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Recent Blog Posts
DUI Charges in Illinois – Part 2
In a recent post on this blog, we discussed the basics of Illinois DUI law as well as possible defenses to DUI charges. Being accused of driving under the influence can have life-altering consequences. It is crucial that anyone charged with a DUI knows what their rights are as a criminal defendant as well as their legal options moving forward.
Refusing a Breath Test Does Not Prevent License Suspension
If you are pulled over on suspicion of DUI, police officers will ask you to submit to chemical BAC testing. While you technically have the option to refuse a breath test, doing so can have serious punitive consequences. Illinois has an “implied consent law” which states that anyone who drives a motor vehicle on public roads is considered to have given consent to a chemical blood alcohol content test. Refusing a breathalyzer or other BAC test after a DUI arrest results in the suspension of the suspect’s driving privileges. The summary suspension for the first refusal is a one-year license suspension. Refusing a breath test a second time within five years of the first refusal results in a three-year license suspension. Even if a suspect is eventually acquitted of DUI charges, you still have to contest the license suspension of your license to avoid these suspensions.
DUI Charges in Illinois
If you have been charged with driving under the influence, you may be lost and unsure of what to do next. Penalties for an Illinois DUI can include the suspension of your driver’s license, hefty fines, and possible jail time. Subsequent DUI arrests can result in felony DUI charges and potential imprisonment. As with any criminal charge, the first step is to educate yourself about the law you have allegedly broken and to reach out to an experienced local DUI attorney. An experienced attorney will know how to form a solid defense against the charges.
Police Always Ask You to Take a Chemical Test
Many DUI cases can hinge on the results of a blood alcohol content (BAC) chemical test. There are a few different ways law enforcement can test a suspect’s BAC level. In Illinois, urine, blood, and breath are the most common ways, with a breath test being the most common. Blood screenings for BAC are considered more invasive, so they are only used when there is reason to believe a breath test won’t suffice; for example, if there is an allegation of drug use a blood or urine test would likely be requested. Another example of when a blood test might be requested is if there was grave injury done to another driver or individual due to your operation of a motor vehicle.
Can I Be Arrested for Filming the Police?
In today’s digitally connected world, people are constantly sharing videos of virtually everything from their child’s school plays to funny moments with pets to a variety of “challenges” to raise money for charity. It is nearly impossible to go anywhere without seeing at least one person on some sort of device filming themselves or the things going around them. While making and sharing such videos are usually little more than a form of entertainment, things become much more serious when citizens attempt to film police officers as the officers carry out their duties. In many cases, those attempting to film the police have been threatened with arrest, and some have even been taken into custody for refusing to stop filming. If you have been arrested simply for filming the police in a public setting, there are some things that you should know about your rights.
A High-Profile Example
Early last year, an attorney in North Carolina was stopped by police while he was working his side job as an Uber driver. It seems that he had picked up a passenger from a known drug house, and the police stopped the vehicle to detain the attorney’s passenger. During the course of the stop, the driver began filming the police as they milled about his car deciding what to do next. In the video—which eventually went viral on social media and is currently available on YouTube—one of the officers can be seen and heard threatening to arrest the driver unless he stopped filming. The officer even claimed that there was a new law in North Carolina that prohibited the filming of the police. (There was not then and is not now such a law.)
Handling a Traffic Citation in Illinois
For many people, an occasional traffic ticket is viewed as little more than one of the costs of a driving a car. They make their car payments, pay their insurance premiums, and, once in a while, pay a fine for speeding or running a red light. Others, however, take traffic violations much more seriously, and, to a certain extent, rightly so. Accumulating too many citations can lead to the suspension of your driving privilege, creating serious challenges to your ability to work, travel, and care for your family. It is important to understand your rights and responsibilities when you have been issued a traffic citation, and a defense attorney can help you through the process.
Sign and Drive
Prior to 2015, being cited for a traffic violation meant that you could be forced to surrender your driver’s license to the issuing officer as security that you would respond to your ticket. Your license would be returned if and when you paid your fine, appeared in court to dispute the citation, or provided a cash bond at the police station in place of your license.
Illinois DUI Breathalyzer Tests
When you drive on Illinois roads and highways, you assume certain responsibilities for following the rules of the road and protecting the safety of those around you. As you know, law enforcement officials are regularly on the lookout for those who may be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you have been pulled over by police for any reason, and the officer has a reason to believe you may be impaired, he or she will probably ask you to submit to a chemical test that measures your blood-alcohol content (BAC). While refusing a BAC test is an option, it’s important to understand the State’s potential penalties for doing so.
