RECENT VICTORY - Not Guilty UUW

Not guilty verdict after a bench trial for a client charged with Aggravated Use of a Weapon (UUW).  Client was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a traffic violation.  The officer testified that when he came up to the vehicle he noticed an open bottle of alcohol between our clients leg.  The officer asked our client to exit the vehicle when our client volunteered that he had a loaded gun in his coat.  The client was being driven to a private detective agency where he was going to be put to work as an armed security officer.  The employer testified that he was waiting for our client to come to the office so he could submit the necessary paperwork to the State of Illinois so that he could get the proper license.  Our client was believable and his prospective employer backed him up.  The judge found our client not guilty of the UUW.

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

Landmark Ruling By Supreme Court Today

For the first time, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that defendants have a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel even when they are offered a chance to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.  In a 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court ruled in favor of two men who claimed that their lawyers were incompetent.  One case involved Galin Frye who was charged in Missouri of driving on a revoked license.  Because he had been convicted three previous times for the same offense, he was facing up to four years in prison if he had been convicted.  The prosecutor sent a letter to Frye's attorney offering his client a 90 day jail sentence in return for him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.  Frye's lawyer never informed his client and the offer expired.  After this offer, Frye was arrested again for driving on a revoked license and this time he plead guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison.  The other case involved Anthony Cooper who was charged in Michigan with intent to murder and three other crimes.  The prosecutor offered Cooper a sentence between 51 and 85 months but Cooper rejected the offer after he was convinced to do so by his lawyers who incorrectly advised him that the state could not prove he intended to kill the victim if he shot him below the waist.  Cooper was eventually convicted and received 360 months, or 30 years, in prison.  The majority ruled that the defendants can claim a constitutional violation but must show that but for the lawyers advice, "there is a a reasonable probability that the plea offer would have been presented to the court, that the court would have accepted its terms, and that the conviction or sentence, or both, under the offer's terms would have been less severe than under the actual judgment and sentence imposed."  In both of the cases, Justic Antonin Scalia took the unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench in open court.  Justice Scalia decried the majority's decision and claimed that the court was opening up an entirely new area of litigation that the legislature could solve more efficiently and adequately than the court.  He criticized the court for penalizing everyone by reversing perfectly valid convictions.

The cases are Lafler v. Cooper, 10-209, and Missouri v. Frye, 10-444.

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 to Consider Life In Prison for Juveniles

On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court will decide whether a sentence of life in prison for a 14 year old convicted of murder is unconstitutional.  In 2003, when he was just 14 years old, Evan Miller was convicted of arson and murder in Alabama.  On the very same day that Miller was found guilty of murder and arson by a jury, the judge sentenced him to life in prison without any hearing or evidence.  In addition to his age, Miller had a troubled youth which included domestic violence, drug abuse and attempted suicide.  Miller was sentenced to life in prison as an automatic consequence of his conviction for murder and arson.  Miller's case will be heard at the same time as a similar case involving an Arkansas 14 year old defendant sentenced to life in prison who had also been convicted of murdering his 52 year old neighbor.  Both cases will be argued by the same attorney who will argue that sentencing juveniles to life in prison violates the 8th Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.  In the past few years, the Supreme Court has issued rulings that protect juveniles.  They have prohibited the imposition of the death penalty for juveniles and ruled against allowing jail sentences the provide for life without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of crimes less than murder.  Alabama and Arkansas disagree and are supported by 19 other states around the country who argue for the constitutionality of life sentences for juveniles.  They point out that 38 states allow for juveniles to be sentenced to life without parole and 14 states make it mandatory for juveniles convicted of murder.

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.  

