For a DUI stop to be legal, the officer must have probable cause. Illinois has just changed the law regarding pedestrians in crosswalks. The old law was that drivers must yield, the new law is that they must stop. Failing to do so will give the police the right to stop your [...]

There is a stop light camera at the corner of Route 22 and Route 14 in Fox River Grove. Apparently the camera takes a picture before and after a violation, so as a result it takes a picture of all cars approaching the intersection. This makes drivers think they may get a ticket [...]

With court costs at an all time high perhaps it’s time to limit how much can be charged. On a $5 ticket in McHenry County the court costs can run as much as $125.

Well the Illinois legislature has done just what I expected, something dumb.  If you didn’t know before, driving while the metabolites of cannabis are in your blood stream was a strict liability offense.  What that means is that the cannabis did not have to affect your ability to drive in order for you to be in [...]

For the second year in a row McHenry County DUI arrests are down.  Now the Sheriff suggests that the visiting Illinois State Police SET (Seatbelt, Speeding) enforcement team are the reason, but wouldn’t the presence of such a team increase the number of arrests.  (Unless everyone out there knew this team existed and took preventitive [...]

How far back should we look back when sentencing a person for DUI?  The Illinois legislature has answered that question …. since creation.  If a person is 60 and he received a DUI when he was 18 (42 years ago): that was 1958, we had no seatbelts in cars, children routinely rode on the speaker [...]

I know I have not posted in awhile, I have been busy.  Please note that the “comments” are turned off, mostly due to spam, but I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who come by every once in a while to see what’s new.
I have been practicing law about 18 [...]

The Supreme Court has now stated that searching a car for evidence of contraband is not allowed without a warrant, unless the search is for evidence of the crime for which the person was arrested for.  It used to be that the police may search a vehicle that a person was driving in.  It was [...]

Seems like a lot of my friends are losing their jobs these days.  And many clients call me up to ask what DUI “supervision” looks like on a record (so they can figure out how to answer questions about criminal charges on their job application).
Here’s how it works.  A DUI supervision is not a conviction, but [...]

Since the beginning of the year, the State of Illinois has followed several other states (like the lemmings they are) into the requirement of BAID devices (breathalyzer to start your car).  Seemed like a great idea, unless you thought about it for about two seconds.
A friend of mine likes to create “BAID Horror Stories” for [...]