Preliminary Breath Tests and Post-Arrest Breath Tests
If you are asked to submit to a chemical test, a breathalyzer is the most common form. During a DUI investigation, that is while the officer is evaluating you during a traffic stop, a PBT or preliminary breath test might be offered to you if he suspects you have been drinking. While this type of breath test is deemed unreliable by criminal courts, officers can still request that you take this test and they will use it in making a determination of whether you are under the influence of alcohol. You have every right to politely decline a PBT, with no direct consequences of your license. In fact, if you have had too much to drink, it is advisable that you refuse this test.
Are You Facing Assault Charges in Illinois?
One of the most confusing aspects of the law is the way in which certain words are used. In many instances, the legal definition of a word may be very different from its everyday meaning to the average person. The primary reason for this reality is that, under the law, words must be defined very carefully and in such a way that they can be understood throughout a given jurisdiction. Failure to do so can cause significant confusion for law enforcement, judges, attorneys, juries, and defendants. A common example of a word used differently in casual conversation and legal terminology is the word “assault.” The meaning of assault according to the Illinois Criminal Code is not exactly what you might think it is.
Defining Assault
When you talk about an assault in a normal conversation, you are most likely referring to a situation in which one party—an individual, military squad, or other group—attacked and inflicted violence on another party. “I saw the man assault that girl.” “The SWAT team conducted a nighttime assault on the suspect’s compound.” In most cases, its intended definition is pretty clear.
DUI Charges Become More Serious When Death or Bodily Injury is Involved
When you decide to get behind the wheel after you have been drinking, it is a losing situation for everyone involved. Most DUI charges will end up being a misdemeanor, albeit a very serious misdemeanor, but if you were charged with a DUI and a death resulted from that DUI, your charges will automatically be increased to felony charges. You could also face other charges such as reckless homicide. What you think is a tragic accident, Illinois courts may see as a preventable crime and you could be punished accordingly. Considerations change when a death or great bodily harm results from a DUI case.
Illinois Man Receives 15 Years in Prison for Aggravated DUI Charges
When a DUI crash involves death or great bodily harm, the charge is classified as an aggravated DUI, which is a felony charge. A Lake County man was recently sentenced to 15 years in state prison for a DUI crash that killed an Arizona woman who was visiting family for Thanksgiving in 2017. The man, whose BAC that night was .30, was facing up to 27 years in prison, but because of a negotiated plea deal, was able to negotiate the sentence to 15 years for charges of aggravated DUI and failing to report a crash. The man was also charged with reckless homicide but was able to have those charges dropped as a part of the plea deal.
FOID Card Revocations. What to do.
Gun laws are different from state to state, so it can be difficult to keep up with them. In Illinois, any person who is in possession of a firearm must also possess a firearm owner’s identification card (FOID), which verifies that the person may legally possess the firearm. You can get into serious trouble if you are caught with a firearm and you do not have your FOID card on you, but you can also get into serious trouble if you have had your FOID card suspended or revoked and you are caught with a firearm. In order to first receive a FOID card, you must meet a certain set of criteria. The Illinois State Police reserve the right to suspend or revoke your FOID card for numerous reasons, and if you do not comply, you could face serious charges.
Notice of Revocation
If your FOID is revoked for any reason, the Illinois Department of State Police will send you a notice in the mail detailing the reason for the revocation. The notice will go into detail about the specific reason why your card has been revoked and how you can submit an appeal for the revocation. You must take action to comply with the law regarding your FOID revocation.
Illinois DUI Law: Different Treatment for Users of Prescribed Drugs vs. Illegal Drugs
Do you take a prescription drug that can affect your ability to drive safely? If you do, be extra careful before you get behind the wheel of a car, because you could be charged with driving under the influence (DUI). If you cause a car crash that severely injures another person, you could be charged with aggravated DUI and could spend time in state prison.
Rising Concerns About Drug-Impaired Driving
Due to both the opioid epidemic and the increasing social acceptance of marijuana use, the police are increasingly on the lookout for drivers who may be drug impaired. In fact, according to the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the number of drug-impaired drivers killed in fatal car crashes has risen substantially over the past 10 years while the number of alcohol-impaired drivers killed has declined.
Illinois Court Rules on Police Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs
Two recent decisions by the Illinois Supreme Court have clarified the Fourth Amendment rights of Illinois citizens, specifically when the police use drug-detection dogs in multi-unit apartment buildings. This is important news for marijuana users and others who may be concerned about charges of illegal drug possession while partaking in occasional recreational use in the privacy of their home.
Illinois Police Need Search Warrant to Use Drug-Detection Dog Inside Locked Apartment Building
Two years ago, in October 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the police must obtain a search warrant before they can bring a drug dog inside a locked apartment building and have the dog sniff outside the door of a specific apartment. In that case, People v. Burns, 2016 IL 118973, an anonymous caller to the Crimestoppers’ hotline in Urbana, IL, gave the police a tip on a possible marijuana dealer. The caller alleged that the defendant was receiving regular shipments of marijuana from a relative in California and was selling about two pounds of marijuana every week out of her apartment.
