Education
This is the March 2019 Illinois criminal case law audio round-up (the fast case law summary). The March 2019 Top Illinois Criminal Law Cases (The Monthly Round-Up) Here’s a quick snapshot of the top cases: 1. People v. Patel State failed to produce discover for the SSS Hearing, they subsequently blew Trainor. 2. People v. Caraballo Officer was not certified at the time of the breathalyzer, but he was substantially certified. 3. People v. Sanchez Defendant is arrested at his home where he found plastered and driven back to the crash scene by police. 4. People v. Thomas Police see a defendant hand a gun to another person and then try to run and hide. 5. People v. Holmes An essentially anonymous tip was treated as wholly unreliable resulting in an outright reversal of this gun conviction. 6. People v. Webb Another version of UUW is held unconstitutional; this time it’s the one banning tasers. 7. People v. Cunningham Defendant gets 3 years for shooting himself in the leg in a housing project; this UUW version is constitutional. 8. People v. Drake Although the reversal is still good the lower court judgement that double jeopardy barred a retrial is reversed. 9. People v. Lewis One gun expert testified about the work done a different expert who was out on medical leave. 10. People v. Spicer Can the prosecution compel you to give up your phone password? 11. People v. Othman Has the plain error gotten much more liberal? 12. People v. Smith Kid is available for cross even though they don’t remember the actual allegation of sexual abuse. 13. People v. McArthur 17 year old held for more than 70 hours before his probable cause hearing, nonetheless, his confessions were all voluntary. 14. People v. Ruiz Defendant’s conversation with his coarresttee is recorded and his friend kept telling him he always takes things too far. 15. People v. Corral Kid got his eyewitness expert witness on the stand, but the witness was not allowed to get into what she thought about the reliability of the witness. 16. People v. Macklin Was defense counsel ineffective for not calling an eyewitness expert witness? 17. In re J.P. Juvenile court act allows a judge to order the removal of a gang tattoo. 18. People v. Rebollar-Vergara Defendant gets into an argument with a guy and his buddy ups and shoots him, then sloppy questioning happens in the grand jury room. 19. People v. Garcia Prosecutor used an inartful example to illustrate accountability, but this was not plain error. 20. People v. Holt The split deepens between the Second, Fourth and Third Districts on these burglary/retail theft convictions. 21. People v. Bausch Grabbing your wife’s purse can constitute insulting and provoking contact. 22. People v. McCurine Defendant says he was prejudiced and due process was violated when the state was allowed to tell the jury he was charged with being a habitual criminal. 23. People v. James Another SORA conviction reversed because police failed to investigate the circumstances of his living arrangement. 24. People v. Johnson No valid jury waiver in the record even though he apparently signed the waiver form. 25. People v. Thomas Defendant refused to sign the jury waiver but still wanted a bench trial. 26. People v. Maya Even “obvious” matters of sound trial strategy may be rebutted by defendant, here the lawyer kept a sheriff’s deputy on the jury. 27. People v. Mooney Agreeing to continuance was ineffective, outright reversal is the only remedy.