If you are a suspect in a criminal investigation, don’t talk to the police. OK, that wasn’t strong enough: DON’T TALK TO THE POLICE. You have the right to remain silent, so use it. Charles Kenville shares why you shouldn’t talk to the police.
Archive for May, 2008
You might not realize this, but some misdemeanors are more serious than some felonies. The best way to illustrate this is by example and I will provide two.
First, consider Criminal Sexual Abuse, which can be Class A misdemeanor. Even though it is a misdemeanor in some cases, any person convicted of this crime will have to register as a sex offender. There is much more of a social stigma associated with being a registered sex offender than there is with having a felony history, especially where the felony arrest is of a type that will be eligible for sealing or expungement down the road.
Second, some misdemeanors are not entitled for day-for-day credit. The maximum penalty for a Class A misdemeanor is 364 days in the county jail. If a person is sentenced to 364 days in the county jail in a case where day-for-day credit does not apply, then that person will actually serve 364 days in jail. Compare this with a possible Illinois Department of Corrections sentence for a Class 4 felony. The sentencing range for a Class 4 is one to three years. With good-time credit, an inmate sentenced to one year in the Illinois Department of Corrections will serve much less than a year.
In Illinois, what is the difference between assault and battery?
According to the Illinois Compiles Statutes, “[a] person commits an assault when, without lawful authority, he engages in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.” 720 ILCS 5/12-1. Battery, on the other hand, occurs when a person “intentionally or knowingly without legal justification and by any means, (1) causes bodily harm to an individual or (2) makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual.” 720 ILCS 5/12-3.
Here is an example how this might work. Let’s assume that you decide to punch me and I haven’t given you authority to punch me. Let’s further assume that you act on your decision and take a swing at me. Finally, let’s assume that you don’t land the punch because I see it coming and duck. Since you don’t land the punch, you neither cause me to suffer bodily harm nor make physical contact of any kind — let alone insulting or provoking contact. Thus, you do not batter me. But, I see you swing at me — and I duck so you won’t hit me. So, you assault me because you place me “in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.”
If your punch hits me, regardless of whether I get hurt, that is insulting or provoking contact. As a matter of fact, I might direct a nasty word or two in your direction.
So, in summary, assault is where you swing and miss; battery is where you swing and hit.
Question: Will I lose My License for Underage Drinking?
Published May 23, 2008 Licenses , Uncategorized ClosedAnswer: Yes, that is the law in Illinois.
If you are under the age of 21 and enter a guilty plea to (or are found guilty of) Illegal Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor, you will lose your driver’s license for at least three months. You may lose your license for a longer period of time given certain circumstances. You will lose your license even if you are placed on judicial supervision.
In the grand spectrum of things, there are worse evils than kids drinking alcohol, however, the driver’s-license penalty in minor-consumption cases shows that even minor crimes can have serious consequences.
If you read the last several posts on this blog, you will become aware that there is much publicly available information on criminal defendants that is only a few keystrokes away. If you have a criminal history on Judici or a site similar to Judici, you may be able to make that information disappear from the public eye. This can be done through the expungement and sealing processes. But, please note that not all cases are eligible to be expunged or sealed, but many certainly are. Click here for more information on expungement and sealing.
The post will focus on the dispositions section of a case on Judici. You can reach this section by clicking the word “Dispositions” after pulling up a case. This section is about the final result in a case. You may encounter one or more of the following terms in any given case.
Supervision
This means that a defendant entered a guilty plea but did not receive a conviction. If the defendant complies with all the terms of his supervision, he will be successfully discharged from supervision without a conviction on his record. Furthermore, after a certain amount of time, he may be eligible to expunge (erase) his case.
Conditional Discharge
This means that a defendant received a conviction and is being monitored by the court, however, he does not have a probation officer. The state’s attorney will file a petition to revoke the defendant’s conditional discharge if he fails to do what he was ordered to do, or if he commits another crime. If the state’s attorney proves the petition or the defendant admits the petition, the defendant will be re-sentenced on the case.
Probation
The defendant received a conviction on his criminal record and he will be monitored by the probation department for a period of time.
Nolle Prosequi
The case was dismissed by the state’s attorney, however, the state’s attorney can re-file the case as long as the statute of limitations (the period of time in which a case must be filed) has not run.
Dismiss
The state’s attorney dismissed the case and the state’s attorney cannot re-file the case.
DOC
The court ordered the defendant to serve time in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Medical/Mental Treat
The defendant must go get a mental health evaluation from a licensed counselor and comply with any treatment the counselor recommends.
Drug Treatment
The defendant must go get a drug evaluation from a licensed counselor and comply with any treatment the counselor recommends.
Alcohol Treatment
The defendant must go get an alcohol evaluation from a licensed counselor and comply with any treatment the counselor recommends.
Public Service
The defendant must preform a certain number of hours of community service work.
Jail
The defendant received either actual or stayed time in the county jail. The time is stayed time unless the words “In Force” appear in the corresponding status section of the table.
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Related Post: Online Case Info Q&A
A helpful feature on Judici for a defendant is the fines-and-fees feature. This feature allows a defendant to see how much money he still owes on a case. (After pulling up a case on Judici, the “Fines & Fees” link appears towards the top of the page. Click that link.) The most important information on the fines-and-fees page is the total line. That line shows the total due, the total paid, and the balance owed. There is a bunch of other information on this page, but most of it is not likely to be important to a defendant. (This other information shows how the court costs break down.) One line, besides the total line, that a defendant might want to pay attention to is the line for probation fees, which vary from case to case. Probation fees are in addition to the fine and court costs a defendant must pay. In many cases, there are no probation fees and this line will not be present.
