Frequently Asked Questions
DO I NEED A CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY?
Everyone accused of a crime should immediately ask themselves this question.
If the possibility exists that you could lose your license, serve a term in
jail, or pay substantial fines, you should consult an attorney who specializes
in criminal law.
The first consultation is free with the Law Offices of
Matt Keenan.
SHOULD I CONSULT AN ATTORNEY ABOUT A PROBLEM WITH AN ACADEMIC INSTITUTION?
If you or a member of your family are experiencing serious problems with an academic
institution, it may be advisable to discuss your legal options with an
attorney. In some cases, direct legal action is not necessary, but that
decision will be more easily reached after consulting with an attorney.
IF I HAVEN'T BEEN CHARGED WITH A CRIME YET, DO I NEED TO SPEAK TO AN
ATTORNEY?
When the police have notified you that they are investigating your role in
alleged criminal activities, it is best to contact an attorney to assess the
possibility of charges being brought against you. At times, the
involvement of an attorney can have a dramatic impact on a potential criminal
complaint.
SHOULD I MAKE A STATEMENT TO THE POLICE?
Law enforcement officers are trained to make suspects feel comfortable so
that they will incriminate themselves. You have the absolute right NOT to
talk to the police.
In many cases, people who have tried to talk their way out of a potential
arrest incriminate themselves severely. If the police ask you to answer
questions about your possible role in a criminal act, ask to speak to an
attorney immediately. In all cases, you should treat the police with
respect and courtesy, even if you feel that officers are not extending the same
courtesies to you. Nevertheless, you should insist on speaking to an
attorney before answering questions from law enforcement
officials.
CAN I BE CHARGED WITH SEXTING? WHAT CAN I DO?
In Illinois, you may have committed a Class 1 felony if you
1) filmed, videotaped or photographed any one that you should have known was
under the age of 18 in lewd exhibitions of nudity or 2) knowing the contents of
those pictures, you distributed them, i.e., via texting or the transfer of a
physical print.
If found guilty, you may face a prison term ranging from 15
to 30 years along with fines between $1,000 and $100,000 dollars for each
offense. You may also land on the sex offender registry. As a student, you may
be expelled. Today, more schools are
disciplining students for offenses, even if the activity took place off school
grounds. In this case, sexting technology
can cause something that took place outside the school to enter the school’s
domain.
Even if the victim is over the age of 18, you could still be
charged for harassment or for an obscenity offense.
If you think you might be charged because of sexting,
contact an attorney immediately. Sometimes an attorney can even help prevent charges from being
brought. Even if you are charged, your
case may not be hopeless. You might
reasonably have believed the victim was over the age of 18. You may not have been the one who sent the
text. Maybe you forwarded something
without knowing the contents. An attorney can help evaluate your defense.
CAN I BE ARRESTED FOR DUI IN ILLINOIS EVEN THOUGH MY
BREATHALYZER WAS UNDER .08?
Yes. In Illinois, the
state’s blood alcohol limit of .08 only represents a presumption that you have
been driving while intoxicated. While a
breathalyzer reading below .08 can help disprove a presumption of drunk
driving, it does not prevent the State from relying on other evidence such as
slurred speech, inability to walk a line, glassy eyes and erratic driving.
The State, however, has the burden to prove a DUI beyond a
reasonable doubt. An experienced
attorney can help probe the weaknesses in the state’s case and improve your
chances of obtaining a not guilty verdict.
MY BREATHALYZER IS JUST OVER THE .08 LIMIT?
CAN I STILL FIGHT A CHARGE OF DUI?
In Illinois, even if your breathalyzer is at or just
slightly over .08, you may still be able to fight a charge of drunk
driving. The .08 limit is only a legal
presumption that you were driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. An experienced attorney may be able to
present other evidence to show your driving was not impaired.
For example, if you took field sobriety
tests, such as the walk and turn test, and you were able to complete the test
competently, you may have a chance.
I HAVE A FELONY. WHAT CAN I EXPECT?
After your arrest, you will have a bond hearing.
At the bond hearing, the court will set the
amount of bail necessary to permit your release from jail.
In all likelihood, the State will argue for
the Court to set the highest bond possible, or in some cases, to deny bond
altogether. An experienced attorney can
help present those factors most likely to persuade a particular judge to set a
reasonable bail.
About a month after the bond hearing, your case will be set
for a preliminary hearing, that is a hearing to
establish whether the police had probable cause to charge you with a
felony. An experienced attorney can help
by asking the right questions to create doubt about whether the police had a
valid reason to stop you. A successful
preliminary hearing can result in the charges being dismissed.
At the next court date, you will be brought for arraignment,
where you enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
If you plead guilty, you will automatically give up many of your rights,
such as the right to test the evidence against you.
Your case may then be over, but you may end
up with a stiffer penalty than if you fight the charges.
