Kane County May Be Moving Away From Red Light Cameras

The movement away from using red light cameras seems to be spreading to Kane County.  On Monday, Kane County's Transportation Committee unanimously approved rule changes that state that red light cameras are a temporary solution and that red light cameras shall expire after three years.  The rules also state that the ultimate solution for accident prone intersections is to improve engineering, attention to the use of signs, light timing and other measures.  Kane County already reviews all red light camera locations annually.  This annual review will continue under the measure approved on Monday.  What is especially exciting about this measure is that regardless of what happens at a given intersection, no camera could exist at any intersection for more than three years.  Another exciting part of these measures is that citations issued for making right turns at a red light would mostly be banned with a couple of strict exceptions.  First, there must be documented accidents involving cars or pedestrians at that particular intersection, and the problem must first be attempted to be solved by placing a "No Right Turn On Left" sign.  If the sign doesn't work, then citations for right turns on red can be issued.  

The full Kane County Board must now take up the measure and only if they pass it will it go into effect.  However, the Chairman has indicated that she strongly supports the measure.

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.

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear 2 Criminal Cases

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court announced which cases it will hear in the upcoming fall term.  Among the 14 cases they announced they would be hearing were 2 criminal cases.  One of the cases was Kentucky v. King.  The cases will decide whether to further erode the exclusionary rule when the police illegally seize evidence.  The police were chasing a suspected drug dealer into an apartment building.  As they walked down the hallway they smelled marijuana and broke into an apartment.  Inside they found King and 2 other individuals with marijuana and crack cocaine.  The police did not have a warrant to enter the apartment and the original suspect that the police had been chasing had entered the apartment across the hall.  King eventually plead guilty but challenged the search of the apartment on appeal.  In January, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the police did not have the right to enter the apartment because there was no emergency and threw out the evidence seized.  The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of the Kentucky prosecutors who are arguing that the police were justified in entering the apartment because they made an honest mistake.  Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence seized as a result of an honest mistake by the police should not be excluded from evidence.  To view our discussion of that Supreme Court decision, click here.

In the second criminal case,  the Court will decide whether lab technicians must be required to be available to testify at criminal trials.  Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that lab technicians were witnesses for the state and must be made available to testify.  But in a case out of New Mexico, Bullcoming v. New Mexico, the courts ruled that a lab worker who simply recorded the results of a blood alcohol testing machine in a DUI case did not have to testify.  The Supreme Court will get to decide whether the lab worker could also be required to testify.

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.

McHenry County Spending More Money On Special Prosecutors

The McHenry County Board has approved spending another $100,000 for special prosecutors and consultants.  It is thought that the majority of this money relates to the investigation and the prosecution of McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi.  Bianchi was indicted by a grand jury earlier this week for using county resources to do campaign work.  When the investigation of Bianchi started, it was estimated that it would cost about $100,000.  Up until now, special prosecutors and consultants have submitted $74,306 in invoices.  There's another invoice for $34,321 for work performed from September of 2009 to February of this year.  The additional money that has been appropriated will cover future additional expenses and any unforeseen costs and expenses. 

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

Kane County Cracking Down On DUI Offenders

Kane County is making life more difficult for defendants convicted of Driving Under the Influence.  A new Kane County program is requiring that DUI offenders be tested up to eight times during a holiday season to make sure that they are staying away from alcohol, as required by their court sentence.  This new program was unveiled during the Labor Day weekend.  It's called The Holiday Alcohol Testing program.  The goal of the program is to discourage drivers from drinking alcohol during the time that they are most likely to consume alcohol, a holiday weekend.  The program was announced by John Barsanti, the Kane County State's Attorney.  Fifteen DUI offenders passed the test, one DUI offender failed one of the tests and another failed to show up for all of the tests.  The test takes about two minutes and costs $4 per DUI offender.  Prosecutors will seek to file Petitions To Revoke their Sentences for failing and not showing up for their tests.  Kane County is planning on continuing with the program during all the upcoming holiday weekends, including sports related weekends, like the Super Bowl and the final weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.    

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

Violent Crimes and Property Crimes Decreasing Nationally

For the third consecutive year, violent crimes decreased in 2009 according to statistics released by the FBI.  For the seventh consecutive year property crimes decreased as well.  Compared to 2008, the number of violent and property crimes decreased by 5.3 percent and 4.6 percent when compared to 2008.  The violent crime rate for 2009 was 429.4 per 100,000 people, a decrease of 6.1 percent from 2008.  Nationwide, in 2009, a total of 1,318,398 violent crimes were reported.  Violent crime is defined as murder, manslaughter, robbery and aggravated assault.  All four categories of violent crime showed a decline.  The largest decreases were in murder and manslaughter.  Murders decreased by 7.3 percent and manslaughter decreased by 0.8 percent.  Aggravated Assault decreased by 4.2 percent.  9,320,971 property crimes were reported in 2009.  Motor Vehicle Thefts decreased by 17.1 percent, thefts decreased by 4 percent and burglaries decreased by 1.3 percent.

All of these statistics are compiled by the FBI by gathering information provided by local police agencies throughout the United States.

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.

Crackdown in Kane County

Three Kane County police departments are joining forces to try to cut down the number of deadly accidents along Route 47 in Sugar Grove north to Main Street in Blackberry Township.  Police will start an enforcement campaign that will last through September 24.  The enforcement campaign involves the Sugar Grove Police, Waubonsee Campus Police and the Kane County Sheriff.  Police have noticed an increase in traffic and increased cross traffic where people stop and turn.  Its particularly dangerous because the speed limit varies and the lanes shift from four to two.  It was always known as a country road and motorists are still driving on the road with that impression.  Several deaths have occurred on this roadway in the past year and police are eager to get people to be more careful and realize that Route 47 is no longer a country road. 

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.

Lombard Removes Red Light Cameras - Dissatisified Customer

In a slap to the face of RedSpeed Illinois, the Village of Lombard is terminating its red light camera contract with RedSpeed.  RedSpeed has its headquarters in Lombard.  The Village will inform RedSpeed of their decision and RedSpeed will have 60 days to remove the underground sensors that determine whether drivers stopped before the white line.  It looks like Lombard is removing their red light camera because they are not satisfied with the results.  Even though the village insisted that revenue was not the driving force behind their decision to install the red light camera, Lombard has not made much money off of the camera.  Like Elk Grove, Lombard police refuse to issue tickets unless the driver blatantly failed to stop.  And the safety benefits of the red light camera are unclear.  After cameras were installed in May of 2009, the number of traffic accidents decreased 31 percent.  But at another intersection accidents actually increased.  Lombard

trustees have come to the conclusion that they are better off without cameras in their village.

This movement towards removing these red light cameras is a relatively new development.  Last year Schaumburg removed their red light camera because they feared that it would adversely affect shoppers coming to their Village to shop at Woodfield Mall.  Elk Grove is moving towards getting rid of all their cameras because they feel that they are serving their purpose and now Lombard is removing their cameras because they simply are not working.  The common underlying sentiment is that voters clearly dislike red light cameras in their communities.  Our elected public officials are starting to sense the public's dislike and are responding by removing cameras for a variety of reasons.  We need to continue to make sure that our voices get heard.

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.