Posted on May 23, 2012 in Criminal Defense

An alleged drug dealer was critically injured in suburban Woodstock, according to police.

John Kurchina, 22, called and scheduled a drug deal Sunday night at a home on the 600 block of Lawndale Avenue. He took an undisclosed amount of marijuana from the 26-year-old alleged drug dealer and ran before paying. The dealer chased Kurchina to a waiting vehicle. When Kurchina got into the passenger side of the car, the alleged dealer volleyed himself on to the hood of the vehicle. 

The driver was 21-year-old Hanna Schacht of Woodstock. She took off with the dealer holding on and then decided to slam on the brakes which caused the man to projectile onto the pavement. The pair then sped away from the scene. There were multiple witnesses that saw the entire occurrence and assisted the police with descriptions of the suspects as well as the vehicle.

The alleged dealer struck his head on the concrete and was found in the 600 block of Lawndale Avenue. He still remains in Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville in critical condition after being transferred from Centegra Memorial Medical Center in Woodstock.

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 Posted on May 22, 2012 in DUI

A alcohol-influenced crash injured five people on the Southwest Side of Chicago in late April, and the driver responsible is being held on a $50,000 bond, according to theChicago Tribune. Lethanniel Barajas, 19, “faces felony charges of aggravated driving under the influence resulting in an accident which caused bodily harm and misdemeanor charges of DUI, operating a vehicle without insurance, and failure to produce a driver’s license,” police told the Tribune. Barajas had a blood alcohol level of .093,  which is .013 above the legal limit.

According to the Tribune, Barajas was operating a Honda Accord which left the southbound lane and hit a northbound Ford Crown Victoria taxi containing three passengers. The driver of the taxi, 41, was initially listed in serious-to-critical condition, as was a 19 year old passenger. The other two passengers, 21 and 19, were taken to the hosptial but were released. There were two passengers in Barajas’s car, one of whom was hospitalized, though both the other passenger and Barajas, were not.

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 Posted on May 21, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to a story by CBS Chicago, Jerry Hobbs sat in the Lake County jail for five years, charged with the murders of his eight year old daughter Laura and her nine year old friend Krystal Tobias. On May 9, 2005, Mother’s Day, the bodies of the two girls were found in the Beulah Park Forest Reserve in Zion. After being interrogated for twenty hours, Hobbs confessed to the crimes.

But in 2010, DNA evidence linked another man, Jorge Torrez, 23, to the crimes and Hobbs was released. Torrez was a one time friend of Krystal Tobias’ brother and lived in the same neighborhood. He left the area in 2005 when he joined the Marines and was

stationed in the Virginia area.

Torrez is currently serving five life sentences in Virginia. He was convicted of rape, robbery and abduction in two separate attacks in 2010. He also faces federal first-degree murder charges in Virginia for the 2009 kidnapping, rape and murder of Amanda Snell, a

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 Posted on May 19, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A Chicago man who was charged with first-degree murder in March has been denied bail at a recent bond hearing. Jesse Pinkerton, 28, was accused of shooting and killing Michael Gillespie, 24, on March 20. The shooting took place at Gillespie’s home.

According to a recent report in the Chicago Tribune, prosecutors claim that Pinkerton had called Gillespie before the shooting and the two argued about drug prices and about Gillespie sleeping with Pinkerton’s girlfriend. Later the same day, Pinkerton showed up at Gillespie’s residence, located in the 1500 block of West 91st Street, and the two got into an argument. Pinkerton left, reportedly telling Gillespie “I’ll be back.”

Multiple witness statements say that Pinkerton returned, pulled a gun from his waist and fired at Gillespie. When the victim fell to the ground, Pinkerton stood over him and fired again before he fled the scene. Gillespie was pronounced dead a short time later from

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 Posted on May 06, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A two-month police investigation of drug activity in the East Garfield Park neighborhood has led to the arrests of nine gang members who were allegedly responsible for running an open-air heroin market in the area. Police seized $6,700 in cash and several grams of heroin, worth about $3,000 on the street.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, First Deputy Superintendent Al Wysinger stated, "This is the community's block. It does not belong to the gang bangers, the drug dealers. It's theirs (the community). We&ve taken it back and we&re going to turn it over to them."

It was residents’ complaints about the violence that led police to take action. But Wysinger also told the Tribune that with the department’s limited resources "we can&t be every place all the time." He added, "You&re going to see a stepped-up police presence initially, but we&re going to wean it back and actually turn it over to the community," Wysinger said, adding that police have warrants out for three other suspects.

Some experts feel that breaking up drug rings like this have an adverse effect, actually bringing about an increase in violence as new groups of gangs fight for territorial control. Maintaining a police presence in the area and also offering social services support is one of the key ways to keeping the drugs and violence from taking the neighborhood back over again.

