Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog

March 4, 2022

Officer Will Not Face Charges After Groin Punching Suspect

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

Two officers approach a suspect who opens fire on them. They return fire and strike the suspect. The suspect has now been shot. The police have him in cuffs and are searching him to determine where the gun is. The officer is patting him down. Another officer is standing near him. The officer who is doing the patdown hits his head on the other officer. Thinking it was the suspect who tried to strike him, he punches the man in the groin several times.

Bodycam footage does not show the suspect threatening the officer at the time of the arrest. The officer was relieved of duty and then charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct. However, a grand jury declined to file charges against the officer and so, the case has been dismissed.

Understanding the Problem

March 2, 2022

Carjackings on the Rise in Post-Pandemic America

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

Over the past two years, the number of carjackings in Chicago and across the country has conspicuously risen. Whether the matter is indirectly related to the pandemic, concerns about overcrowded prison cells, or something else entirely is a matter of intense debate. Another matter under debate is the problem that a number of the individuals committing the carjackings appear to be juveniles.

In one case, a victim describes detailing a client’s car when a young man approached him from behind and stuck the barrel of a gun in his back, demanding the keys. The man handed the keys over to the teen who then proceeded to strike him in the bridge of the nose before stealing the car. The car had an anti-theft system and was easily disabled remotely. It was then found abandoned hours later.

With anti-theft systems making carjackings more or less purposeless, one would imagine that carjacking would decrease. Yet that has not been the case. Why not? Well, the payoff, in fact, may not be the car at all, but the actual jacking.

February 25, 2022

Police Get Teen to Confess to a Murder He Did Not Commit

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

Defendants who confess to crimes rarely can go back into a courtroom and then say that their confession was coerced. This is especially true when the police have stopped looking for other suspects. Children are especially easy to get to confess to things they did not do because they just want the anxiety caused by the questioning to stop. Police will pressure them with more anxiety if they do not say what they want to hear and offer them incentives for confession, regardless of whether or not it is the truth. In this case, a teen confessed to shooting a clerk directly in the face during an armed robbery. He was plied with McDonald’s into the confession.

While juries will not listen to individuals who say they falsely confessed to the crimes, the courts will, especially children, and especially in a place like Chicago where there is a long history of police convicting suspects using torture and extortion.

In this case, the police told the teen that they would give him some McDonald’s if he told them he was there. The teen complied, ate the McDonalds, and was promptly charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, and enough felonies to put him behind bars for two lifetimes. Meanwhile, the teen was later able to prove that he was at a basketball game at the time of the shooting. It goes to show you just how useless police interrogations are at producing the truth and just how narrowly this boy dodged a bullet.

February 23, 2022

Arbery Killers Convicted in Federal Hate Crime Trial

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

It has been a while since we have discussed the Ahmad Arbery case. The three men convicted of killing Arbery faced state murder charges in Georgia. Each was convicted on felony murder or malice murder charges, with the ringleader facing the harshest charges of the three. But their problems did not stop there. The federal government also wanted a piece of the men and convicted them on additional charges.

This does not happen very often, but the federal government can increase the misery of certain individuals by filing federal charges against those who have already been convicted of state-level charges. In the case of the Arbery killers, the three men were tried and convicted of murder based only on the facts of the crime. In other words, the Georgia prosecutors avoided bringing race into the prosecution at all. It was a tricky maneuver because everyone knew that this was a racially motivated attack. But Georgia has a large population of rural whites, which makes it among the most conservative states in the country next to neighboring Alabama.

So state prosecutors decided to try the three men based on the facts of the altercation with Arbery and successfully gained convictions when the defendants failed to prove that Arbery had a weapon or was a threat when they rode him down in their pickup.

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.

February 16, 2022

Officer Faces Charges for Manipulating a Lineup to Convict Innocent Man

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

Authorities allege that a Dixmoor police officer manipulated a police lineup in order to establish charges against a man who was later cleared of wrongdoing. The officer is now facing three felony counts of official misconduct. According to a witness, the officer suggested the correct answer to a witness in the lineup. The suspect was placed into lockup for 18 days. After his release, he pressed charges against the officer.

