When someone files a complaint against you in an Illinois court, you will be served with a summons that lets you know that a lawsuit has been brought against you and what you must do to respond.  In the lawsuit, you are called the defendant or respondent. The filer of the complaint is called the … Continue reading How Do I Answer a Complaint in Illinois?

When someone is arrested, the arrest is recorded in a public record. This is called a public arrest record, which is a little bit different from a criminal record. Even if an individual is eventually found not guilty of the charges against him or her (and thus does not have a criminal record for it), … Continue reading How Can I Minimize Public Record of My Arrest?

Anyone who is attacked and in danger of being harmed has the right to defend himself, but there are still times when a person acting in self-defense winds up faced with the possibility of going to jail. While Illinois law allows you to take actions in self-defense, you must be able to prove that you … Continue reading Can you go to jail for self-defense?

Under Illinois law, battery occurs if you have physical contact with another individual with the intent to injure, provoke, or insult that person. Battery may consist of contact such as pushing another person, or intentionally causing bodily harm by hitting and injuring someone with an object. While a simple battery is usually charged as a … Continue reading Is Battery a Felony in Illinois?

Illinois law considers assault to be intentional conduct that reasonably causes a person to feel afraid of impending violence. Threatening to hit someone, when said in a menacing or angry manner and accompanied by conduct consistent with the threat, is an assault if the words and conduct cause victims to reasonably fear being injured in … Continue reading Is Aggravated Assault a Felony in Illinois?

In Short: Voluntary and Involuntary. Murder charges generally involve an intentional killing; but if you kill someone but did not intend to do it, you might be accused of the crime of manslaughter instead.  Manslaughter is defined as the unintentional killing of a person without lawful justification (720 ILCS 5/9-3.)  Unlike the terms that are … Continue reading What Is the Difference between First- and Second-Degree Manslaughter?

Being arrested for a first-time DUI in Illinois is a frightening experience, and can leave you wondering what happens after your first DUI in Illinois? In short, you face both administrative and criminal penalties that may include jail time, up to $2,500 in fines, and license suspension. A first DUI is considered a Class A misdemeanor; … Continue reading What happens after your first DUI in Illinois?

Illinois may soon join the growing number of states that are legalizing not only medical, but recreational marijuana.  Once pot is legal, it raises the question as to what will happen to people who are currently incarcerated on cannabis-related charges and to those who have felony pot convictions. With cultivation, trafficking, sale, or possession of marijuana … Continue reading  If Marijuana is Legalized in Illinois, What Happens to Prior Convictions?

The United States imprisons more people than any other country, and many of those incarcerated are parents who wind up losing their children. According to the Marshall Project, more than half of the 2.2 million people in the nation’s prisons and jails are parents of minor children. The Marshall Project statistics show that between 2006 … Continue reading Incarceration Has an Enormous Impact on Parental Rights

Attitudes toward drugs are changing, so it is not surprising that Illinois has some new drug laws you should know about in 2019 and that additional reforms are being considered. Many people now believe that the “war on drugs,” which threw so many non-violent offenders into jail in recent years, has created more problems than … Continue reading What You Should Know About Illinois Drug Laws in 2019