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 Posted on May 03, 2012 in Criminal Defense

State Rep. Derrick Smith, 48, appeared in a federal courtroom Monday and plead not guilty to accepting a bribe in exchange for using his influence to obtain a state grant for a day care center. Smith had been arrested in March on the federal bribery charges and indicted on April 10th.

Prosecutors allege that Smith accepted a $7,000 cash bribe from a campaign worker, who was actually an undercover FBI informant. According to the criminal complaint, the congressman thought he was taking the money to provide an official letter in support of a $50,000 grant request from a day care center, which turned out to be non-existent and was part of the sting operation. If convicted, Smith faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is due in court May 16th.

Some lawmakers, including Gov. Pat Quinn, have called for Smith to resign from office. But the congressman, who just days after his arrest won the Democratic nomination in the Illinois primary, vows he will stay in office and fight the charges.

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 Posted on April 30, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A 2008 study done by the Illinois Department of Transportation indicated that more than 70% of the Chicago Police Department’s crash reports were missing relevant information, and more than a quarter of them contained blatant errors. This results in wildly inaccurate data being generated by the Chicago PD. For instance, in 2006 (the year analyzed in the 2008 study,) the Chicago Police reported 63 traffic deaths, while Illinois state records indicated there were 176 traffic deaths in Chicago.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, state records indicate that Chicago’s traffic crash data has been far from accurate for quite some time. Chicago officials are attempting to improve the accuracy of these crash reports by better training police officers and clerical workers, transitioning to an easier-to-use accident form, and improving their analysis of the information received.

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 Posted on April 27, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, federal authorities have accused Rita Crundwell, the comptroller and treasurer of the small northwestern town of Dixon, Illinois, of bilking the town of more than $30 million over the last thirty years. According to documents filed by federal prosecutors in Rockford, Crundwell allegedly used the stolen money to fund her extravagant lifestyle, which included two champion horse breeding farms, $340,000 in jewelry, and a $2.1 million motor home. Local residents and city officials, shocked by the immensity of this theft, are questioning how these huge financial losses could have gone unnoticed for so long, particularly in light of the town’s struggling finances in recent years that left roads unimproved and the city pool closed.

Local authorities blame Crundwell’s ability to steal large amounts of money undetected in part on the town’s admittedly outdated controls over their finances, leaving Crundwell with an unusual amount of authority and control over the town’s funds. Nonetheless, an annual audit by two independent accounting firms and normal oversight by the town’s main bank, Fifth Third Bank, uncovered no suspicion of any wrongdoing in recent years.

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 Posted on April 26, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Drew Peterson’s defense team is ending an almost two-year battle to stop hearsay evidence from being introduced at his pending murder trial. Peterson, a former Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant, is charged with killing his ex-wife, Kathleen Savio in 2004. Savio, who was Peterson’s third wife, was found dead in her dry bathtub and her death was originally ruled an accidental drowning. But in 2007, after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, went missing, prosecutors exhumed Savio’s body and reopened the case. Peterson is the only suspect in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, part of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow case against Peterson is built on fourteen hearsay statements that he says would allow Savio and Stacy Peterson to speak from the grave. In 2008, Glasgow had lobbied for a new Illinois statute, which was dubbed Drew's Law, which ensured the statements could be heard. The statements were ruled inadmissible by the trial judge.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the Third Appellate court ruled that eight of those statements are admissible under existing Illinois common law. And this week, the defense filed a motion saying they will not fight the ruling and requesting the appellate court return the case back to Will County court as soon as possible. The defense and prosecutors say they are both ready to get the trial moving.  Drew Peterson has been held at the Will County Adult Detention Center since his May 2009 indictment and arrest for Savio’s murder.

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 Posted on April 22, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Being subjected to an alcohol breathalyzer test can be a nerve-wracking experience, even if you have had very little (or nothing at all) to drink. Unfortunately, false-positive breathalyzer tests do occur. There are various reasons for a false positive breath test, mainly due to chemical fluctuations in the body produced by medications, diets, and even environmental substances such as oil-based paints, gasoline, and paint removers.

According to an ABC News article, diabetics and serious dieters could have much higher than normal acetone levels due to distinct alterations in blood chemistry. Breathalyzers may identify this acetone as a form of ethyl alcohol, causing someone to be erroneously charged with a DUI.

Certain breathalyzers assume that everyone has a hematocrit level of 47 percent. In actuality, hematocrit levels differ between men and women, with men averaging 42 to 52 percent and women averaging 37 to 47 percent. Someone who exhibits a reduced hematocrit count may produce a false positive when given a breathalyzer test. Additional substances that could cause a false positive are traces of blood, dirt, tobacco smoke and vomit lying in someone's mouth

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