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Related Post: Online Case Info Q&A
On Judici, you can find clerk docket entries by clicking the “history” link after you have pulled up a case. The history section can be a bit mysterious if you don’t understand the jargon and acronyms used. In this post, you will become familiar with some of the more common acronyms and words used in criminal cases on Judici, but, by no means is this an exhaustive discussion of terms that you might encounter.
In this segment, I have posted a clerk docket entry (modified from a real misdemeanor case) and provided commentary on it. Please note that I have added numbers inside brackets (for example, [1]) in the below material — my commentary follows and corresponds with the inserted numbers.
| 02/06/2008 [1] | ASA [2] Jones present. Deft [3] present with Atty Darrow [4]. Deft enters vol. GP [5] to both counts [6]. Pursuant to plea, Deft sentenced to 2 years probation, $1,250 F&C [7], $60.52 Restitution [8], undergo an alcohol/ drug eval within 30 days and comply with rec. treatment [9], 90 days in CCS&DC stayed pending compliance [10], and not be present at any Walmart Store. Factual basis established [11]. Judgment entered. Judgment of Restitution entered and on file. Deft ordered to report to probation upon leaving the courtroom. |
| 01/09/2008 | ASA Jones present. Deft present with Atty Darrow and provided a copy of the Information [12]. Deft waives formal reading, enters plea of NG, and requests JT [13]. Status set Feb. 6, 2008 at 10 am. DOTA [14]. |
| 12/07/2007 | Entry of Appearance filed. Motion For Discovery filed. [15] |
| 12/05/2007 | Information filed. (2 Counts) |
- This docket entry is in reverse chronological order. In other words, the newer material appears at the top of the page and the older at the bottom.
- Assistant State’s Attorney. An assistant state’s attorney is a criminal prosecutor who works for the elected state’s attorney.
- Defendant
- In this case, attorney Darrow is the defendant’s attorney.
- The defendant is entering a voluntary guilty plea. Instead of going through a trial and a sentencing hearing, the defendant decided to admit his guilt. He will receive the sentence he negotiated for.
- In this case, two counts (or two different ways the defendant violated the criminal law) were filed against the defendant.
- Fine and court costs
- Restitution is money paid to a victim to cover the victim’s losses resulting from the crime.
- This defendant is required to visit an alcohol and drug counselor, obtain an evaluation, and complete any treatment recommended by the counselor.
- This defendant received a 90-day jail sentence, however, he will not have to serve it if he stays in continual compliance with his probation order. The jail time is stayed (suspended) for the time being. If the judge receives a bad report from this defendant’s probation officer, the judge can order the defendant to serve some of (or the entire) 90-day jail sentence.
- The State gave a brief factual summary of the actions of the defendant and the judge agreed that those facts supported the charges filed against the defendant.
- In many criminal cases, the Information is a document the State files with the court. It contains the charge or charges against the defendant. This document is one way that a criminal case can get started in the court system.
- At this point in time, the defendant pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. This is very common at this stage in a criminal case.
- The defendant was ordered to appear in court on February 6, 2008 at 10 a.m.
- These are documents filed by a defense attorney. The first lets the court and the state’s attorney know that the defendant is represented by counsel. The second seeks information possessed by the State about the defendant’s case.
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Related Post: Online Case Info Q&A
In my last post, I wrote about Judici. Now that you know that it exists, you may want help understanding it.
This post will focus on the case numbers found on Judici. As far as criminal and traffic case numbers are concerned, your primary focus needs to be on the following letters: CF, CM, TR, DT, CV, and OV.
CF
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the criminal-felony division. For example, “2008CF999″ would be a typical felony case number on Judici. The “2008″ part of the number tells you that the case was filed in the year 2008. The “999″ tells you that this particular case was 999th felony case filed in the year 2008.
Felonies carry the most severe criminal penalties. They are the crimes that can land a person in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
CM
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the criminal-misdemeanor division. Misdemeanors are generally less serious than felonies. A misdemeanor conviction can result in a person serving time in the county jail, however, that person cannot be sent to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
TR
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the traffic division. Traffic offenses can be petty (fine only) offenses or misdemeanors.
DT
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed as a DUI — the defendant was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
CV
If a case number contains these letters, then the case filed was filed as a conservation violation. When you read the word “conservation,” think things like fishing licenses, wildlife, and game wardens. These cases are often petty offenses, but not always.
OV
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed as either a city or county ordinance violation. These cases often times could have been filed as state charges, but the police chose to have them prosecuted in ordinance court rather than state court. A good example is underage drinking. All underage-drinking charges can be filed in state court, but, a large number of them end up being filed as city-ordinance violations rather than state misdemeanors.
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Related Post: Online Case Info Q&A
Did you know that many Illinois counties have case information online? If you have been charged with a crime, then you can go to the appropriate web page and search for your case. Once you find it, you can find information like your next court date and the status of your case.
Many counties make their case information available through Judici. Below you will find a listing of some of the counties on Judici. Click on the name of the county to be taken to that county’s case-search page.
- Clark County
- Coles County
- Cumberland County
- Crawford County
- Edgar County
- Effingham County
- Moultrie County
- Shelby County
- Vermilion County
Other counties, have case information online, however, that information is not located on Judici. Two of these counties are listed below.
Some counties, such as the two counties listed below, currently don’t have any case information online.
- Douglas County
- Jasper County
Post Updated: 3/20/09
