James G. Dimeas Appears for Defendant Charged in Orland Park Murder

On Monday, James G. Dimeas, of Legal Defenders, P.C., appeared in the Bridgeview Courthouse for a bond hearing for Fadi A. Alkarim. Mr. Dimeas's client is charged with the first-degree murder of a 21 year old Orland Park man. Alkarim is a co-defendant in the case, along with 2 other defendants. The prosecutor indicated that the state may seek the death penalty against one of the other defendants. Due to the seriousness of the charges, the judge denied bail for all of the defendants. The case has been continued for a preliminary hearing to October 9, 2009 in the Bridgeview Courthouse.

Below you will find some newspaper articles about the case:

WBBM Newsradio 780.

Southtown Star.

The Chicago Sun-Times.

ABC 7 News.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Protests Outside of Red Light Camera Offices

Yesterday, the Daily Herald reported that about 50 people protested outside the Lombard offices of the headquarters of RedSpeed, the main operated of red light cameras in the State of Illinois. The protests come after numerous media reports questioning the effectiveness of red light cameras. The Daily Herald recently reported that the vast majority of red light camera violation tickets were issued for rolling right turns on red lights, a move that is not considered to be a big cause of traffic accidents. There have also been reports detailing the political favors given in exchange for awarding contracts to companies providing this service. The Village of Schaumburg recently announced that they will not be using red light cameras because they do not substantially decrease the risk of accidents.

To read the article in the Daily Herald, click here.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Illinois To Release 1,000 Prisoners Early

As a further sign of the difficult economic climate facing the State of Illinois, Governor Quinn has announced that he is planning on the early release of 1,000 prisoners serving time in Illinois prisons. This move is estimated to save the State of Illinois $5 million a year. The majority of those released early will be placed on supervised parole. Each of the released prisoners will be assigned a parole officer and provided drug and other rehabilitative treatment. In addition, many of the released prisoners will be fitted with electronic monitoring devices. Prison officials state that the majority of the released prisoners will be drug and property crime offenders. Only low-level, non-violent offenders will qualify for early release and only those that are in the last year of their sentence will be considered. Inmates who have been convicted of murder, sex crimes, domestic violence or those that have orders of protection pending against them will not be released early. Governor Quinn has pledged to give another $2 million to the Illinois Department of Corrections to monitor the early release of the prisoners chosen for early release. Prison officials have not released specifics about exactly how the release will occur.

Governor Quinn recently announced that the State will be laying off 1,000 prison employees.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Governor Quinn Restores Some Funding To Probation

Today, Governor Quinn restored $16 billion in funding that had previously been cut from state probation departments. The state legislature cut funding to the Illinois Supreme Court by 56 percent. As a result, the Supreme Court cut funding to probation departments throughout the state to only 65 percent of what they received last year. The funding cuts led to claims that public safety would be jeopardized by cuts to the probation departments. Quinn's restoration of funding restores the Supreme Court's funding to about 82% of what it received last year.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Wheaton Police Station Evacuated After Women Turn In Live Grenades

I ran into this story about the Wheaton Police station being evacuated after 2 women showed up at the station wanting to turn over a couple of live grenades they had found. The grenades were left in the trunk of their vehicle however the police evacuated the police station and called in the bomb squad who removed the grenades from the vehicles and detonated them in the street.

This is such a strange story that I just had to bring it to your attention. Imagine the officers reaction when these ladies walked into the station Here is a link to the story.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Felony Marijuana Charges Dismissed In Rolling Meadows

The other day I was able to get the Prosecutor's office to dismiss felony Possession of Marijuana charges against my client. My client had attended The Grateful Dead concert at Allstate Arena over the summer. An undercover Village of Rosemont police officer was doing surveillance in the parking lot of the Allstate Arena. In his police reports and at the preliminary hearing, he stated that he saw my client walking around the south end of the parking lot asking people if they wanted to buy "Molly." The officer said that "Molly" is slang for ecstasy. The officer testified at the preliminary hearing that he witnessed a drug transaction. He then called for assistance and about five other officers grabbed my client, put him face down on the parking lot and placed him under arrest for dealing drugs. They searched him and found over 50 grams of marijuana. The police never recovered any ecstasy from my client.

However, when pressed on whether he witnessed a drug transaction, the officer was forced to admit that he was not sure if what he saw was a drug transaction or a lawful transaction. I filed a Motion to Quash Arrest and Suppress Evidence arguing that the police lacked probable cause to arrest my client and that all the evidence seized after his unlawful arrest should be suppressed. To his credit, the prosecutor realized that my motion had merit and voluntarily agreed to dismiss the charges against my client on the eve of the hearing on my motion.

My client had been in jail since the arrest on a substantial bond. He is already on parole until November of 2010 for a Class 1 Felony drug charge. The dismissal of the charges means that my client is set free and does not have to worry about violating his parole.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Use Of Recent Supreme Court Cases Wins Motion

On April 21, 2009, we published an article about the Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. Gant. The Supreme Court severely limited police officers power to search vehicles after an arrest. In Arizona v. Gant, the defendant had been pulled over for a traffic violation. The police officer determined that he did not have a license and placed him under arrest. He was handcuffed and placed in the back of the police vehicle. The officer then searched the vehicle and discovered a gun and drugs. The Supreme Court ruled that the search of the vehicle was unreasonable and ruled that the evidence seized in the search had to be suppressed. The court ruled that in order to search the vehicle the defendant had to be close enough to the vehicle as to pose a risk that he could grab a weapon out of the car or that the police had a reasonable belief that they would find evidence related to the reason that the defendant had been arrested.

Today I used this case to win a motion to suppress on an Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon By a Felon charge at 26th and California. The facts of my client's case were very similar to the facts in Gant. The defendant was pulled over because his license plate light was not working. The officer asked my client for his license but he could not produce one because it had been revoked for a prior DUI. The officer testified that he placed handcuffs on my client and put him in the back seat of his squad car. There was a passenger in the front seat. A check of his name revealed an outstanding traffic warrant and he was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the squad car as well. The officer then proceeded to search my client's vehicle finding a loaded handgun in the back seat area of his vehicle. The state argued that this search was actually an inventory search and that the officer was following Chicago Police procedure. However, the officer admitted that he did not produce an inventory report and could only state that "miscellaneous" items were retrieved from the vehicle in the inventory search.

The court found that an inventory search would be an exception but that what the officer testified to could not be deemed to be an inventory search. The officer did not produce an inventory report and could only remember that "miscellaneous" other items were found. Since the defendant and his passenger were in handcuffs in the back seat of the squad car, and the only reason for the arrest of the defendant was that he had no driver's license, the police needed a warrant to search the vehicle.

The client was facing substantial jail time if he had been convicted of this offense. He has been to the penitentiary at least three times, most recently serving 10 years for a very serious set of felonies.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.