On Oct. 21, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court held that no per se conflict exists where defense counsel previously represented the victim of the defendant’s crime if the representation concluded before trial.
On Sept. 13, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a trial court’s application of a new Illinois parole statute to an 80-year sentence is constitutionally valid.
On July 29, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court’s grant of summary judgment on claims of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy following the reversal of a murder charge.
According to the plain and ordinary meaning of section 2-702(g)(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, a defendant who has pleaded guilty caused or brought about his or her conviction is not entitled to a certificate of innocence.
Cocaine is not defined the same way under Illinois and federal law. An analysis of the impact of United States v. Ruth on federal drug sentencing enhancements.
On June 11, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a new trial is warranted because the state impermissibly used the defendant’s other bad acts as substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt.
On June 3, 2021, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a new trial is warranted because a police officer impermissibly testified to his opinion on whether a crime occurred.
On March 31, 2021, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court vacated a 19-year-old’s 50-year sentence on a first-degree murder conviction when the defendant did not fire the murder weapon and had a traumatic childhood.
On March 18, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that admonishment requirements under 725 ILCS 5/113-4(c) apply only when a defendant pleads guilty at arraignment.
On Feb. 11, 2021, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court dismissed a successive postconviction petition raising a due-process violation on fitness grounds because the defendant neither raised the claim earlier nor showed cause for such failure.
On Feb. 16, 2021, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that statements made in response to questions by a 911 operator can still be spontaneous enough to qualify for the excited-utterance exception to the hearsay rule.
On Jan. 7, 2021, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court invalidated a Miranda waiver by a defendant with an intellectual disability who at one point raised his wish for a lawyer.
On Dec. 31, 2020, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a defendant’s intellectual disability alone does not nullify his voluntary jury waiver.
On Oct. 28, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the State of Illinois must prove that false information furnished by a defendant resulted in a material impediment to the administration of justice to convict under an obstruction-of-justice charge.
On Sept. 24, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court found that the trial court’s sua sponte vacatur of the defendant’s guilty plea did not improperly terminate jeopardy; thus, the subsequent bench trial did not constitute double jeopardy.
On Sept. 24, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the limited-authority doctrine, which provides that a defendant’s authority to enter a building is limited to the specifically authorized purpose, applies to residential burglary by entry.
On Sept. 3, 2020, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a trial court’s judgment in a decades-old murder case against evidentiary objections.
On Aug. 20, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that failing to raise a presentencing investigation (PSI) report issue under section 5-3-1 of the Unified Code of Corrections in a postplea motion within 30 days after sentencing results in forfeiting and waiving the claim.
