Blog

September 10th, 2021

How to Avoid DUIs During the Holidays

As the weather gets colder and the seasons change, gatherings of friends and family members become all the more frequent. These times with our loved ones can be a good chance to engage in our favorite holiday traditions, some of which may include drinking alcohol. While these gatherings may be completely innocent, driving under the...

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September 8th, 2021

I Think A Police Robot Just Scanned My License Plate!

If the police in Chicago or elsewhere want to ask you some questions, pull your car over or search your home, they’re going to need either a reasonable suspicion or what is called “probable cause” (depending on the circumstances) in order to do so. That’s because the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees all...

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August 24th, 2021

Can Police Force Me to Give Blood, Breath or Urine When Arrested for DUI?

Illinois is one of only a handful of states that has expanded the ability of police to obtain certain scientific evidence even when the accused does not consent or is incapable of consent. What Does Implied Consent Mean? Implied Consent means that when you ask for and receive a driver’s license in Illinois, it is...

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August 4th, 2021

Will an Illinois Expungement Erase my Whole Criminal History?

Once upon a time in America, there was no such thing as the internet! I know, right? It didn’t come into common use until the 1990s. Until then, people went to libraries when they needed to get the answer to something, no one had a “smart phone” or any type of cell phone and there was...

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July 26th, 2021

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! Can Chicago Police Lie to Children?

Remember when you were a child? There were just a couple important rules that every child needed to follow to avoid being punished. If you followed these rules and were good, you might get a treat. On the other hand, if you acted out or were disobedient, punishment was sure to follow. Ever since the...

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July 15th, 2021

Cannabis Laws in Chicago and Across Illinois

Weed became legal in Illinois when the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act was signed into law on June 25, 2019. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act made cannabis legal for adults 21 years or older beginning on January 1, 2020. However, the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act did not completely legalize the possession and use...

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July 7th, 2021

New Illinois Law Affects Driver’s Licenses, Police, Bail and Criminal Cases

Known as the “SAFE-T Act”, (for Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity), the Illinois Senate and House passed a wide-ranging criminal justice reform Act earlier this year which has just now taken effect.  Among the highlights of this new Act are included: Driver’s License Traffic Suspension Relief For years, there has been a public outcry that...

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June 30th, 2021

The Thin Blue Line Between Murder and Mistake

The Death of George Floyd This week, Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police Officer convicted for the May 20, 2020 murder of George Floyd, was sentenced to a prison term of 22 ½ years, short of the 30 years in prison the prosecutors had requested. The judicial decision went beyond the 12 ½ year sentence...

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April 21st, 2021

Chicago Police Shooting of Adam Toledo and the Importance of Video Evidence

During the early morning hours of March 29th, in a dark alley in the Chicago Little Village neighborhood, 13 year-old Adam Toledo was shot by police and later died. In the wake of the recent deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright at the hands of Minneapolis Police and with a rising national consensus calling for...

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Written by Mitchell S. Sexner Last Updated : April 26, 2023