The East Central Illinois Criminal Law & DUI Weblog

Lawyers put some thought-provoking quotes in their emails — often in a signature block.  Here are a few favorites of mine that I have seen.  I have not verified the accuracy of the attributed sources or the quotes, but I still like the ideas these quotes convey.

• “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” — Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia)
• “If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.” — Red Adair
• “If you want to converse with me, first define your terms.” — Voltaire
• “I [...] never could make a good impromptu speech without several hours to prepare it.” — Mark Twain

Jeremy Richey

To the uninitiated, the citation form for Illinois statutes can be mystifying. For example, the citation for the per se DUI offense in Illinois is 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1).

But, after you understand the parts of the citation, it is easy to use the information in it to locate the statutory text on Illinois General Assembly website.

Let’s break down our example citation.

625: This is the chapter of the Illinois Compiled Statutes that we start looking in. Lawyers, police officers, and frequent speeders will recognize this chapter as the vehicle chapter.

ILCS: Illinois Compiled Statutes

5: This signifies Act 5 of the chapter. After we locate the proper chapter, we next look for the act that our statutory text resides in.  This particular act is also known as the Illinois Vehicle Code.

11:  This is the chapter of the act.  If you are wondering, this is the second time we have used the word “chapter.”  This is part of the citation is also called a chapter.  I wouldn’t worry about this label, however. We don’t really need to worry about it since it is also part of the section number (see below).

11-501. Section 11-501. This is the precise section of the text we are looking for.

(a): This is the subsection of the section where the per se law is located.

(1): This is the paragraph of the subsection. It is also the home of our per se DUI law.

So, if you are on the Illinois General Assembly website and trying to find the per se DUI law, you will click on the link for the Illinois Compiled Statutes and then use the numbers of the per se citation to navigate to the text that you are looking for.

Jeremy Richey

Today, while reading a police report in a DUI case, I tried to decide if the traffic stop preceding the DUI arrest was lawful. After some brief legal research, I jumped in my truck and took off down the road. I wanted to see the exact stretch of road that the police officer wrote about. It is common for me to do this. I do this because sometimes there is a big pay off by going out and investigating the actual scenes where things take place. But, doing this takes time. Which leads me to the point of this post. If you are lawyer shopping and have one or more free consultations scheduled, consider asking the lawyers you meet how often they go out to incident scenes. The question might shed light on the type of representation you will receive.

Jeremy Richey

What are the suspension periods for drivers under 21 who violate the zero-tolerance law?

1st failure of testing: 3 months

1st refusal: 6 months

2nd failure of testing: 1 year

2nd refusal: 2 years

Source: 625 ILCS 5/6-208.2

Jeremy Richey

Whenever possible, I recommend that defendants pay their fines and court costs by money order, cash, or check.  This is because substantial fees are charged for credit card payments.  But, it is better to pay via credit card rather than not pay at all.  If a person has no choice but to pay via credit card, the information to do that is below.  I scanned the following image from a handout I obtained from the Coles County Circuit Clerk’s Office.

Jeremy Richey

UPDATE: Court fines can now be paid online via judici.com.