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Domestic Violence Going Around and Around
"He was utterly charming – and all about control. Everyone else could see what he was doing but I couldn't." Kacey Jai Smith recently shared her story of abuse with The Guardian, explaining how she stayed with her abuser for five years. She said that what started out as criticism soon led to abuse and threats on her family, which is how many abuse stories go. Kacey Smith’s story ended happily when she got out and got a criminal attorney who helped convict her ex-boyfriend.
Domestic violence often goes around in a cycle similar to Kacey’s, starting with one type of abuse and going full circle to many other types of abuse. The steps within the domestic violence cycle, according to DomesticViolence.org are as follows:
An incident occurs where the abuser feels in control. Perhaps he or she gets angry and hits someone, an incident that has never happened before. This incident can be any type of abuse: physical, sexual, or emotional.
Tension builds between the abuser and the abused. The abuser may get angry more easily or more frequently and the abuse may begin to become a normal routine. When the tension and abuse increase:
What To Do If You Have Been Charged With A Work Zone Violation
Each year in Illinois, there are more than 7,000 work zone violations, many of which lead to injuries and fatalities. Don’t assume that a work zone violation is a minor offense, since there are serious consequences if you are convicted. If you have been charged with violating the laws in a work zone, you need an attorney right away as your first step.
A new driving law for 2014 creates separate offenses for an individual who is speeding in a construction zone when workers are present and when workers are not present. Currently, this new law removes the license suspension penalty when workers are not present. When regular driving conditions have been altered as a result of construction, the lower speed limits are intended to give drivers more time to negotiate the changes. When the reduced speeds have been clearly posted at the work site and there are workers, a charged individual can face the higher work zone fines. Paying attention to posted signage is the best way to prevent speeding.
Post-Holiday Shopping And Shoplifting Allegations
Post-holiday season, you’re probably headed back to one or two stores to return items. In the hubbub of shopping and busy crowds, you need to be on high alert for increased shoplifting watches. Make sure you carry your item in within a bag and carry the receipt with you in case anyone asks where you got the item. As soon as you enter the store, ask for assistance with returning items. Going with a friend tends to make the process easier. Unfortunately, sometimes retailers can take things a step too far. Being on high alert for theft means that shoppers need to beware retailer allegations of shoplifting. If you have been accused, know your rights and contact a Chicago criminal defense lawyer. Do not let a story bully you into confessing.
Since stores are watching out for shoplifting behavior, the chances of being accused are greater this time of year than any other. Stores are required to have seen you make an attempt to steal something (probable cause) before accusing you of this, but recently stores have been in the national spotlight for detaining customers after racially profiling them. Stores cannot keep you in a small space without allowing you to leave that room, but some stores and their employees attempt to use threats or intimidation to get to confess to a crime. In the short term, the best thing you can do is cooperate but you also want to watch out for any efforts that are used to try to force you into confessing.
Illinois Debit Card and Credit Card Fraud Laws
Illinois has strict laws regarding the criminal offenses of credit card or debit card fraud. If you have been accused of a crime in this area, you need to get legal advice immediately. A conviction for credit card fraud can harm your reputation and build a record for you, and you need a criminal defense attorney who will take your case seriously.
There are several different components of this form of computer crime and credit card fraud. This includes making a false statement to procure or secure a debit card/credit card. This statement has to be in writing. Another allegation that might be made against you is the sale or purchase of a credit card or debit card. Authorities might claim that you are responsible for selling or purchasing private financial information like this on the Internet, leading to consequences for you.
Depending on what happened with the credit card or debit card information once it was stolen, the punishments can vary. This is why it’s so critical that you have an attorney advocating for you from the outset, because these details matter a great deal in the outcome of your case. Your case might be classified as a misdemeanor, but if significant amounts of property were obtained in a six-month period, your case might be categorized as a Class 3 or Class 4 felony. These consequences can include fines and prison time and can serve as unpleasant memories for years to come.
Man Arrested for Aggravated DUI After Crashing into Pontiac Police Officer
Earlier this month, a man was placed under arrest for Aggravated Driving Under the Influence (DUI) when the vehicle he was driving left the highway, crossing into the center median, and struck a stationary police car. According to a report by The Chicago-Sun Times, the man was driving a pick-up truck on I-55 North at around 9:30 p.m. when the truck left the road and collided with the officer’s squad car.
The officer, as well as a police dog who was also in the car, were both killed in the crash. The driver of the pick-up truck was taken to the hospital and was then arrested once he was released.Driving Under the Influence in Illinois
Any driver who has a blood alcohol content of .08% or greater is driving in violation of Illinois law (keep in mind that minors and commercial drivers are subject to lower limits).
Remember that, by driving with a valid Illinois license (or using another state’s license while driving on Illinois roads) you are consenting to a blood alcohol test at any time. Failure to submit to a requested test may result in additional charges or a license suspension.
Driver in Fatal Crash Did Not have a License
Right before midnight on October 13th, there was a car crash on the east side of Aurora. The crash left three people dead and another five injured, when a Dodge Charger drifted into the other lane into a full minivan. The result of the head-on collision was devastating. Especially since the driver of the Charger was driving without a license.The family in the minivan lost two loved members, one was 57 year old Rose Cuanetl and the other was 77 year old Andrea Moyotl. Two children were critically injured in the accident including the 17 year old driver of the vehicle. Three males aged nine, twelve and 40 were injured in the wreck as well. All of the injured passengers are expected to make a full recovery.