If you enter a not guilty plea, the process
of discovery begins. Your attorney will
ask to see any evidence against you.
After assessing this evidence, the attorney may negotiate a plea
agreement or take your case to trial.
In Illinois, a felony can range from a Class 1 to a Class
4. In addition, Class X felonies are
reserved for particularly severe offenses such as murder and sexual assault on
a child. Penalties for a first offense
in many cases may still result in probation, but some felonies carry mandatory
minimum prison terms. If convicted, a
Class X felony calls for a mandatory minimum term of 6 years.
I FLED THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT. WHAT CAN I DO?
In Illinois, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident
resulting in personal injury or death, you must immediately stop at the scene
of the accident and remain there until you have provided your name, address and
registration to the person you struck.
Furthermore, you must provide reasonable assistance to the injured,
including, if necessary, carrying them to a doctor.
You also must file a police report within one
half hour of the accident or of being released from a hospital.
If you have only damaged the other person’s car, you must
still immediately stop and provide your information to the other driver.
In accidents involving injury or death, a failure to stop
can result in a Class 4 felony, punishable by one to three years in
prison. If you fail to file a police
report, you may be charged with a Class 2 felony, punishable by 3 to 7
years. If the other party died, you are
now subject to a Class 1 felony, punishable by 4 to 15 years.
When the accident only involves property
damage, you may still be charged with a Class A
misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail plus a fine.
I AM ACCUSED OF SHOPLIFTING. WHAT
CAN I DO?
When you are first brought in before security, you are best
advised to request an attorney and not answer questions.
Any attempts to explain yourself may be used
against you and might undermine any defense you might later wish to present.
Once at court, an experienced attorney can help you weigh
your options. Maybe you were extremely
stressed and really did forget you had the DVDs in your cart.
Maybe the evidence against you is weak.
An attorney can help determine whether you
should take the case to trial.
But what if you really meant to take the DVDs?
If the evidence against you is too strong to
risk a trial, you may still have options.
There may be alternatives to a conviction such as attending a special
school. Your attorney might help work
out a plea agreement. For example in
Illinois, you might be able to take “supervision,” which is technically not a
conviction. Then, if you meet certain
requirements, you might be able to expunge your arrest five years after a
successfully discharged supervision.
I BOUNCED A CHECK DUE TO INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.
CAN I BE CHARGED WITH A CRIME AND WHAT CAN I
DO?
In Illinois, you may be guilty of a deceptive practice if
you issue a check exceeding $150.00 in payment for credit, property, labor or
services, knowing that you have insufficient funds, and if you failed to make
the check good within seven days of receiving actual notice that your check has
bounced. You are presumed to have the
necessary intent to defraud if your check bounces two times at least seven days
apart, or if you didn’t have enough funds to cover your check when the check
was delivered. When you are hit with a
Class A Misdemeanor, you face a maximum of one year in
jail and a $1,000 fine. A Class 4 Felony
is punishable by 1 to 3 years in state prison and a larger fine. Plus, the person who received the check can
still sue you in civil court.
What can you do? Once at court, an experienced attorney can help you weigh your options.
Under some circumstances, you may be able to
prove that you lacked the intent required under the statute.
Maybe someone bounced a check to you putting
your own account in the hole.
But what if you really knew your checks would bounce?
An attorney can still help you negotiate a
plea agreement. In some cases, a number
of individual counts may be dismissed in exchange for a guilty plea to one of
the charges. In any event, the state
must prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and an attorney can help
assess whether the state has enough evidence to do so.
I VIOLATED MY PROBATION OR SUPERVISION. WHAT CAN I DO?
Often on first offenses, a court will sentence defendants to
a term of supervision or probation for a set length of time.
This term may have certain conditions such as
random drug testing. Probation or
supervision, however, always requires that you stay out of trouble with the
law. Therefore, even if you are suspected
of committing a crime or if you have committed a relatively minor offense such
as a retail theft, the court can now re-sentence you on the first offense,
which can mean significantly stiffer fines or even a jail term.
And that still doesn’t take care of your new
arrest.
What can you do? An
experienced attorney can help you balance your violated case and new
cases. Sometimes, an attorney will
attempt to delay completing the violation case until the new charges can be
resolved. If the attorney can get the
new charges dismissed, you might receive a substantially reduced penalty in the
prior case or the violation on the prior case might even be dropped. Even if the evidence on the new case is
overwhelming, an experienced attorney can help obtain a better deal for you in
both cases.
CAN I BE CHARGED WITH A CRIME FOR VISITING AN
INAPPROPRIATE WEBSITE? WHAT ABOUT MY
JOB?
In Illinois, anyone who knowingly possesses any film,
videotape, photograph or computer depiction of any child engaged in a sexual
act, or in a “lewd exhibition of the unclothed or transparently clothed” private
regions or partially or fully clothed female breast, is guilty of a Class 3 felony with a mandatory minimum fine of
$1,000 and a maximum fine of $100,000.
