Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog

March 17, 2023

Tyre Nichols’s Death Prompts Investigations

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

More than a dozen police and firefighters from the Memphis, TN, police department are under investigation after the death of a 29-year-old man. It is not entirely clear what happened, but Nichols attempted to break away from the police officers, and they simply beat him to death. Ultimately, it sounded like the man had a panic attack, and the police killed him because he was not following instructions. The incident has resulted in second-degree murder charges filed against the officers, and now, several more are under investigation for the cover-up that occurred afterward.

We say a “few bad apples” without actually completing the thought. A few bad apples literally spoil the bunch. In this case, maybe one or two guys initiate violence against an unarmed man, killing him, but they’re so void of emotional control that they do not realize it was bad until after the man is on his way to the grave. They have left bodycam footage and evidence trail a mile wide. But they are not dead yet. They still control the information. So, they beg other officers to intervene on their behalf, and now those guys are out of a job, facing criminal charges, and will never work in law enforcement again.

The law makes it clear that you are an accessory after the fact (to murder) by engaging in the cover-up. Now, none of these officers were charged as accessories, but once a defense attorney catches wind that a government official has committed official misconduct, that parcel of information will make it into every case in which they are involved. Prosecutors will not be able to use their testimony in court. They are functionally useless to the law.

March 15, 2023

Michigan Prosecutors Advance Charges Against Parents of School Shooter

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

Michigan prosecutors are attempting to advance charges against the parents of a school shooter, claiming that the parents “should have known” that the boy had psychological problems due to his fascination with guns and disturbing drawings.

The idea that we all have the same set of values regarding weapons and horror art is not a smart position to take. Ultimately, the prosecutors need to convince a jury that parents would ultimately consider it within the realm of possibility that their child would commit a mass shooting. Parents rarely ever consider this. We will never know how many mass shootings were stopped by parental intervention, but it happens frequently enough to know that these parents are just as blindsided as the rest of society when their child commits an atrocity.

These parents are not getting a sick sense of satisfaction over the knowledge that their child is going to prison forever. They are devastated and their lives are ruined.

March 10, 2023

Officer Facing Charges After Punching 17-Year-Old Boy

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

One officer is facing charges after several officers allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Essentially, one officer was caught punching the boy repeatedly while the boy was on the ground, and the other officers were caught standing nearby and watching. While the officer who threw the punch is facing charges of aggravated assault and official misconduct, the officers who stood by and watched are not. Nor are they facing disciplinary action.

It is not clear that the bystander police officers could be held responsible for a crime in this instance. Which then got me thinking, what happened to the other two officers in the George Floyd case? The answer: They went to prison. So, let’s analyze that case (which was filed under Wisconsin law), and maybe we can figure out if these officers could be charged with the same thing.

George Floyd Analysis

March 8, 2023

Woman Uses Dead People to Defraud Federal Government

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

A Chicago woman will spend the next five years in federal prison after authorities convicted her of using the identities of dead people to commit fraud against the federal government. According to the authorities, the woman used the identities to apply for benefits, some of which were disbursed during the coronavirus as pandemic aid packages.

The woman acquired the identities of murder victims to pull off the scam. Authorities say it netted over $45,000 in profit. The information was used to file tax returns and pandemic-related entitlements. The woman would pose as relatives of the murder victims to collect payments on their behalf.

Prosecutors characterized the theft as “morally repugnant.” The woman had prior convictions for various forms of fraud. The court, in passing sentence, characterized her as a career criminal who had multiple opportunities to turn away from a life of crime but chose fraud anyway.

March 3, 2023

Feds Secure Guilty Plea in Crypto Winter Reckoning

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

The crypto winter reckoning is upon us, and individuals in thousand-dollar suits are now heading to Club Fed for an extended period after they were accused of fraud and making illegal donations to political campaigns. As of now, everyone around Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, appears to be going down. The federal authorities have announced plea bargains in some deals, which will benefit the state’s prosecution.

The U.S. government has a vested interest in seeing these individuals pay for rocking the U.S. financial markets when they were already under strain. Many Americans who were afraid of the collapse of the U.S. dollar invested in gold or Bitcoin. Those who used FTX’s brokerage platform had their accounts frozen and are unlikely to recover all of what they once had.

