Supreme Court Vacates Decision of 11th Circuit to Uphold Conviction Earlier this week the United States Supreme Court reversed the decision of the 11th Circuit of Appeals to uphold the conviction of a man for being a felon in possession of a firearm, but declined to...
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Supreme Court Upholds Ability for Federal Government to Regulate Ghost Guns
7-2 Majority Finds ATF Can Regulate Ghost Gun Part Manufacturers As we have previously covered, multiple times, the United States Supreme Court was weighing a challenge to the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) to regulate...
Attorney General Seeks Mechanism to Restore Individual’s Gun Rights
Federal Government to Review Gun Prohibitions for People with Stale Convictions As we have previously covered, there are ongoing efforts to review gun prohibitions for certain individuals in light of recent Supreme Court decisions. Recently, the Department of Justice...
Law Enforcement Utilizing Facial Recognition Technology
Man Arrested After Facial Recognition Software Match A Chicago resident, Phillip Akins, was recently charged with first-degree murder after investigators connected him to a murder last summer utilizing facial recognition software that matched him to a surveillance...
DOJ Continues to Focus on Cryptocurrency Crackdowns
Latest Seizure and Charges Announced Against Russian-Based Exchange As we have previously covered, despite headlines that the federal government is softening it’s position on cryptocurrency and lessening enforcement, it still appears focused on the cryptocurrency...
Further Tension Between Marijuana Users and Their Gun Rights
Multiple Federal and State Cases Highlight Confusing Regulatory Landscape As we have previously covered, courts have been struggling to grapple with regulations surrounding marijuana users and the application of federal rules that forbid drug users from owning and...
Civil Forfeiture Practices Under Scrutiny Again
Lawsuit Accuses Government of Abusing Civil Forfeiture Procedures Against Gun Shop Owners As we have previously covered, civil asset forfeiture has recently received scrutiny at the federal level over the law enforcement practice that enables law enforcement to seize...
Infant Death Prosecutions and Junk Science
Panel of Experts Question Flawed Evidence Used to Convict Nurse of Killing Babies In 2023 Lucy Letby, a neonatal nurse in the UK, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others in the hospital she worked at, for which she received...
Madigan Found Guilty of Corruption Charges
Former Illinois House Speaker Found Guilty on 10 of 23 Charges Michael Madigan, once the longest serving legislator in United States history, was recently found guilty on 10 of the 23 criminal counts of an indictment in a highly publicized public corruption trial. The...
Chicago Police Department Struggles with Consent Decree
Levels of Dissatisfaction Remains Between CPD and Community Despite Consent Decree Many Chicago residents remain dissatisfied with the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) and are skeptical of the reform efforts, according to recent survey results from the coalition of...