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.

 Do you think 25 miles over the speed limit is too fast?

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.

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.

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.

 It looks like the professional courtesy Officer Bolling received was not enough to convince a jury to find him guilty.

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: Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that any person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to driving while intoxicated, including any person receiving a disposition of court supervision for violating that Section, shall (instead of "may") be required to attend a victim impact panel. Adds Victim Impact Speakers to the list of organizations permitted to run victim impact panels. Effective immediately.

In many counties throughout the state Victim Impact Panels are a standard part of the sentencing, but those decisions are being made by judges.

Chicago DUI Attorney, Comments on More Tows Coming Your Way

Yesterday this Chicago DUI attorney's post was about municipalities finding more reasons to tow your vehicle for an administrative infraction of the law.  Today, state legislators appear to be looking to assist those municipalities by proposing another reason to have your car towed.  This time it’s because you can’t show proof of insurance.

HB4533:

625 ILCS 5/4-203   from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 4-203

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that whenever a law enforcement officer issues a citation to a driver for operating an uninsured motor vehicle, the arresting officer may authorize the removal and impoundment of the vehicle by a towing service. Effective January 1, 2013.

In Illinois, it is a non-criminal offense to drive without insurance.  This would let the police decide whether they wish to tow your vehicle because you forgot to put the new card in your wallet.  Do you think that’s a good idea?

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on the High Price of Having a Car Towed

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here about the cost of towing.  Just last week she found herself in a tow truck.  Thankfully, it wasn’t for any illegal parking just a stubborn vehicle that felt like sleeping on the job.

Still, did you know how many different scenarios there are that involve getting your vehicle towed?

January 24, Elgin, IL:

 

There used to be four offenses in Elgin that would cost you $500 on top of the cost of the actual tow and impounding of your vehicle. The city council will vote Wednesday on adding eight to the list.

A new Illinois law that went into effect Jan. 1 outlines the violations for which municipalities could assign administrative towing fees. Elgin no longer can tow a vehicle for a loud music violation — but it still plans to impose a $500 fine — and it cannot tow when a driver’s license is suspended for unpaid citations or failure to comply with emissions testing.

This is driven more by the state making its change,” Theriault said. “Legal is adapting to it, and we’re next in line to adapt to the new ordinance.”

The noise violation was the first to come with an administrative towing fee in Elgin. It started at $250 but was doubled in October 2009 when three new offenses were added: driving without a license, driving with a suspended or revoked license and driving under the influence.

Theriault said there are still a lot of what-ifs in deciding how to enforce DUI. For example, if a police officer saw someone driving a car and then stopped him after he left the vehicle for something like possession of marijuana, should the car be towed? What if it is a passenger of the vehicle holding drugs during a traffic stop?

Mayor David Kaptain, a supporter of such expansion for years, said the state law will give cities a unified approach in implementing administrative tows and could provide consistency from one place to another — if municipalities expand their own ordinances like Elgin.

Do you think other municipalities will help Elgin’s desired unified approach to towing?