Bridgeview Courthouse
The Bridgeview Courthouse is located at 10220 South 76th Avenue in Bridgeview. It’s just minutes off of Illinois 294, the Tri-State Tollway. At this location, also known as the District 5 Cook County Courthouse, Felonies, traffic tickets, misdemeanors, and also various ordinance violations are heard here. For those with small children, there is a Children’s Advocacy Room in the building. You can contact the courthouse if you’d like to learn more about it. Outside of the building, there’s a free parking lot that usually has ample parking, but it’s always best to arrive early to park and to allow extra time for the metal detector line.
SEXNER’S PRO LEGAL TIP: It’s a common misconception that you have the right to always “take back” your plea on a case. Whether you enter a negotiated plea (known as “copping a plea” or a “plea deal”) on a traffic case or a misdemeanor or felony criminal complaint, the judge will usually tell you at the end of the proceeding about your rights to withdraw your plea of guilty. The judge will inform you that if you wish to do so, you must file a written motion with the court within a certain number of days setting forth the reasons why the judge should grant your motion.
This is the time when people often think that the judge is saying that they have the absolute right to undo their plea of guilty if they later choose to do so within the allowable period of time. That is simply not the case. What the judge is actually saying is that IF there is a very good reason that the judge should allow the plea to be withdrawn AND if the defendant files a written motion within the allotted time period, then the judge MAY allow the plea to be taken back.
What are good reasons? Simply changing your mind is not one of them. Some valid reasons include when the defendant didn’t know what he/she was doing because he or she was lied to or was under the influence of drugs/alcohol and couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Another good reason would be that their lawyer, public defender or another person forced them, coerced them or threatened them to plead guilty. When a lawyer strongly suggests that the plea is in their best interests, this is not generally considered a valid basis for the withdrawal of a plea.
If you have already entered a plea of guilty to a criminal or traffic offense, it may not be too late to undo what has happened, but time is always of the essence, so you should contact Mitchell S. Sexner & Associates LLC as quickly as possible to discuss whether such a motion can still be filed.
Map to Bridgeview Courthouse
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