Not Guilty For Residential Burglary After Trial in Markham

I obtained a not guilty, directed verdict, after a bench trial for a Residential Burglary charge in Markham.  The state was claiming that my client, and another defendant, entered a private residence through a window.  As they started walking through the house a resident confronted them.  The state alleges that when they were confronted by the resident they exited through the window and fled.  The police arrived and were given a description of the offenders.  Armed with a description of the offenders the police started searching throughout the neighborhood and found my client and the co-defendant standing outside a local store.  They placed them under arrest, took them back to the house and were positively identified by the resident.  

At trial the case came down to the resident not being able to positively identify my client and the co-defendant as the two individuals he saw in his house.  After considering all the evidence the court dismissed the charges against my client and found that he was not guilty.  Residential Burglary is a Class 1 felony carrying a mandatory minimum of 4 years and maximum of 15 years in prison.  However, because of his criminal record, my client was looking at a minimum of roughly 13 years in prison.

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.

Looming Execution a Dark Chapter For American Justice

Tomorrow night the State of Georgia will be putting Troy Davis to death for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.  There was no physical evidence introduced at Davis's trial, no murder weapon, no video tape, no DNA evidence, no confession.  Davis was convicted entirely on the testimony of nine eyewitnesses.  Since the trial, seven of the witnesses have changed their stories and admitted that they lied.  Two individuals testified at trial that Davis had confessed to them that he had murdered the police officer.  Both of those individuals have since admitted that they lied.  Ten witnesses have signed affidavits claiming that the police coerced them to lie and eight more have signed affidavits implicating another man in the murder.  Davis has always maintained his innocence.  The United States Supreme Court has already stopped his execution at least once by ordering that a Federal Judge hold a hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.  The Federal Judge required that Davis prove his innocence at that hearing, a virtually impossible burden for a defendant to meet and a burden that has no basis in the United States Constitution.  Even though the court found that Davis had not met his burden, it did find that the state's case was weak.  Today the Georgia Board of Pardons turned down a request to stop Davis's execution.  It appears as if Davis's appeals have been exhausted and there is no way to stop his execution, which is scheduled for 7 pm.  

While there is no way to know for sure if Davis is guilty or innocent, there is no doubt that there are serious questions surrounding his case.  The Death Penalty is the most serious penalty that society can impose on an individual and should only be reserved for those cases in which there is no doubt whatsoever about the guilt of the condemned.  In its rush to execute Davis, Georgia may be doing more to eradicate the death penalty than they think.  This is the type of case which will make people question how the United States of America can still be the only industrialized nation on the planet to execute its citizens.  

Tomorrow the eyes of the world will be on Georgia as they may very well be putting an innocent man to death.  In the meanwhile, America should bow its head in shame.

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.     

Life Sentence For Juveniles Convicted of Murder Upheld

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld a ruling that juveniles convicted of murder may be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.  The case involves Kenneth Loggins who was convicted in Alabama of the 1994 murder of a hitchhiker committed when he was 17 years old.  Loggins was originally sentenced to death but the death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment after the United States Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons in which the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles convicted of murder could not receive the death penalty.  Loggins challenged the sentence of life without the possibility of parole on the grounds that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.   The Court of Appeals disagreed with Loggins and held that a juvenile can still be convicted of capital murder and receive the strictest punishment available so long as it is not the death penalty.  While the United States Supreme Court has ruled that life without parole for juveniles convicted of non-murder case is unconstitutional, it has not ruled on life without parole for murder cases.  The ACLU has filed several lawsuits against several states seeking to have this issue taken up to the Supreme Court.  The ACLU points out that the United States is the only country that sentences juveniles to prison without the possibility of 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. 

12 Years In Prison For Crooked Cop

Jerome Finnigan, who federal prosecutors called one of Chicago's dirtiest cops, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for a murder for hire plot that targeted a fellow cop because the fellow cop was cooperating with  investigators.  Finnigan has been in isolation in the Metropolitan Correction Facility in downtown Chicago for the past 4 years.  He was the alleged ringleader of a Chicago Police Unit that used to be called the Special Operations Section.  The Special Operations Section was specifically created to target known drug dealers throughout the City of Chicago.  Finnigan and his crew would raid homes without warrants, conducted illegal traffic stops and shook down drug dealers and innocent citizens.  Authorities have linked about $600,000 in money stolen in robberies and allege that Finnigan received at least $200,000 of that money.  Another officer recorded Finnigan planning the murder of a fellow police officer that he suspected of cooperating with authorities.  Previously, Finngan allegedly threatened to harm a Cook County prosecutor who was prosecuting him for a corruption charge.

With credit for the time he has already spent in federal custody, Finnigan may be released from federal prison as early as 2018.

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.  

Cook County Expands Tickets For Low Level Drug Offenses

Yesterday, the Cook County Board took a big step in an effort to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In 2009 the Cook County Board passed an ordinance which provided for the issuance of tickets for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. But recently, various news outlets reported that zero tickets had been issued. The 2009 measure only applied to unincorporated areas of Cook County that were being patrolled by the Cook County Sheriff. The new measure includes areas in which the Cook County Sheriff provides primary law enforcement duties, such as south suburban Ford Heights. The Cook County Sheriff's office now reports that they are ready to write tickets for the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana pursuant to the measure passes yesterday by the Cook County Board. The President of the Cook County Board, Tony Perwinkle, has come out strong in favor of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. She points to the high cost of keeping offenders in jail until they go to their preliminary hearing, where most such cases are dismissed anyway. It costs about $143 a day to keep an inmate in Cook County Jail. Perwinkle has stated that she will help lead an effort to have the Illinois legislature pass a similar measure throughout the State of Illinois.

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.

Cook County Deals Blow to Feds

The Cook County Board has dealt a blow to the Federal Government when it comes to requests to detain people in Cook County jail who are facing misdemeanor charges.  The action by the Cook County Board follows a recent federal court case in which it was held that requests by the federal government to place immigration holds on defendants for possible deportation were merely requests and were not mandatory.  The Cook County Board pointed out that the cost to Cook County taxpayers is roughly $15 million per year, or roughly $143 per day per inmate to comply with these immigration hold requests by the federal government.  The decision only applies to individuals charged with misdemeanors who have immigration holds placed against them and are released from Cook County Jail for any reason.

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 Death Row Shut Down

With the passing of the calendar, Illinois's Death Row has officially died itself.  In March, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a law which ended the Death Penalty in Illinois.  Today was the day that Death Row was set to be shut down.  In 2000, then Illinois Governor, George Ryan, put a moratorium on the Death Penalty.  Three years later, he cleared Death Row when he commuted the death sentences of 167 inmates convicted of murder and sentenced to death to life.  However, prosecutors throughout the state continued to seek the death penalty hoping that Ryan's moratorium would be lifted.  It never was.  In March of this year, Governor Quinn signed a law which abolished the Death Penalty in Illinois.  The last time Illinois carried out the Death Penalty was in 1999.  A total of 12 men were put to death in Illinois since 1997.

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.