of Speeding
This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here on speeding still she wonders how fast is too fast?
From the Chicago Tribune (and yes, yours truly is quoted in the article):
Julie Gorczynski was getting a ride after her shift at a suburban movie theater when a Mazda smashed into the passenger's side of her friend's Jeep, rolling the vehicle and killing the 17-year-old.
Orland Park police determined the Mazda was going at least 76 mph in a 40 mph zone, officials said. Behind the wheel was Lukasz Marszalek, a 21-year-old who still had his driving privileges despite a string of speeding violations. Courts repeatedly, and in some cases improperly, granted him a special probation, called court supervision, that kept his driving record clean enough to keep his license, a Tribune analysis shows.
The June 2011 crash has sparked new legislation intended to curb who can get court supervision, barring anyone who is caught speeding by more than 25 mph on a nonrural road, or 30 mph on a highway, from getting the special probation.
If passed, it will be the third law in six years to restrict who is allowed to get court supervision. A Tribune investigation shows those previous laws have had limited success, however. While judges in Cook and the collar counties have reduced by half the number of improper supervisions issued each year, they are still incorrectly granting thousands, at an average of eight a day.
The most popular sentence for traffic offenders, supervisions allow governments to collect fees for traffic violations and drivers to avoid traffic convictions that can lead to increased insurance rates and, in the extreme, license suspensions.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Chicago DUI Attorney Wonders What Happens When the Chief of Police Gets Charged With a DUI
What happens when the Chief of Police gets charged with a DUI? This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here when prosecutors get charged and here and here when judges get charged, as well as here when rank-and-file police officers get charged. No, I’m not kidding it really happened.
From Chicagotribune.com:
The Grayslake police chief was charged with drunk driving after he and his wife were involved in a crash while returning from a restaurant just over the state line in Wisconsin, authorities say.
Matt McCutcheon was turning onto Route 45 in Silver Lake when he struck a car on the highway around 10 p.m. Friday, according to the police report. No one was injured in either car.
Responding officers said they found McCutcheon, 46, standing outside his black Honda when they arrived. He was swaying and almost lost his balance as he pulled out his wallet and showed his police badge, according to the police report.
McCutcheon refused treatment and said he was not going to the hospital. The officer told McCutcheon he needed to conduct a sobriety test but McCutcheon said he was refusing everything, according to the report.
Why do you think the Chief of Police refused everything? He’s been on the Grayslake force for almost 20 years. I suspect he knows a thing or two about how to help the government prosecute a DUI.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Payment Plans for Parking Tickets
This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here and here about parking ticket suspensions and she’s pleased that the City has finally come to its senses. That’s right there’s an actual recognition that we have been in an economic slump for the last 4-5 years and as her mum would say, “you just can’t get blood from a turnip”.
From the Chicago Tribune:
The city hopes to collect an extra $2.5 million in back-debt on parking and red-light tickets by allowing lower initial payments when debt repayment plans are worked out.
Under the plan, proposed Wednesday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, scofflaws will no longer have to pay 25 percent of what they owe upfront.
Instead, the amount owed would be spread over equal monthly payments that would go on for as long as a year.
To qualify, the scofflaws would have to already be qualified for one of several low-income programs.
For years I've had clients charged with the criminal offense of Driving While their License is Suspended based purely on economic reasons, including emissions and parking tickets, while the suspension based on emissions has gone away, the suspension based on unpaid tolls or parking tickets has not. This really is a civil matter, and I certainly hope the legislators begin to consider lifting the suspension of driving privileges based on parking tickets soon.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Breaking News! Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Chicago Police Officer’s DUI Sentence
This Chicago DUI attorney posted here and here about Chicago Police Officer’s Anthony Bolling’s Chicago DUI. It involved the death of a boy who was riding his bicycle.
Today Officer Bolling was sentenced before Judge Matthew Coughlin.
From the Chicago Tribune:
A Cook County judge today sentenced Chicago police Officer Richard Bolling to 3 years in prison for killing a 13-year-old boy in an off-duty DUI crash and fleeing the scene.
Bolling, 43, had tears in his eyes as Judge Matthew Coghlan announced his decision.
Last January a Criminal Court jury found Bolling, a 17-year veteran narcotics officer, guilty of aggravated DUI, reckless homicide, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Coghlan also ordered that after his release from prison Bolling talk to recruits at the Chicago Police Academy about “how to properly handle an investigation into one of their own.”
Prosecutors argued at trial that Bolling received preferential treatment from police the night in May 2009 that he struck and killed Trenton Booker at 81st Street and Ashland Avenue with his Dodge Charger.
One of the two officers who stopped him testified that she was ordered to "hold off" on field-sobriety tests by her watch commander. Those tests weren’t administered until two hours after the crash – but not before Bolling was allowed to use a washroom at a nearby gas station.
At the time, both arresting officers said Bolling passed the sobriety tests, but at the trial each changed their opinion, testifying that he had flunked key parts of the tests. One officer said she was "nervous" when she administered the tests because of all the superior officers at the scene.
It wasn't until 4 1/2 hours after the crash that Bolling, on orders of an internal affairs sergeant, took a blood-alcohol breath test. He registered just below the legal limit of 0.08 percent, but an Illinois State Police forensic toxicologist estimated Bolling's blood-alcohol content at the time of crash was as much as twice the legal limit.
Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Judges Losing Their Authority to Sentence
This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here and here about judges losing the ability to sentence. Now your legislators down in Springfield want to take away even more sentencing authority from judges.SB3763: |
In many counties throughout the state Victim Impact Panels are a standard part of the sentencing, but those decisions are being made by judges.
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