Today, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a case which upheld the banning of semiautomatic assault weapons in Highland Park, Illinois.  Two Justices, Alito and Thomas, disagreed with the decision to not review the case.  The case had been closely watched but gun rights activists and is of significant 2nd Amendment importance. In 2013 the city of Highland Park Illinois enacted a local ordinance banning high capacity magazines with more than 10 bullets and also banned assault weapons.  The Highland Park ordinance was in response to a Federal Court of Appeals decision which ordered the State of Illinois to enact a conceal and carry mechanism.  The Illinois legislature gave municipalities 10 days to enact restrictions.  Highland Park was one of only 20 municipalities in Illinois, all around the Chicago area, to actually impose restrictions on guns.  A Highland Park resident, along with the Illinois State Rifle Association, filed suit allegi...

Today I appeared before Judge Haberkorn in the Circuit Court of Cook County – 2nd Municipal District and vacated my clients Unlawful Use of A Weapon (UUW) conviction from August 22, 2006. My client, a family man and an electrical engineer by trade, was arrested for a DUI and the officer found a loaded gun on the passenger side of the car. My client plead guilty to the UUW and the DUI charge – he represented by another attorney when he plead guilty to the charges.Over 10 years later, I was able to vacate my clients UUW conviction based on recent decisions from the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) and the Illinois Supreme Court. My filed brief in support of vacating my client’s conviction was thorough and included a detailed analysis of all relevant case law. Our position was so strong, that the Cook County State’s Attorney conceded.   I have been fighting for my clients for many years who has been prosecuted by the State of Illinois for violating gun laws which...

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...

Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court issued one of the most important decisions to come down from this court in a long time.  The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the main part of the Illinois gun law, also known as the Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon statute, is unconstitutional and can no longer be enforced by judges, prosecutors and police officers.  Yet this news has gone largely unreported by the media.  This is a major story.  The implications are truly significant.  For one thing, for defendants currently facing criminal charges for Aggravated UUW, who had a valid FOID card, this means that their cases will be dismissed. This decision opens the door to litigation in which arguments will be made by criminal defendants that their cases should be dismissed even if they did not have an FOID card.  My reading of this case makes me think that if you have a valid FOID card you can legally conceal and carry a firearm in public.  If my reading of the case is correct, as of yeste...

In the case of Moore v. Madigan, a three judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional the Illinois gun law which prohibits ordinary citizens from carrying firearms in public. The panel reasoned that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution allows citizens to carry a firearm in public for self defense, and thus, enjoined the State of Illinois from enforcing the current Illinois gun law. Although the panel made its decision on December 11, 2012, it delayed enforcement until June 9, 2013 for the Illinois State Legislature to draft a new gun law that allows for reasonable restrictions.  The right to carry a firearm in public is not absolute – the State of Illinois and other municipalities can pass laws that place reasonable restrictions on who can own a firearm and at what places firearms are allowed.So what are reasonable restrictions? The panel noted that obvious restrictions, such as not allowing the mentally ill and felons to carry gu...

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...

On April 21, 2009, we published an article about the Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. Gant.  In this case, The Supreme Court severely limited police officers power to search vehicles after an arrest. In Arizona v. Gant, the defendant had been pulled over for a traffic violation.  The police officer determined that he did not have a valid license and placed him under arrest.  The defendant was handcuffed and placed in the back of the police vehicle. The officer then searched the vehicle and discovered a gun and drugs. The Supreme Court ruled that the search of the vehicle was unreasonable and ruled that the evidence seized in the search had to be suppressed. The court held that in order for the police to search the vehicle the defendant had to be close enough to the vehicle as to pose a risk that he could grab a weapon out of the car or that the police had a reasonable belief tha...