In a recent Illinois appellate case, the court considered a burglary conviction. The defendant was sentenced to an eight-year Class X sentence due to his criminal record. On appeal, he argued that he wasn’t proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because the prosecution hadn’t established that he was not allowed to be in the building or that he planned to steal. The case arose when a university employee who worked in the telephone operating department came to work early one morning. She worked in a building that had telecommunications equipment and was only accessible by using a key or key card. She used her key card to go inside the building, and only two other employees were there. Almost two hours after arriving, she saw on the video security monitor that the defendant was in the basement hallway. She knew he wasn’t an employee. He was checking to see if doorknobs were open and looking at equipment in boxes. The employee asked a coworker to call the police, and she kept watc...

Kim Foxx was sworn in as the new Cook County State’s Attorney last week. Yesterday, she made her first major announcement.  She announced that her office will not be charging Retail Theft cases as felonies unless the amount that is involved is more than $1,000 or if the defendant does not have anything less than 10 prior Felony Retail Theft convictions.   This announcement represents a dramatic shift in policy at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.  Under current state law, you can be charged with a Class 4 Felony Retail Theft if the amount of the goods involved is more than $300 or if you have one prior felony retail theft conviction.  If you have one prior felony conviction you can be charged with a felony even if the amount is under $300.  If the amount is over $500, you can be charged with a class 3 felony.  Foxx’s announcement drastically raises the bar for what constitutes a Felony Retail Theft in Cook County.  Anita Alvarez, Foxx’s predecessor, had been trying to get t...

Last week the United States Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a 76 year old Alabama man who had been sentenced to life in prison for possession of less than 3 pounds of marijuana that he had grown for personal use.  Lee Carroll Brooker had been convicted of possessing less than three pounds of marijuana that he had grown for personal use. Brooker is a disabled veteran who claimed that he had grown the marijuana to treat chronic pain.  Police discovered the marijuana when they visited a home he shared with his son while they were searching for stolen property.  The police discovered 37 marijuana plants growing in the back yard but had no evidence that he was selling marijuana.  But because of an Alabama statute which allows him to be charged with trafficking if the weight of the marijuana is more than 2.2 pounds, he was convicted of trafficking.  The statute also provides for a mandatory life sentence for anyone convicted of this crime who has a prior criminal record.  Brooker was...

In an interesting case out of Florida, the public is getting detailed information about the secretive stingray fake cell phone tower which is being used by law enforcement officials to track particular cell phones.  Up until now, we have had general information about how these devices work.  However, a transcript released in a Florida case has provided us with the most detailed description of how this device works. On September 13, 2008 a Tallahassee woman was raped and her purse, which contained her Verizon cell phone, was stolen.  Detectives contacted Verizon and obtained real time ping information from Verizon.  That information gave the police general information about where that phone was located but the police needed detailed location information.  The thinking was that if they found the phone, they would find the rapist. The police obtained the unique IMSI identifier of the victim’s phone and started cruising the streets of the general area in which Verizon’s real time ping d...

I want to bring your attention to one of the most troubling 4th Amendment decisions that I have ever run into.  Keep in mind that I have been practicing law for over 20 years so I have seen it all.  But this case might be the most outrageous violation of the 4th Amendment’s protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.  The case is United States of America v. Cindy Lee Westhoven, No. 13-2065.  The case is out of the 10th Circuit.  On April 18, 2012, a Border Patrol Agent was patrolling Highway 80 in New Mexico, which is about 45 miles from the Mexico border.  He observed Westhoven drive her Ford F-150 in the opposite direction of the highway he was travelling on.  The agent testified that this highway is frequently used to transport illegal aliens.  As Westhoven drove past him, the agent testified that Westhoven had a “stiff posture” and her arms were “straight and locked out” at a “ten-and-two position on the steering wheel.”  The truck had tinted windows and an Arizona licen...

As we wake up this morning to news of a botched execution in Oklahoma last night, maybe we can start a discussion over whether the death penalty works and whether we need to rethink whether we should execute inmates.  The Oklahoma execution in question involves Clayton Lockett who was convicted in 2000 of first degree murder, first degree rape, kidnapping and robbery as a result of a 1999 crime spree in Oklahoma.   Last night the State of Oklahoma executed Clayton Lockett.  It appears as if something went wrong during the execution process resulting in Lockett convulsing in pain and muttering words indicating he was alive and suffering.  When it became obvious that something was wrong, the prison officials closed the curtain and continued with the execution.  A while later the spectators were informed that Lockett had died of a heart attack. Now Lockett may not be the most sympathetic example of what is wrong with the death penalty but they way this executio...

This week the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case which expands the ability of the police to search a residence even though they had originally been denied consent. The case started when police arrived at the Los Angeles home of Walter Fernandez for a suspected Robbery.  When the police first arrived at Fernandez’s home, they asked for his consent to enter and search and he did not grant them consent to search.  The police then determined that he had committed a domestic battery on his girlfriend and arrested him.  An hour later, while Fernandez was under arrest at the police station, the police returned to his residence and obtained consent to search from his girlfriend.  When they searched his residence, they recovered weapons and other evidence which connected him to the Robbery.  He was eventually convicted of Robbery, gun and Domestic Battery charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison.  He appealed his conviction arguing that the police did not have the right...

Last week the United States Supreme Court considered a case which will decide whether a federal judge has the authority to indefinitely stay a criminal defendant’s appeal pending a determination that the inmate is mentally competent to assist their attorney in the appeal.  A defendant appealing a death sentence in federal court has a legal right to an attorney but there has never been a determination that the defendant has to be mentally fit to pursue that appeal.  This case involves Sean Carter, who was convicted in Ohio of the murder of his grandmother after he had been released from prison in 1997 and was sentenced to death.  The other case involves Ernest Gonzalez, who was convicted of first degree murder during a burglary in Arizona in 1999 and sentenced to death. The federal judge handling Carter’s appeal stayed the appeal until he was mentally competent but the Court of Appeals changed the ruling to allow the part of the appeal that did not requi...

The Cook County State’s Attorney Deferred Prosecution Program is a diversion program for adult felony defendants without a prior felony conviction that have been arrested for non-violent crimes. Participation to the program is at the sole discretion of the State’s attorney.The program placed the defendant into a 12 month intensive  program. Upon completion of the program, the State will then dismiss the case. The Defendant can then file to have the arrest record expunged upon dismissal. In Cook County, due to delays, it takes 6  to 12 months to have the arrest record expunged after the Petition to Expunge is filed.However, only probationable  offences of  Theft, Retail Theft, Forgery, Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle, Burglary, Possession  of Burglary Tools, Possession of Cannabis, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Methamphetamine are eligible for the program.The  defendant will not be eligible if the case involves Delivery of a Controlled Substance or if t...

The Chicago Police Department now posts online the picture and the approximate address of the people who were arrested in Chicago for prostitution related charges – the pictures are removed 30 days after the arrest. See: www.chicagopolice.org/ps/list.aspx. In the last 30 days, 53 people have been arrested for paying or being paid for “love.” The ancient Greeks gave the definition of love four meanings to capture the different “love” relationships we have among us. They are: 1) Agápe; 2) Phillia; 3) Storge and 4) Eros.Agape refers to true love, such as the love a husband has for his wife. Phillia refers to the love one has for a friend. Storge refers to the love of affections. And last but not least, Eros means erotic or sensual love after the Greek God Eros of love – thus the term, erotic. Almost all of the folks posted online were looking for the God Eros and could only find him if they paid for it – an unfortunate situation. To think of...