Regular readers of our Chicago criminal law blog will undoubtedly recall a post a couple of months ago about a former Chicago police sergeant who was caught framing people for drug crimes. The fallout from the case continued a few days ago when Cook County Judge Leroy...
It was invented 125 years ago and is sometimes used to treat obesity and attention deficit disorder. Methamphetamine is best known as a popular, illegal recreational stimulant, however. An arrest and conviction for meth trafficking can result in years behind bars....
The first person named as Public Enemy Number One was Chicago’s notorious Al Capone. The designation shifted a few years later to John Dillinger (who also had Chicago connections), “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Baby Face” Nelson and others.The...
Regular readers of our legal blog know that we recently wrote about a pair of Chicago cops who are accused of lying to Cook County judges to get search warrants. Prosecutors believe Sgt. Xavier Elizondo and Officer David Salgado used improperly obtained warrants...
On a cold January day, a Chicago police sergeant and officer carried out a raid as they had hundreds of times before. Using an informant’s tip, they obtained a search warrant from a Cook County judge and entered a woman’s apartment looking for evidence of...
If you’ve been charged with a drug crime, you may be worried about what this means for your future. In the state of Illinois, penalties for drug crimes are stiff. Even for possession charges, you could face a long prison sentence and steep fines.In such...
At the end of the 21st century, California legalized marijuana for medicinal use. Since that time, more and more states have been following suit. To date, 29 states—including Illinois—have legalized marijuana for this purpose, and six of these states also...
A group of Chicago defense attorneys are currently seeking to prove that racial bias was at the root of a long series of Chicago drug stings. The ruling could have implications at the national level.Beginning in the 1990s, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms...
In our last post, we highlighted the inherent problems in proving marijuana impairment during a traditional DWI stop. Essentially, police are not yet equipped to scientifically determine whether a driver is impaired by marijuana, and roadside sobriety tests geared...
As much as the décor, the music and the fashions favored by people may change, there is one thing about dance clubs, bars and nighttime hotspots that will never change: the presence of illegal narcotics. Indeed, the reality is that while most responsible owners do...