FBI Gets Warrant To Force Google To Unlock Phone

On March 9, the FBI served Google with a warrant requiring them to provide the FBI with the information necessary to allow them to unlock a customer's Android phone.  The case involves Dante Dears, a resident of California who was previously convicted of running a massive San Diego prostitution ring.  Dears had been sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2005 for beating a 15 year old homeless girl he had recruited from a homeless shelter in San Diego.  Dears was released from prison in January of 2009 but he violated his parole 3 times and was sent back to prison to serve an additional 1 and a half years.  Dears remains under house arrest, with an electronic monitoring device affixed to his ankle, until January of 2013.  After he was released from prison in May of 2011, a confidential source met with Dears in his home in Chula Vista California and told authorities that he witnessed Dears accept several phone calls in which he discussed the night's prostitution activities, would send numerous text messages with his phone, and shortly after he would send out the messages, someone would come to his home and give him money.  Armed with this information, his parole officer went to his home on January 17 and seized Dears Samsung Exhibit II Android phone and demanded that Dears unlock the phone's home screen or provide the log in information. Dears refused.  On February 14 the FBI lab reported that they were unable to unlock the phone.  On March 9 the FBI went to a judge and had a warrant issued requiring that Google provide Dears account information, social security number, account log in and password, all contact information and emails stored on the phone, all text messages sent and received, the time and duration of all web pages visited, all GPS data stored on the phone, all search terms used and all of his internet browsing history.  The FBI is claiming that Dears refusal to provide this information violates the terms of his release on parole because he specifically gave authorities permission to get this information when he was released on parole from prison.

Google has not yet disclosed how they will response to this subpoena.  A Google spokesperson said that Google does not comment about specific cases but that they will comply with any lawful requests.

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.

Outbreak of Illness at Cook County Jail

Cook County Jail officials have put limits on visits of certain inmates at Cook County Jail because of an outbreak of an "influenza-like illness" at the jail.  As a result, some visitation will not be allowed.  The most affected unit of the jail is Division 1 where inmates are not being allowed to move and are banned from having any visits.  Movement of inmates is also limited in Division 4 and 5.  While visits in Division 4 and 5 are not banned, they may be affected.  Anyone planning on visiting an inmate in Divisions 1, 4 and 5 is being urged to call the Cook County Sheriff at 773-674-7244 to confirm whether the inmate will be made available for a visit.

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.

Courtroom Cameras Moving Closer to Chicago

Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that the plan to allow cameras in all Illinois courts is continuing to move forward and added another county to the program.  Kankakee County will become the second county in Illinois to allow cameras in courtrooms.  On February 3, 2012, we published an article informing our readers that the courtroom camera program was initiated in northwest Illinois, in the 14th Judicial Circuit.  The Judicial Circuit covering Kankakee County also covers Iroquois County.  This next step will first start in Kankakee and then expand to the courtrooms in Iroquois County if everything progresses well.  The camera program seems to be slowly working its way towards Chicago.

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 Upholds Deportation for Filling False Tax Return

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has the authority to label the crime of filing false tax returns, an "aggravated felony," subjecting lawful legal immigrants to automatic deportation.  The case involved Akio and Fukado Kawashima, a Japanese couple who came to the United States in 1984 with a goal of succeeding in business.  They opened up and operated a few popular sushi restaurants in California.  They never became U.S. citizens but were granted lawful permanent residence in the 1980's.  However, in 1991 they filed tax returns in which they underreported their income.  The federal government filed criminal charges against them and they plead guilty and paid $245,000 in penalties and interest.  They paid the entire amount in full and the husband ended up serving 4 months in a federal prison.  Ten years later, the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to deport them.  In a 6 to 3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with Immigration and Naturalization and the Kawashima's have now been deported.  Tax lawyers point out that this ruling sends an ominous warning to legal immigrants.  If they are caught lying on their taxes, not only could they be forced to pay heavy monetary penalties, but they could also be deported.  This would apply to any false statement on a tax return made by a legal immigrant.  Immigration officials point to a 1994 provision created by Congress which defined "aggravated felony" to include "fraud" and "deceit" that cost the victims more than $200,000.  That threshold has since been lowered to $10,000.  It seems that deportation would apply to cases in which criminal charges were filed, not in cases involving only a civil penalty sought by the IRS.

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