About a week before the Super Bowl, USA Today published an article about synthetic marijuana use among NFL players. The point of the article was less that the drug is illegal in most states and under federal law than it was to take the NFL to task for not adding...
We are continuing our discussion of a man who was recently released from prison after serving 11 years of a 14-year sentence. He had insisted from the beginning that he was innocent -- more than that, that he was framed by a Chicago police sergeant and another...
As in the rest of the country, in Chicago criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This is meant to be a high standard of proof that is supposed to avoid convictions based on ambiguous or dubious evidence.Earlier this...
Earlier this month, CBS' "60 Minutes" ran a story about three men released from prison after spending decades on death row. The three are part of a growing number of men -- as many as 10 every month, according to this report -- whose wrongful convictions are being...
In addition to the changes to the juvenile justice system that we discussed earlier this month, a handful of changes to Illinois' criminal code took effect on Jan. 1. It may take some time to see the effects of some of the changes, as they address more...
We are continuing our review of law changes that took effect on Jan. 1. Our focus is on the changes to the juvenile justice system. Illinois and other states have taken up President Barack Obama's call to change the focus of the entire criminal justice system from,...
A host of new laws took effect on Jan. 1 that will change the way the Illinois justice system works. From high-profile laws dealing with police body cameras to less newsworthy (but equally important) directives regarding training programs to improve how police...
We are continuing our discussion of grand juries, focusing, for the most part, on state and county grand juries. The rules for federal cases are different, most notably by virtue of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. If someone is accused of a federal felony (a...
Almost everyone who lives in Chicago knows at least a little about the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Even if they are not familiar with the name, the mere mention of video recording of the teen being shot by the cop will garner an "Aha." They may know, then, that...
Minneapolis media reports that a customer in a Target store caused quite a stir when his concealed weapon fell to the floor and discharged. He had been carrying the gun in his waistband when it started to slip. He grabbed for it and it went off. Fortunately, no one...