According to his attorney, the man went into a store to buy a phone and was suddenly facing a 45-year sentence. Prior, an armed robbery had occurred at the store. An employee thought the man resembled the armed robber. The employee called the police.

The officer who is now facing charges is accused of telling the witness which individual to pick from the lineup. The employee did as asked and the man was charged with armed robbery, a Class-X felony, the highest you can receive in Illinois.

February 11, 2022

Police Charge “Ringleader” of ORC Smash and Grab Ring

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

ORC or organized retail crime is now a huge buzzword for Chicago police after a string of robberies and burglaries targeting valuable retail merchandise. Police now have a man in custody who is believed to be a “ringleader” of a smash and grab ring that netted over $175,000 in capital. The ringleader is facing nine counts of burglary charges. He is suspected in dozens of more burglaries targeting various retail stores in the Chicago area.

According to police, the suspect was apprehended by his car after private security footage caught the individual and three others dumping cash registers and other merchandise. Police are now targeting the crew employed by the ringleader to carry out the specific burglaries. If precedent has any say, the ringleader will be more than happy to provide any information the police want in exchange for a reduction of his sentence. However, the ringleader must be both willing and able to provide that information. Typically, prosecutors will not want to trade down to get lower-level contributors. The idea is generally to work in the other direction. However, law enforcement has been known to work the opposite way when it benefits them.

Understanding Burglary Charges

February 9, 2022

SAFE-T Act Under Fire After Grand Jury Fails to Indict Man on Murder

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

The background is fairly simple. There is a controversial law on the books that allows the state to pursue first-degree murder charges against an individual who did not intend to commit the murder, but was in the process of committing some other forcible felony. As an example, if a man robs a liquor store and the clerk pulls a gun, the man cannot claim self-defense if he kills the clerk first. Instead, it is considered felony murder, the equivalent of first-degree murder. Makes complete sense, right?

Let’s move on to Alabama. You and a bunch of your friends are up to no good. Police spot you and tell you to stop. You do what kids do, and bolt. The police officer opens fire and kills your friend. You have now been charged with felony murder since fleeing law enforcement is considered a felony. Even though you did not pull the trigger, the law holds you responsible for the other teen’s death.

While the first situation makes complete sense, the second example is a gross perversion of the felony murder rule that is used to pin murder charges on mostly Black suspects. Hence, the felony murder rule is a target for police reformers who believe that the system is racist.

February 4, 2022

Chicago PD Announce Crack-Down on Retail Theft Rings

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

The last time you heard about an ORC you were likely watching Lord of the Rings. Nonetheless, “organized retail crime” is becoming a major issue for Chicago retailers. CPD released a statement announcing a crackdown on organized retail crime after a 15-year-old was arrested and charged with 21 counts of theft from a beauty store.

The problem for police is that it appears that teenagers are being used to carry out the crimes, are paid by adults for the merchandise they pocket, and then that merchandise is sold over eBay or related services for profit. Police believe that the conspiracy employs children because they are less likely to face serious criminal charges. They also hide the identities of the adults who are profiting from the theft. The children are paid a fraction of the cost of the merchandise. This makes it a win-win for both children and adults. However, the retail stores and the very backbone of our economy are placed at risk by retail thefts.

Police have announced that they intend to track the merchandise and sales and come down hard on those who resell the stolen merchandise on the black market.

February 2, 2022

Man Charged With Painting Swastikas on Synagogue

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

A man with a criminal history has been charged with defacing a synagogue by painting swastikas on it. He has been charged with criminal damage and defacement and is facing four hate crime charges related to each swastika that he spray painted. Earlier in the day, police found evidence that someone damaged a different synagogue, and broke the windows of two businesses. It is unclear if the man charged with defacing the synagogue has also been charged in relation to these crimes, but the matter will be investigated further to track his movements throughout the day, so more charges could be forthcoming.

What is a hate crime?

The term “hate crime” refers to a specific class of crimes committed with a specific purpose in mind. The purpose is to enrage, belittle, or terrify someone from a protected minority. In this case, painting symbols associated with the systematic murder and genocide of a people shows the type of bias the government is looking for to prove a hate crime.