Illinois law allows you to expunge certain felonies from your record. If your case doesn’t qualify for expungement, you may be able to seal it as most felonies and misdemeanors are eligible for sealing.  The law is the same regardless of which county your case concluded. When you expunge your record, it gets destroyed. When you seal a record, it gets hidden from the public, landlords, and almost all employers. You can expunge your felony record in Illinois if you were sentenced to TASC Probation, 410/710/1410 Probation, Second Chance Probation, or received a Governor’s Pardon. For the purposes of expungement, these types of probation are referred to as “Qualified Probation.”  They all allow you to finish your case without a conviction. The waiting period is five years after completing your probation before you can file for Expungement.  In almost all cases, there will be a Court hearing where you have to prove to the judge that you are a good c...

Illinois law gives people a “second chance” for certain crimes. A “second chance” in this context means that you can expunge your criminal record if you were placed on “qualified probation” such as Second Chance Probation, TASC Probation, and First Offender Cannabis, Controlled Substance, or Methamphetamine cases -often called 1410, 410, 710 probation. You must wait five years from completing your sentence to file for expungement.  On the other hand, if you were convicted of a drug-related crime, you can seal, but not expunge, your record after three years of completing your sentence. You must attach a 5-panel drug test completed within 30 days of filing either a 1) Petition Expunge for cases where qualified probation was imposed or 2)  a Petition to Seal for drug convictions. The 5-panel drug test can be either a urine or hair test and screens for:  –  Cocaine – Amphetamines (Adderall, Ritalin, methamphetamine...

If the crime you committed is eligible, you may be able to seal or expunge your criminal conviction. The difference under Illinois law between sealing and expunging is that expunged records are destroyed while sealed records are retained but are not available to the general public.   The question that I’m often asked is, who will be able to see my record after it is sealed? It depends if (a) the case is a misdemeanor or felony, and (b) who wants to see your record.  First and foremost, the general public, landlords, and employers not required by law to do finger-print based background checks can not see sealed convictions regardless if they are felonies or misdemeanors. For all felony and misdemeanor cases, the following have access to the criminal record:  Illinois State Police; Department of Corrections if convicted of another offense; Courts;  Prosecutors carrying out with their duties; and  State’s Attorneys.  For felony cases only,...

Just a few short years ago, a felony conviction in Illinois meant a lifelong sentence. By that, I mean that although the defendant had completed his sentence, his/her criminal record was a matter of public record that everyone could see forever. For a convicted felon, regardless of how many years had passed, getting a job, renting an apartment, coaching, getting financial aid, or getting into a certain school was monumental, if not an impossible task. Felons were delegated to working low paying jobs which not only affected themselves but also their families. Throughout my 25 years of practicing criminal law, I made a point that the prosecutor or judge understood that the penalty on the defendant also indirectly affected innocent family members – such as the defendant’s minor children.  Some prosecutors and judges care about the wider societal implications, but most really don’t. The devastation caused by a system that churns felons day in and day out is immeas...

Efforts are underway in Illinois to change the way DNA evidence in rape cases is processed.  The Chicago Tribune conducted an exhaustive investigation of the problems associated with the Illinois State Police Crime Lab and discovered that many rape kits were not being tested.  A rape kit allows a nurse or a doctor to collect semen, saliva and other potential sources of DNA samples from victims.  The process of securing the DNA evidence can take up to 8 hours but the results can be very powerful.  The results may link an offender to a crime or even exonerate a suspect.  Even when rape kits are submitted to the crime lab, the lab sometimes refused to conduct any testing and returned them to the police agency.  At least 88 rape kits were found to have been returned to the Chicago Police untested.  On February 1, 2010, we published a post describing how ...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit sided with an inmate who had ordered the death certificate of his victim and was not allowed to keep it when his mail was opened by prison officials.  The case involves Kevin Williams. Kevin Williams was convicted of the murder of Traci Todd and sentenced to 65 years in prison.  While he was incarcerated at the Pontiac Correction Center, a maximum security prison in Illinois, Williams ordered the death certificate of his victim from the County Clerk’s Office.  The death certificate was received in the mail at Pontiac.  His mail was opened by prison officials and inside the envelope, they found the victim’s death certificate along with an unsigned note which stated that “there is a place in hell waiting for you as you must know you will reap what you have sowed.”  The prison officials confiscated the mail claiming that they were doing so to insure the safety and security of the facility and not to negatively impact his rehabi...

Today, in a 5 to 3 decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that in order for the government to freeze the assets of a criminal defendant that are needed to pay for legal representation, the government must prove that the money is related to criminal conduct.  The case involved Miami resident Sila Luis.  Luis was charged with Medicare Fraud.  The government froze $40 million of her assets.  Luis appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that the money was not related to the claims of Medicare Fraud and that by freezing her assets, she was unable to pay for the attorney that she wanted to represent her in the case.  The Supreme Court agreed with her and found that by freezing her assets, she was deprived of her 6th Amendment right to hire the lawyer of her choice. This case is important because it deals with the issue of Civil Forfeiture in criminal prosecutions. The government has been using this process increasingly to freeze assets of criminal defendants.  It has almost be...

What is Possession of a Controlled Substance? In Illinois it is illegal to be in the possession of illegal drugs.  Cases like this are commonly referred to as a PCS.  Illinois classifies drugs according to Schedules from Class 1  to Class 5.  Which class a particular drug is placed depends on who addictive the drug is and whether it has any medical value. Generally, the common street drugs like Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, Ecstasy and Marijuana are considered highly addictive and have no medical value.  Those drugs are classified as Class 1 drugs and the Possession of Schedule 1 drugs is treated more severely than the possession of lower class drugs.  People that are charged with the Possession of Schedule 2 to 5 drugs are usually facing Prescription Drug Fraud charges.  Even when it comes to the Possession of Schedule 1 drugs, the Possession of Marijuana is treated differently than the Possession of other Schedule 1 drugs.  What you can be charged...

In a 5 to 4 decision, strictly along ideological lines, the United States Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the FISA law which allows for warrant-less wiretapping by the government of our phone calls.  On January 2, 2013, we reported that the United States Senate agreed to extend this law for another 4 years.  The law specifically allows the United States government to intercept international phone calls without a warrant.  Today the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. based journalists, attorneys and human rights groups lack the standing to challenge this law since they cannot show that they had suffered any injury as a result of the law.  Warrant-less wiretapping was started by President George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011.  The program was ended in 2007 but the next year Congress reinstated the warrant-less wiretapping program by enacting the FISA law.  At the beginning of this year Congress extended the law for ...

The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a lawsuit brought by lawyers, journalists and civil rights organizations challenging the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which allows for the government to eavesdrop on telephone and email communications between people in the United states and foreign countries without a warrant.  The plaintiffs claim that the fear that they may be intercepted causes them to adopt costly measures to avoid having their communications intercepted.  The Supreme Court is not considering the legality of this law. Rather, they are considering whether the plaintiff’s in this case have the legal standing to even bring such a lawsuit.  The warrant-less wiretapping program was put into effect by President Bush after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 without any Congressional authority. The program ended in 2007 but was reinstated by Congress in 2008.  The government is claiming that the plaintiffs cannot show that the...