Four Chicago residents accused of hate crime

Four people were charged with hate crimes, kidnapping, aggravated battery, and aggravated lawful restraint on Thursday, January 5 in relation to a video posted on Facebook that showed them assaulting a man. Authorities said they found the disoriented victim wandering the streets and were able to surmise that the assault had gone on for hours. The...

Murder

January 12th, 2017

Gang rap videos used in murder trial still questionable

Champaign County Judge Tom Difanis issued a ruling that two violent gang rap videos cannot be used as “substantive evidence” in the defense of 18-year-old Champaign, Illinois resident Shamario Brown. Brown was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, leading the judge to say the videos can be used to discredit the...

Criminal Defense

December 2nd, 2016

Man charged with drug possession can face up to 30 years in jail

Juvon Mays, 35, is facing up to 30 years of imprisonment on charges of possession with intent to deliver both heroin and cannabis. The Champaign, Illinois man will face sentencing by Judge Heidi Ladd on Wednesday, December 21. Mays’ trial began on Monday, November 14. During a raid on the house where Mays was arrested, police...

Criminal Defense

November 12th, 2016

Illinois state trooper convicted of misconduct and bribery

A jury in Vermilion County, Illinois deliberated for two hours last Tuesday, November 8 before finding 46-year-old Westville resident Keith Lumsargis, an Illinois state trooper, guilty of official misconduct and bribery. Lumsargis, who worked for the state police for 13 years, was taken into police custody in May 2014 at the Possum Trot restaurant in Oakwood after treating...

Murder

November 2nd, 2016

Jury selection for Des Plaines man accused of attempted murder now underway

Jury selection for the trial of 20-year-old Des Plaines resident Daniel Dion began last Monday, October 31. Dion made a not guilty plea by reason of insanity to attempted murder charges in relation to allegedly stabbing and critically wounding a 24-year-old Vernon Hills woman outside the Century Theater in Deer Park. Although the burden of...

DUI Defense

October 27th, 2016

Man charged with DUI after accident causes death to woman and unborn son

Normal, Illinois resident Lance Pitsch, 27, was charged with aggravated driving under the influence that resulted in death and reckless homicide in Christian County. The charges come after he caused a vehicular accident on Illinois 48 near County Road 600 North in Morrisonville at approximately 3:20 p.m. on Friday, October 21. The crash resulted in...

Criminal Defense

October 17th, 2016

Champaign landlord to receive sentencing in fraud case

Seventy-three-year-old Champaign, Illinois landlord and architect Gene Hardwick is scheduled to appear at the United States District Court in Urbana on Friday, October 14. If found guilty, Hardwick will have to spend 24 months in federal prison for defrauding Longview State Bank after he is sentenced by U.S. Judge Colin Bruce. According to court documents,...

Sex Crimes Defense

October 7th, 2016

Derrick Rose’s lawyers say accused rape was consensual

The legal counsel for 28-year-old New York Knicks player Derrick Rose insisted on Wednesday, October 5 that the woman bringing rape charges against Rose willingly had sex with him at Rose’s mansion in Beverly Hills. The plaintiff is also accusing two of Rose’s friends with the rape of an impaired woman. Rose’s lawyers said the text messages the woman sent...

Sex Crimes Defense

October 4th, 2016

Sexual abuse lawsuit against scout leader allowed to proceed in court

Illinois Appellate Court decided on Friday, September 30 that a civil lawsuit lodged by former members of the Oak Lawn Boy Scout troop in Cook County can proceed to trial. Their trial concerns the members’ claims that they were sexually molested by their scout leader, Thomas Hacker, in the 1980’s. The lawsuit was filed in 2013 by 16 former...

Murder

September 29th, 2016

Man walks free after DNA evidence exonerates him from murder charge

Fifty-five-year-old Chicago resident Mark Maxson was released from Stateville Correctional Center last Tuesday, September 27 after a Cook County judge ruled Maxson did not commit his crimes. Maxson went to jail for the 1992 rape and murder of six-year-old boy Lindsey Murdock, but DNA evidence showed he was actually innocent. The Cook County District Attorney’s Office supported...

1 2 3 4 Next »