In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled on a case known as Brady v. Maryland. The criminal case involved a defendant, Brady, who was accused along with another defendant of murdering a third man. Brady told police that he was involved in the murder, but he had no intention of killing…
JPMorgan executives tasked with managing the bank’s precious metal investing are now the target of an extremely aggressive investigation in which some of these executives are being charged under RICO. Federal prosecutors agreed that the move was aggressive and rarely used in banking conspiracy cases, but also noted that the…
The FBI filed federal charges against a 34-year-old Morton Grove man who they claimed made threats to kill FBI agents over the phone. However, Matthew Berger was acquitted of all five charges of sending threatening communications to a federal officer. Berger has an interesting rap sheet. He has been in…
John Coli Sr., a former Teamsters union boss, has been charged with extortion. Coli Sr. has an interesting reputation. Known for his brash and uncompromising language, he once told an attorney in a deposition to go “fudge” themselves. For years, controversy surrounded many of his decisions. He was accused of…
Video footage showed a 6’6” officer pushing and punching a mentally-ill patient in the face. Yet this officer has had all charges against him dismissed. A department beleaguered by numerous complaints of police brutality and violent criminal activity now faces another scandal in which their reputation hangs in the balance.…
James Gibson, the man who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of a double homicide, is finally a free man. After an appellate court tossed a conviction against him, the district attorney’s office dropped the charges. It was unclear if they were going to retry Gibson for…
For the past 28 years, James Gibson has maintained his own innocence. For 28 years he has remained behind bars. This is despite the fact that Gibson ostensibly confessed to the murders of an insurance agent and his friend. Gibson has always said that, over the course of two days,…
Is it ever worth it to take a plea? Not if you are Robert Kraft, the owner of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. The prosecution offered Kraft a sweetheart deal on two misdemeanor solicitation charges. If Kraft agreed to state that “he would have been proven guilty had…
The Chicago Tribune recently published a report on the new Illinois laws that went into effect starting January 1, 2019. In all, more than 250 pieces of legislation are now on the books, ranging from gun control to sexual harassment to synthetic marijuana. One particular law will affect anyone with…
In the state of Illinois, it is illegal to exchange a sex act for anything that has value. The charges brought against the defendants in prostitution cases are determined by their role as promoter, seller, or buyer. For example, on November 1st, a man from Bellwood was accused of forcing…