Individuals Seeking Expungement in Illinois Face Roadblocks In Illinois, there is a legal process that allows individuals that have been accused/convicted of certain crimes to have their records formally sealed or expunged from their criminal record, depending on the...
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Federal Court Rules Felon In Possession of Gun Law Unconstitutional
District Court Dismisses Indictment in Potentially Landmark Ruling A federal district court judge, the Honorable Carlton Reeves, in the Southern District of Mississippi dismissed an indictment against a man charged with being a felon in possession of a gun in...
Department of Justice Continues Crackdown on Fentanyl
DOJ Arrests Chinese Nationals for Fentanyl Distribution Two weeks ago the Department of Justice announced that they indicted eight Chinese nationals and filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies for alleged fentanyl manufacturing and...
Illinois Supreme Court Rules Police Can Force Access to Cell Phone Passcodes
Court Rules a Defendant’s Passcodes Are Not Protected Recently the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination do not apply to cell phone passcodes and courts can order a defendant to provide the passcode to...
Can the Odor of Marijuana Justify a Police Search? It Depends on the State
Wisconsin Court Rules Marijuana Scent Alone Warrants Police Search Recently the Wisconsin Supreme Court narrowly ruled that police officers were justified in conducting a search of a vehicle based on the purported smell of marijuana, overturning a lower courts ruling....
Government Expands Investigation Tools for PPP Fraud and Other Pandemic Relief Programs
Governor Pritzker Likely to Extending Statute of Limitations for Pandemic Relief Fraud It is widely expected that Illinois Governor Pritzker will sign recently passed legislation that will extend the statute of limitations to bring criminal charges against individuals...
Lawyer Reprimanded for Using Chat GPT in Legal Research
Reliance on Artificial Intelligence Growing Across Industries As ChatGPT grows in popularity, there has been increasing speculation that it will disrupt many white-collar jobs, even replacing workers. There is considerable debate surrounding which industries are at...
Supreme Court Clarifies Culpability in Suits Brought Under False Claims Act
Supreme Court Reverses Seventh Circuit Cases Based on State of Mind Standard The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the Seventh Circuit erred in dismissing two separate suits brought under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by whistleblowers alleging Medicare/Medicaid...
Federal Appeals Court Restricts Government’s Ability to Deny Gun Possession and Ownership Based on Criminal History
Federal “Felon-in-Possession” Law Violates Second Amendment On June 6, 2023, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the current federal “felon in possession” law (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)) violated a Pennsylvania man’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms...
Rape Allegations Once Again Make National Headlines
New Information Comes to Light Against NFL Punter After being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 2022 NFL draft, Matt Araiza was cut from the team after he was named in a civil lawsuit that alleged that he participated in multiple acts of rape (sexual assault) of a...