Chicago murder lawyer

August 11, 2023

Tinley Park Police Officers Arrest Man Suspected of Grisly Murder

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

Police surrounded the home of a Tinley Park man who was suspected of slaying a woman. The man had barricaded himself in his home and was surrounded by SWAT for hours before the arrest was made. Local residents were told to shelter in their homes while the standoff continued. The suspect has been charged with one count of first-degree murder.

While the investigation remains ongoing, the police believe that the man killed a 30-year-old woman. He was apprehended by police after a domestic call. Police found the victim’s body near where the domestic call had been called in. According to police, the man stabbed the woman several times. He had lacerations on his own face as well, likely defensive wounds.

Suspect Has a Lengthy Criminal History

May 5, 2023

Man Charged With Murder After Killing Quadriplegic Father

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A Chicago man has recently been charged with his father’s murder, according to a recent news report. The suspect allegedly both strangled and stabbed his father to death. The cause is unclear, but prosecutors believe the man was on drugs at the time of the murder. An uncle, who was tasked with being the father’s caretaker, reported that the son appeared to be out of his mind. He continually apologized to his father as he was killing him. A grandmother who also lived in the same building called the police. The suspect was taken into custody and has since been charged with first-degree murder.

Analyzing the Mental Health Defense

Insanity defenses are tricky for a number of reasons and seldom work. The reason they do not work is that “insane” people, or those who are fighting mental health issues, can do things for good or bad reasons. For example, an insane person can believe that their father is blocking them from accessing untold riches that do not really exist. They’re insane, but their motive for committing murder is purely selfish. On the other hand, an insane person can believe that their father is possessed by a demon, already dead and that they are doing a good thing for the world by killing the father. Not only are they insane, but their delusion leaves them believing that they are doing something good when they are actually causing a great deal of unnecessary harm.

March 28, 2023

18-Year-Old Charged in Murder of Police Officer

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A Chicago man charged with shooting and killing a Chicago police officer is being held without bond. The man is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, among other things. He did not have a criminal history, according to police, but his reputation for gangsterism preceded him. The young man was suspected of running from a stolen car after a shooting. In that case, police had sought felony charges, but prosecutors only approved misdemeanor charges based on his age and arrest record. In the shooter’s case, the charges were eventually dropped after he completed 20 hours of community service. His age and lack of criminal record were cited as reasons to be lenient.

Now, the prosecutor’s office is in big trouble after the boy shot and killed a police officer. Today, law enforcement is caught between two pressures. The first is ensuring that young individuals have a chance to rehabilitate themselves. The second is ensuring the safety of the public and police officers. Every time something like this happens, the pendulum swings back toward less leniency.

Analyzing the Enforcement Issues

December 28, 2022

911 Call Analysis Used to Convict Man of Murder

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A recent television series documented a case in the United States revolving around a man accused of murdering his wife. In the criminal case, the prosecution used testimony from an expert witness to claim that the man staged the 911 call and was actually himself the murderer. He was convicted based on the testimony of a sergeant who interpreted the 911 call as being staged. A jury convicted the man on that basis.

The basis for the witness’s testimony is a little-known method of lie detection promulgated by police departments and the FBI. According to these departments, you can tell if a person is lying by interpreting linguistic cues and stress in their voice. Of course, there is little scientific basis for this, and there has been no testing to determine the veracity of these claims. That’s not the problem, however.

In most cases, we would laud anyone who wanted to endeavor to determine if there was any method to determine if someone was lying by studying their vocal cues. That’s not what’s happening here, however. Instead, the police departments are assuming that they can do this without subjecting their procedures to peer review. Even those most familiar with the theory have publicly stated it should not be used to convict individuals. Nonetheless, there have been 100 cases (at least) throughout the U.S. in which 911 call analysis or vocal stress interpretation.

May 13, 2022

Judge Grants Request for Psychiatric Records of Key Witness

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

The police have begun to move on a murder that occurred in 1998 after DNA evidence linked two men to the crime scene. The one man agreed to testify against the other and now, the defense team representing the other man has moved to gain access to the witness and co-conspirator’s medical history. The idea is to suggest that the defendant lacked the ability to remember that he committed a murder in 1998 or any of the details concerning that murder. In other words, they want to suggest that the individual is so unreliable, their testimony should not be admissible in court.