What can you do? You
should consult an attorney immediately.
Swift action on your attorney’s part may prevent you from losing your
job and may even lessen the risk of criminal charges being brought.
An attorney can help you evaluate your
defenses. Was the site truly indecent?
The definition of obscenity can be somewhat vague. Maybe you were unaware
that you were in possession of these materials.
Perhaps someone with access to your computer had visited these
locations. Even if you knowingly visited
the site and it does look bad, however, you might really have a legitimate and
believable reason for visiting there.
WHAT CAN I DO WHEN MY LOVED ONE HAS BEEN ARRESTED?
Contact an attorney immediately. An attorney can
visit your loved one in the police station, advise them not to talk to police
and notify the police that they are represented by an attorney and will not
answer questions. Timely intervention
can help prevent your loved one from caving into police pressure and providing
the evidence needed for a conviction.
In Illinois, if your
loved one has been picked up for a relatively minor offense and has a clean
record, they may be eligible for an I-Bond.
That means they can leave the police station on their personal promise
that they will appear in Court.
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If the situation is more
serious, your loved one may be held over for a bond hearing until the earliest
possible court business date. At the hearing, a judge will decide how much
money a criminal defendant must post in order to be released from police
custody. If your loved one had the bad
fortune to be picked up on a Friday night, they may have to spend the weekend
in jail.
An attorney can also play
an important role at the bond hearing.
At the hearing, the State will likely argue that a high bond should be
set. Your loved one will have to post 10%
of any bond that the judge sets in order to be released.
The bond may be set so high that your loved
one has no hope of making it and must then remain in jail.
An experienced attorney may be able to assess
which arguments are most likely to sway a particular judge to lower the bond.
I HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR POSSESSION OF NARCOTICS THAT ARE NOT MINE.
WHAT CAN I DO?
To prove possession of a controlled substance, the state
must show: 1) you knew about the
presence of the drugs, and 2) the drugs were in your immediate and exclusive control.
The police do not have to show you had the
drugs on your person. Constructive
possession is enough. For example, the
drugs are in your closet and no one else has the keys to your home.
Since actual knowledge is difficult to prove, the state can
infer that you knew about the narcotics from your acts, declarations or
conduct.
While the state must show the drugs were in your immediate
and exclusive control, the fact that others had access to your drugs may not be
enough to get an acquittal. Possession
may be held jointly. The police may
charge you even if you really didn’t know about the drugs.
If you are charged with a narcotics offense, you should
contact an attorney immediately. If you
are placed under arrest, do not talk to the police and instead ask to speak
with an attorney. An experienced
attorney can determine whether the police violated your Fourth Amendment rights
when they arrested you. An attorney can
also guide you toward the best defense if your case should go to trial.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF THE POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR ME?
Contact an attorney
immediately. A competent attorney may
provide invaluable guidance that helps prevent you from incriminating yourself,
while staying within the bounds of the law.
In limited cases, this advice can help prevent charges from ever being brought.
If you are picked up and
held for questioning or charged with a crime, tell the police that you do not
wish to answer any questions without an attorney present.
It is even more imperative that you not
discuss the circumstances of the crime with police before you have seen an
attorney. This, at times, may be
difficult. The police can legally leave
you sitting for hours in a cold room after you have refused to talk.
Or they might make promises of leniency if
you will only open up. It is in your
best interest, however, not to start talking.
The state has to prove you guilty of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Once you start talking, you may unwittingly
remove any doubts about your guilt and severely limit the options your attorney
has in defending you. And as to the
promises of leniency, the police do not always have the final control over how
you are charged or sentenced.
I AM
UNDER AGE 21 AND HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH AN ALCOHOL-RELATED OFFENSE.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY LICENSE?
Under the
Zero Tolerance policy, the Illinois Secretary of State will automatically
suspend the license of any driver under age 21, who has been caught drinking or
even carrying open alcohol in the passenger compartment of their car.
You need not be anywhere close to the .08
breathalyzer limit to lose your license.
Any trace of alcohol in your system is
enough, even a .01 reading.
You may also
lose your license for having open alcohol in the passenger section of your car,
even if the bottle wasn’t yours. If it
is your bottle, you face a charge of illegal possession. But if it is not, you can still be charged
with illegal transportation, causing the loss of your license for 12 months on
a first offense.
If you are
under the age of 21 and have been charged with an alcohol-related crime, you
should immediately seek the advice of an attorney.
You may be able to contest the charges
against you. Maybe the officer lacked
the probable cause to pull you over.
Maybe you can negotiate a plea to a lesser offense.
Even if you
are convicted of an alcohol-related offense, you may be able to obtain a
restricted driving permit. The Secretary
of State allows you to request a hearing to determine if you have a sufficient
hardship to grant the permit. Primarily,
permits are granted to allow you to go to work or to obtain medical care.
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