Under federal law, authorities are allowed to seize a person's assets if they can show that those assets are in some way connected to a crime. The most frustrating aspect of asset forfeiture is that authorities can take your property even if you are not facing...
Last year a Lake County, Illinois man spent 90 days in jail following an arrest for involvement in a criminal conspiracy. A judge later dropped the charges against him. He suspects the arrest came about due to his speaking on the telephone with the alleged ringleader...
Imagine what you were doing 900 days ago. That's roughly two and-a-half years ago. You may have been in another job, dating someone else, married or divorced, childless or living in a completely different place. The point is that a lot can happen in a couple years.Now...
People depend on police and other legal authorities to protect people and their rights. Unfortunately, this does not always happen and the legal and justice systems end up working against the very people they are meant to protect.Every criminal accusation should be...
Governor Bruce Rauner made headlines last month when he declared his intention to form a new commission tasked with both examining Illinois' criminal justice system and devising ways to reform its prison system, which he described as "costly, overcrowded and...
Being charged with or investigated for a criminal offense is scary and stressful. However, before a person is ever acquitted or convicted, he or she could have critical and often substantial assets retained by state or local law enforcement agencies, which can only...
There are many gray areas of the law: areas that must be thoroughly examined and tested in order to determine what they mean and protect and how they may or may not apply to specific situations.In some cases, one such gray area is consent during a sexual encounter....
Vehicular hijacking is something many people only see in movies or in video games. Because of this, many people fail to appreciate just how serious this criminal act is and how harsh the consequences of a conviction can be. It is a crime that is often portrayed as a...
For decades, law enforcement agencies have devoted enormous amounts of money, energy and investigative resources to fighting the so-called war on drugs. This has resulted in millions of people being arrested, charged, convicted and punished for drug crimes.In recent...
After spending a great deal of time and effort defending yourself against one or several criminal charges, it can be absolutely devastating to learn that you have been convicted. It can be easy to assume that all hope is lost and you are out of options.However, this...