The court has agreed to give the defense access to the witness’s medical records. From this, they will be able to build a defense that the witness is either simply saying what the police want to hear in exchange for testimony against the other defendant and his ability to recall details from such a long time ago is compromised by psychiatric illness and intervention.

Is This Tactic Likely to be Successful?

February 18, 2022

Man Charged With Murder of Dance Instructor

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A Chicago man has been charged with the murder of an area dance instructor. Police do not know why the shooting occurred, but the dance instructor was shot outside of his studio and pronounced dead at the scene. He operated the studio as a non-profit and marketed it as a safe space for children.

The suspect has been tied to the shooting through his vehicle and a distinctive gold bracelet he was wearing at the time of the shooting. Police officers also have shell casings that match the weapon used, and three cell phones that place him at the shooting when it occurred. They were able to track the suspect through his vehicle, which was caught on surveillance at the time of the shooting.

Police do not know if the pair had interacted prior to the shooting, or are unwilling to tip their hand on the matter. It seems likely that the dance instructor was targeted for some unknown reason. In some cases, a criminal may put pressure on an individual to do something under the threat of death. If they fail to do what is demanded of them, then the criminal has to execute the consequence for not complying.

December 29, 2021

Federal Jury Sides with Plaintiff in Wrongful Conviction Suit

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A jury found that a defendant who spent more than 20 years behind bars for a double murder was intentionally framed for the incident by police. The defendant was awarded a new trial after he successfully argued that his criminal defense attorney failed to call witnesses to the stand that would have corroborated his alibi. These witnesses claimed that the defendant was inside of a restaurant playing Pac Man at the time of the double shooting. The only witness that the prosecution offered was a man who was allegedly shot by the defendant during the double murder and the brother of one of the victims. It was the defendant who called police to the scene of the crime to report the shooting. Let that be a lesson on the perils of involving police in any matter at all.

After vacating his conviction, the defendant filed a lawsuit against Chicago police and the city. The complaint alleged that the arresting officer called the suspect a racial epithet and said that no one cares about Black people, which is why the officers would get away with it. A federal jury returned an award of $25.2 million to the plaintiff.

The lineup

August 5, 2020

Suspect Arrested in Murder of 9-Year-Old

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

It was a case in which everything worked the way it was supposed to work. A 9-year-old was murdered, yes, but witnesses came forward to finger the gunman and help the police arrest a suspect.

It happened like this. A gunman rolled up on the 900 block of North Cambridge Street, got out of his car, and fired a gun at an intended target. He missed that target and ended up shooting a 9-year-old boy several times before the child died of his injuries.

According to the Alderman of this community\, the men involved in the dispute had known each other for over 50 years and a feud between them led to the shooting. The Alderman stated that neither man was a member of the community and that neither man lived in the row houses where the shooting took place.

June 12, 2020

The George Floyd Homicide

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

A video captures a police officer kneeling on a man’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The man dies. The officer involved, Derek Chauvin, is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges prompting outrage that led to civil unrest all across the country. The medical examiner releases a report saying that George Floyd died of a number of factors including Chauvin’s knee and poor overall health.

The question of whether or not Chauvin “intended” to kill Floyd is now at the heart of this case. In this article, we will take a look at the charges, and discuss why folks are so angry over the judicial process.

Third-Degree Murder and Second-Degree Manslaughter

March 4, 2020

Trial of Man Charged in Death of Decorated CPD Veteran Begins

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

The trial of Shomari Legghette is set to begin. Legghette is charged with murdering 31-year Chicago police commander Paul Bauer after the two men tussled in a stairwell outside the Thompson Center in February of 2018. Legghette faces an uphill battle. Legghette faces a first-degree murder charge along with several drug and weapons charges. Legghette, who is a four-time convicted felon, may take the stand on his own behalf. He will say that the killing was in self-defense and the defense will introduce evidence that Bauer and Legghette had a long acrimonious history.

Taking the Stand on Your Own Behalf

The decision to place a defendant who is facing criminal charges on the stand is a difficult one for an attorney to make. If you allow your client to take the stand, it opens the prosecution up to bring in other evidence of past crimes. In this case, however, the defense may have no choice. It is common for those who argue that a killing was justified because it was done in self-defense to take the stand.