Meanwhile, the chain of bankruptcies caused the value of cryptocurrency to collapse across the board, depreciating investor assets in the process.

March 1, 2023

Man Arrested After Eating Robbery Victim’s Chicken

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

Don’t flash your delicious chicken in public. That’s what my mother used to tell me about cash. However, it is 2023, and the stakes are considerably higher. Today, you must be careful not to flash your delicious fried chicken in public, or you could run the risk of robbery.

That is what happened to one Chicago man right outside of his home. The man was attacked at gunpoint, and his chicken was stolen from him. However, the delicious smell of the chicken bamboozled the robber, and he could not stop himself from consuming it. Meanwhile, the police were on their way to the scene of the crime. The man could not wrench himself from the chicken. When the police arrived, they found the man eating the delicious chicken. He was arrested and charged with felony robbery.

The Victim’s Account

February 24, 2023

Father of highland Park Shooter Indicted by Grand Jury for Reckless Conduct

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

The father of Robert Crimo III, 58-year-old Robert Crimo Jr., has been indicted on seven counts of reckless conduct after his son went on a rampage that killed seven. Crimo Jr. has been charged with one count of reckless conduct for every death that occurred that day. However, the prosecution has not convicted him yet.

The grand jury process allows prosecutors to present a case without the defense present. Ultimately, a grand jury is composed of individuals who have only heard one side of the story. The effort is an attempt to convince the public that the effort of a trial is warranted. It shows the public that individuals hearing the complaints against the defendant agree with the prosecution’s interpretation of events. The grand jury voted to indict Crimo Jr. on seven counts of reckless conduct. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of three years, leaving Crimo Jr. vulnerable to a maximum 21-year sentence.

Is Crimo Jr. Responsible for His Son’s Conduct?

February 22, 2023

Health Care Providers Charged With Murder, Now Face Lawsuit

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

There are a growing number of criminal cases filed against healthcare providers who fail to act in accordance with the standard of care. While in some cases, these criminal cases seem better suited to civil court, there is nothing that prevents municipal authorities from filing criminal charges against medical personnel. In most cases, these suits are not filed against doctors but against EMTs and nurses. In some cases, the EMTs and nurses go above and beyond simple negligence, and hence, the charges against them are sometimes justified.

In this case, the EMTs are charged with first-degree murder, which is the harshest crime that anyone can be charged with under Illinois law. According to authorities, the EMTs knowingly strapped a man into the gurney so tightly that he was not able to breathe. He died of respiratory distress.

The defense contends that the incident was mere negligence and not intentional murder.

February 17, 2023

7 Charged in Million-Dollar Identity Theft Scheme

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

Federal authorities have just unsealed an indictment against seven defendants accused of identity theft and draining the bank accounts of their victims. According to the indictment, they stole over $1 million in funds from unsuspecting victims draining their accounts of tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

The scheme allegedly involved the purchase of stolen identifying information that included information like bank accounts, passwords, and more. That information was then passed to ID forgers who would create fake IDs for stolen identities.

In some cases, the alleged fraudsters were accused of tricking the victim’s cellphone provider into swapping in a new sim card under the control of the fraudsters. In other cases, they paid employees of cellphone companies to do that. Once they had the victim’s cellphone information, it was easy to gain access to their personal bank accounts.

February 15, 2023

Re-Entry Remains Difficult for Those Serving Sentences

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

Illinois officials have emphasized re-entry services for inmates who have been convicted of serious crimes. But finding steady employment, even for those who earned master’s degrees while inside, remains difficult. Part of the issue is related to their incarceration, but another part of the issue has to do with the fact that employers are not likely to hire someone with a master’s degree for low-level warehouse work. The employer will figure they will get bored with the job and be gone in a few weeks.

Now one former inmate who was convicted of murder says he’s having difficulty finding work despite the fact that he has a master’s degree. It further becomes a problem when the former inmate has no legitimate means of earning money. The chances of that inmate going back to prison escalate exponentially.

What Prevents Former Inmates From Getting Jobs?