Articles Posted in Criminal defense

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A 28-year-old man is facing charges of kidnapping, criminal sexual abuse, and criminal sexual assault after an attack on a spa worker. Police say that the woman was folding towels when the suspect entered the spa and forced her into another room. Video surveillance shows her being grabbed by the hair. A struggle ensued and eventually, the spa worker was able to escape. She called a friend from a nearby alleyway who eventually phoned the police.

Against the advice of his public defender, the suspect admitted to entering the spa but said the worker became upset with him when his credit card was declined after a massage. Video surveillance appears to show a man pulling the victim into a room by the hair. The same video shows the woman leaving the room to phone the police. 

Against the advice of his counsel, the defendant will take the position that he was targeted by the complainant because he could not pay for the massage. 

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It is becoming more and more of a newsworthy topic to discuss why specific suspects are not being charged with crimes related to specific incidents. In the most recent example, a man who was stabbed is now demanding answers after the suspect charged with his stabbing was released. 

According to reports, the man was out with his brothers when a group of other men approached him and began beating him. The victim identified one of the men who stabbed him but was later released. Now, he is demanding answers. 

Police were able to confirm that a person of interest was interviewed at the scene, but no one was charged. The Cook County State’s Attorneys released a statement saying that the totality of the evidence was insufficient to pursue charges. They also said that Chicago P.D. agreed with this decision, which may or may not be true. 

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Over the last year and a half (during the COVID pandemic) there has been a 30% increase in the use of ankle monitors to keep track of criminal defendants. The issue was related to the COVID pandemic and the ability of the prisons to keep prisoners safe from the infection. Prisons and jails tend to be rife with infections, and keeping infections at bay can be costly and difficult. Meanwhile, counties and prisons are responsible for inmates and can be held liable for failing to ensure their health and safety. 

During the pandemic, Cook County opted to place more individuals on ankle bracelets than keep them in holding centers. Many have been on ankle monitors for over a year while awaiting something to happen. Part of the problem is that those released on ankle monitors have already paid hefty bail prices meaning that they will be taxed doubly for the same crime. It is not surprising that the majority of those facing this problem are Black. However, a growing number of defendants on ankle monitors are also accused of violent crimes, occasionally murder. This ensures that no matter what side of the aisle you fall on, you can recognize the inherent shortcomings in this process.

Ankle Monitors, House Arrest, and County Jails

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Necromancy is the act of wielding the dead against the living. Necromancers have the power to manipulate souls or bodies and use them at their will. While necromancy is not real and is more the stuff of fantasy novels, there are some who actually perform necromancy for personal gain. For example, using the social security numbers of dead Americans to file fraudulent tax returns and gain access to stimulus payments that you’re not entitled to is using the dead to for personal gain and profit. 

Now, a 50-year-old Chicago woman is facing 10 counts of wire fraud, six counts of aggravated identity theft, three counts of making false statements to the SBA, and one other count of possessing forged documents with the intent to defraud. However, she is facing zero counts of tax necromancy.

Tax Necromancy

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Most people have a grave misunderstanding of entrapment and how useless it is as a defense in court. Most folks believe that the cops cannot “generate crime.” They can. In fact, they do it as a part of sting operations all the time.

In one case, a federal agent let it slip that he was sitting on a stash of cocaine bricks valued at about $2 million. He got a few associates to help him with the stash, but they were all arrested for criminal conspiracy and drug trafficking. One of the crew was a recovering heroin addict who could not afford to go into recovery although his health was failing. The addict was charged with two weapons violations, even though he never touched a gun, and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The amount of cocaine was high enough to trigger a mandatory 10-year sentence under federal guidelines.

Now, you may be inclined to think that the story above is entrapment, but it is not. Even though there was no real crime, all the drugs belonged to the ATF, and the men would not have been there but for an ATF agent telling his drinking buddies that he had a goldmine, all the men will be charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine they did not know existed until the ATF agent told them.

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Melvin Ely and Will Bynum, both of whom are former NBA players from the Chicago area, are facing fraud charges related to a scheme involving the NBA players’ health care program. The pair will face charges in a federal Manhattan court where the indictment was unsealed. 

The indictment names 19 defendants, 18 of whom are former NBA players. The former players are accused of defrauding the Health and Welfare program of nearly $4 million. The fraud was masterminded by former New Jersey Nets star Terrence Williams. Williams was paid kickbacks of about $250,000 to actuate the fraud, while players stole a reported $2.5 in personal proceeds.

While the story by now has made it to major airwaves, details of the prosecution are as of yet unknown. The defendants are facing charges of aggravated identity theft, health care fraud, and wire fraud. 

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Chicago prosecutors have apparently changed policy and are now no longer prosecuting cases in which one individual is killed by another in a mutual combat situation. This not only applies to fistfights, apparently, but also gunfights. Now, the mayor has weighed in and is accusing the State Attorney’s office of potentially causing Chicago to become the wild west. However, it is unclear that any of the state’s attempts to maintain control of the city have resulted in anything else but failure. 

The latest incident comes after one man was killed in an exchange of bullets that was related to gang violence. Prosecutors dismissed charges against all of the individuals involved in the shooting citing “mutual combat” as the reason for dismissing the charges. 

Could Murder Start Looking More Like Battery?

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Prosecutors have dropped felony charges against a suspect who was implicated in the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl and an injury to her 6-year-old sister. Prosecutors refused to pursue felony charges against one of the suspects citing the lack of evidence and the failure of one witness to cooperate. The witness is believed to be a relative of the girls and was in a dispute with one of the suspects. Without this witness’s testimony, the murder trial against at least one suspect will not move forward. Prosecutors also cited a lack of a confession or video evidence as a reason to drop the felony charges.

The outraged police officers threatened to ignore the prosecutors and try the case themselves. But the prosecutor said they would dismiss the case if the police took that route. To avoid a public battle between police and prosecutors, police backed down from their threats. The suspect is now being held on a minor parole violation. However, the felony charges against him related to the shooting are gone. 

The State Attorney’s Office issued a statement that said that prosecutors and police are now in accord with the handling of the case. Prosecutors reiterated that there was simply not enough evidence to bring the case to trial. The Chicago Police Department did not issue a comment when asked.

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The family of a missing woman is becoming increasingly more desperate as attempts to find her come up empty. The woman was on a cross-country excursion with her boyfriend at the time of her disappearance. Police have named the boyfriend a person of interest after failing to cooperate with the investigation. However, not answering the police’s questions is not an indication of wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, when police ask a close association of a missing person questions concerning their disappearance, their tendency is to assume that anyone who is impeding the investigation is responsible for the crime. However, police also tend to assume that boyfriends or husbands are responsible for the deaths of girlfriends and wives in a large cross-section of these sorts of cases. Hence, a boyfriend may be hesitant about providing information to officers who are prone to accuse him of the crime.

What happened?

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Several former defendants who were convicted on charges related to a single officer are now plaintiffs in lawsuits against the city claiming that they were framed. If you think it is hard to prove a defendant did something wrong, then you should consider how difficult it is to prove that a police officer framed a defendant. In this case, four men settled lawsuits for sums between $17 million and $21 million against the City of Chicago for false convictions, cooked evidence, and losing years of their lives to false accusations of a single police officer.

There are still eleven lawsuits pending against the same officer, all of which name the city and not the officer. Ultimately, the City of Chicago and its taxpayers will be responsible for making the victims whole. With 11 pending cases, all settling for $20 million or more apiece, the City of Chicago is looking at a $300 million budget shortfall all related to the activities of one police officer.

Hundreds of “confessions” tossed

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