Subject Index Criminal Law and Procedure

Digital files support a child pornography charge

January
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Oct. 21, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a search that uncovered child pornography did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

No conflict of interest exists when a defense attorney has also represented the victim of the defendant’s crime if the representation has concluded before trial

January
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Oct. 21, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court held that no per se conflict exists where defense counsel previously represented the victim of the defendant’s crime if the representation concluded before trial.

Application of Illinois parole statute held constitutionally valid

December
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On Sept. 13, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a trial court’s application of a new Illinois parole statute to an 80-year sentence is constitutionally valid.

Remote appearances are now allowed for more court hearings when no witness testimony will be taken

December
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 is amended to provide for remote court hearings in certain situations.

Challenge to life sentence rejected as defendant exceeded the unconstitutional age range for juvenile natural-life sentences

November
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Aug. 11, 2021, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a circuit court’s judgment to impose a natural-life sentence.

Genuine issues of material fact existed for claim of malicious prosecution after overturned murder conviction

November
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On July 29, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court’s grant of summary judgment on claims of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy following the reversal of a murder charge.

Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence valid because defendant lacked knowledge and control of contents containing controlled substance

October
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
Defendant was convicted after jury trial of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver.

HIV transmission decriminalized

October
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
This Act amends the Criminal Code of 2012 and repeals the statute that creates the offense of criminal transmission of HIV.

Testimony that a guilty plea was brought about by police coercion does not overcome the initial plea to warrant certificate of innocence

October
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
According to the plain and ordinary meaning of section 2-702(g)(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, a defendant who has pleaded guilty caused or brought about his or her conviction is not entitled to a certificate of innocence.

Cocaine Isn’t What It Used to Be

By Thomas A. Drysdale
September
2021
Article
, Page 36
Cocaine is not defined the same way under Illinois and federal law. An analysis of the impact of United States v. Ruth on federal drug sentencing enhancements.

Court improperly admitted evidence of defendant’s prior bad acts to bolster witness credibility

September
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On June 11, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a new trial is warranted because the state impermissibly used the defendant’s other bad acts as substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt.

Police officer giving opinion at trial is improper when asked if a crime had been committed

September
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On June 3, 2021, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a new trial is warranted because a police officer impermissibly testified to his opinion on whether a crime occurred.

55-year sentence affirmed even with extensive presentence investigation report

August
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On May 26, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a 55-year sentence does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

Defendant’s obligation to register under the Violent Offender Act does not confer standing to challenge conviction

July
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On April 15, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a trial court may summarily dismiss a postconviction petition for lack of standing.

Defendant’s 50-year sentence for first-degree murder vacated and remanded partly due to traumatic childhood life

June
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On March 31, 2021, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court vacated a 19-year-old’s 50-year sentence on a first-degree murder conviction when the defendant did not fire the murder weapon and had a traumatic childhood.

Illinois Supreme Court rules that admonishment requirements apply only to defendants pleading guilty at arraignment

June
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On March 18, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that admonishment requirements under 725 ILCS 5/113-4(c) apply only when a defendant pleads guilty at arraignment.

Defendant’s mental illness does not establish cause for his failure to raise unfitness defense in earlier postconviction petition

May
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Feb. 11, 2021, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court dismissed a successive postconviction petition raising a due-process violation on fitness grounds because the defendant neither raised the claim earlier nor showed cause for such failure.

Victim’s response to 911 operator’s questions is admissible into evidence as excited utterance

May
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Feb. 16, 2021, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that statements made in response to questions by a 911 operator can still be spontaneous enough to qualify for the excited-utterance exception to the hearsay rule.

Will Big Reforms Lead to Better Justice?

By Ed Finkel
May
2021
Cover Story
, Page 22
Illinois’ recently signed criminal justice reform legislation promises sweeping law enforcement and court changes. 

Defendant with intellectual disability may be incapable of voluntarily waiving Miranda rights

April
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On Jan. 7, 2021, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court invalidated a Miranda waiver by a defendant with an intellectual disability who at one point raised his wish for a lawyer.

Guilty Plea, Innocent Defendant

By Ashley Kidd
April
2021
Article
, Page 40
When a defendant challenges his or her own guilty plea.

What Is So Special About a Bond Review?

By Jarrad Woodson
April
2021
Article
, Page 44
How to effectively argue for fair bond conditions.

A defendant’s intellectual disability does not nullify his voluntary jury waiver

March
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On Dec. 31, 2020, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a defendant’s intellectual disability alone does not nullify his voluntary jury waiver.

Furnishing false information must materially impede the administration of justice for it to rise to the level of obstruction of justice

January
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On Oct. 28, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the State of Illinois must prove that false information furnished by a defendant resulted in a material impediment to the administration of justice to convict under an obstruction-of-justice charge.

Bad Timing

By Donald J. Ramsell
December
2020
Article
, Page 32
COVID-19 and the right to a speedy trial in Illinois.
2 comments (Most recent December 10, 2020)

Court’s vacatur of guilty plea followed by a bench trial does not constitute double jeopardy

December
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Sept. 24, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court found that the trial court’s sua sponte vacatur of the defendant’s guilty plea did not improperly terminate jeopardy; thus, the subsequent bench trial did not constitute double jeopardy.

The limited-authority doctrine applies to residential burglary by entry

December
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Sept. 24, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the limited-authority doctrine, which provides that a defendant’s authority to enter a building is limited to the specifically authorized purpose, applies to residential burglary by entry.

Recent evidence solves decades-old murder; court affirms despite evidentiary objections

December
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Sept. 3, 2020, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a trial court’s judgment in a decades-old murder case against evidentiary objections.

Guilty plea and failure to raise issue in a postplea motion may constitute grounds for forfeiting claim

November
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On Aug. 20, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that failing to raise a presentencing investigation (PSI) report issue under section 5-3-1 of the Unified Code of Corrections in a postplea motion within 30 days after sentencing results in forfeiting and waiving the claim.

Conviction for simultaneous possession of firearm and cannabis upheld

October
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On July 7, 2020, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that the simultaneous possession of a firearm and any amount of cannabis is prohibited under the Illinois Criminal Code.

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