Buried behind the headlines of high-profile criminal cases involving pedophile islands, modern lynchings, and public shootings, is another high-profile trial with incredibly high stakes coming out of California. However, because Elizabeth Holmes did not shoot three people, lynch a Black man, or organize the largest sex crime racket in human…
Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog
The People v. Ghislaine Maxwell
What happens when the main suspect of a prosecution kills himself before he can go to trial? The state will find the next culpable person and nail them to the wall. In terms of Jeffrey Epstein, that person is Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein was accused of running a criminal scheme targeting…
Ahmaud Arbery Killers Convicted of Felony Murder, Malice Murder
Kyle Rittenhouse has been eating up the headlines, but a recent verdict in favor of the prosecution may salve any lingering misgivings about his acquittal. Three men have been charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The men approached Arbery on the street believing that he was loitering…
Woman Charged in Death of Mother Faces Trial in U.S.
A Chicago-area woman is facing charges for the murder of her mother in Indonesia. She spent the last seven years in an Indonesian prison on the same charges. She is believed to have killed her mother with the help of her boyfriend at the time. Authorities believe that the daughter…
Two Brothers Face Federal Charges for Fencing Stolen Electronics
Two Chicago-area brothers are facing charges related to the fencing of stolen merchandise from their electronics store. The brothers are believed to have knowingly acquired the stolen merchandise, which is important for their successful prosecution. Authorities say that the merchandise was stolen from railcars and then sold to the brothers…
Chicago Officer Facing Charges for Firing at SUV Thief
Under the law, police officers face the same consequences for committing crimes that the general public does. The issue that comes into play is the fact that police officers have more ability to manipulate the law to their advantage than the general public does. When they commit crimes, they understand…
Could Rittenhouse Face Federal Charges After Acquittal?
One thing many folks are not aware of is that double jeopardy, the legal concept by which an individual can only be tried once for the same crime, does not apply across jurisdictions. While it is exceedingly rare for the federal government to pursue a prosecution that was already lost…
Prosecution Goes for Mistrial in Rittenhouse Murder Trial
The Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial took an interesting turn this week. When a judge excludes a certain line of questioning from a criminal case, neither side can ask questions that would put a witness in the position of answering that question. In this case, the judge excluded evidence that Rittenhouse…
The Justifiable Use of Force and the Duty to Retreat
With the Kyle Rittenhouse trial now entering its waning hours, much and more has been written about the justifiable use of force in self-defense situations. In the Rittenhouse case, the prosecution is failing to overcome the statutes that make exceptions for the lethal use of force in certain situations. The…
Kyle Rittenhouse Murder Trial Enters Second Week
Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen charged with murder of two people during race riots in Wisconsin, has entered the second week of his trial to determine if the teen should face adult penalties for the deaths. Meanwhile, a political war is brewing over whether or not Rittenhouse did anything wrong or…