The driver of the Charger unfortunately did not recover from his injuries. Oscar Rodriguez, 28, died from the crash on Broadway Avenue near Hazel Street. Oscar shouldn’t have been driving at all, but decided to take his girlfriend’s car out for a drive. There was no news about whether drugs or alcohol were a possible cause of the accident.
New Law for 2014 to Raise Speed Limits
In August of 2013, Governor Pat Quinn signed a new law that will increase the speed limit to 70 miles per hour for some highways in Illinois. Illinois is the 35th state to increase their speed limits to 70 mph. The law allows eight counties to opt-out depending on their local safety concerns. The eight counties are Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Madison, McHenry, St. Clair and Will.
Quinn approved the new law saying that “this limited 5 miles per hour increase will bring Illinois’ rural interstate speed limits in line with our neighbors’ and the majority of states across America, while preventing an increase in excessive speeding.” The law also amended the previous definition of “excessive” from 31 mph over the speed limit to 26 mph over.
Quinn took the summer to consider the bill and decided that it was good for commerce and the drivers of Illinois. Political support is also clear as the law passed 85 to 30 in the House and 41 to 6 in the Senate. But there are many detractors to the new law including state police, roadway safety organizations, and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Man Exonerated for Crime Sues Lake County Police
By the time that Juan Rivera was taken into custody, the trail to find the killer of eleven year old Holly Staker had gone cold. The girl had been raped and stabbed in Waukegan while babysitting for two children in the summer of 1992. The Lake County Police Department had followed up on more than 600 leads to find the killer when they questioned the then 19 year old Juan Rivera for the second time. He had originally stated that he was at a nearby party around the time of the crime.
Incongruities in his story lead the police to aggressively interrogate the man with a 9th grade education and psychological problems. For up to four days, Rivera was subjected to almost constant questioning. After banging his head against his cell, pulling out his hair and being restrained by handcuffs and leg shackles, he confessed to the murder in graphic detail. His admission of guilt was the centerpiece in the case against him.
Rivera was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the crimes in 1993. In 1996, an appellate court reversed the decision based on errors in the trial and demanded a new trial. By 1998, Rivera was retried and sentenced to life again. This time the appellate court did not overturn the decision. It was only in 2006, when DNA tests confirmed that the semen was not Rivera’s that a third trial was ordered by the sentencing judge. After being found guilty for the third time, an appeal in 2011 allowed Rivera to be exonerated and released in 2012.
Imperial Insane Vice Lords Gang Members Busted
There’s been no shortage of stories involving murder and violence coming out of Chicago in recent years, but rarely do the people at the top, oftentimes more responsible for the violence than anyone else, get caught. In mid-October, however, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, police apprehended 33 people who are now facing drug conspiracy charges, including the head of the Imperial Insane Vice Lords Nathaniel Hoskins. Hoskins and his family, reports the Sun-Times, actually lived in Las Vegas at the time of his arrest, “but the reputed gang leader micromanaged drug spots in his hometown of Chicago and even ordered a murder in 2011, prosecutors said.” According to the Sun-Times, the Imperial Insane Vice Lords have a stronghold on the city’s West Side, “but also operated a drug spot in Wicker Park near North and Damen.”
There were nine other defendants in court alongside Hoskins that have been formally charged with racketeering. These were in addition to 14 others “ranging in age from 21 to 52 also… charged federally with conspiracy to distribute heroin.” An additional nine alleged gang members were charged in a Cook County criminal court. Police told the Sun-Times that Hoskins kept a close eye on the 250 gang members he “employed” in Chicago, even though he was 1,700 miles away. He has been accused of “dabbling in illegal pharmaceutical sales in Nevada too,” police told the Sun-Times.
Man Commits Murder Over Pot Plant
Christopher Shoji, 25, of North Center, was charged with murder and misdemeanor cannabis production, after allegedly stabbing his best friend to death in an incident involving an argument over a marijuana plant, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The incident occurred outside a mutual friend’s basement apartment late on a Monday night, reports the Sun-Times, and immediately following the stabbing Shoji “ran to his mother’s house, pulled out the 4-to-5-foot long illegal plant, came back to the friend’s apartment and hid in her closet with the pot where police found him,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Latoya Croswell told the Sun-Times. He had allegedly already admitted his crime to the friend in whose closet he was hiding.
Solomon Morales and Shoji had been best friends for years, a fact which Archimides Morales, brother of the deceased, told the Sun-Times was “the worst part about it. We saw [Shoji] all the time. We always had him at our house for dinner and to drink… I gave Chris the clothes off my back…. he was family.” Attorney Croswell said that Shoji had told her that he was frightened of Morales, afraid that he was going to ”snitch” about the pot plant, which prosecutors have taken as a motive in the case. Morales didn’t die at the scene of the crime, however. He “died at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where his family took him after he was able to walk home, leaving a trail of blood from his friend’s home,” reports the Sun-Times.
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