Chicago Criminal Defense Lawyers
With A Reputation For Results In Tough Cases
Sometimes, in drug crime cases, authorities use responses a suspect gave to questions police asked as evidence against the suspect in criminal proceedings. There are certain things that can impact whether such evidence is in fact allowed to be used in criminal proceedings. If the suspect’s responses were given during a custodial interrogation, one such thing is whether police gave…
All too often, we hear of cases where a defendant pleads guilty to a drug charge, without first learning about the legal avenues that may have been available. At the Law Offices of Damon M. Cheronis, we understand just how much a drug charge can impact a person’s life, even after he or she has served their time and paid…
Under Illinois law, there are many different types of illegal drug conduct. One such type is delivery of an illegal drug. Today, we will discuss what exactly constitutes illegal drug delivery here in Illinois. According to Illinois law, a person “delivers” an illegal drug if they do one of the following three things: Actually transfer possession of an illegal drug.…
Prosecutors often have a fair amount of discretion when it comes to drug prosecutions. Thus, changes in drug prosecution policy can have some pretty major impacts. A change in drug prosecution policy was recently announced here in Cook County. The new policy represents a softening when it comes to the stance towards low-level drug offenses in the Chicago area. Among…
Generally, here in Illinois, being accused of having delivered cannabis to another exposes a person to heftier potential penalties than they would face for possessing cannabis. One exception to this though is if the alleged delivery was a casual delivery. State law dictates that, for penalty purposes, a casual delivery of cannabis is to be treated the same as cannabis possession rather than…
Sometimes, a drug crime allegation will lead to a person facing charges on the federal level. There are many different reasons why it can be a very serious thing to be facing federal drug charges. One is that many federal drug charges carry mandatory minimums. A mandatory minimum is when a given criminal charge has a required minimum sentence for…
When many Illinois residents think of drug trafficking, they may think of the huge cartels with violent criminals transporting drugs to various states and countries. While that is a form of drug trafficking, most cases happen on a much smaller scale. Trafficking refers to any sale or import of drugs – even prescription drugs. The distribution of illegal drugs is…
Marijuana law is a rather confusing area of criminal law here in Illinois, in part because medical use of this drug has been legalized in the state. While some instances of marijuana possession are legal under state law, there are still a great many that are not. Under such circumstances, one could easily see instances arising in which individuals find…
Many different government agencies are involved in the investigation of alleged drug crimes and the enforcement of drug laws. This includes federal agencies, most notably: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA conducts drug investigations throughout the country. Sometimes, such investigations result in individuals being arrested and federal drug charges being brought. Last year, the DEA made 30,688 arrests here…
There are many instances when, during the course of their work, police have interactions with the public. In some instances, these interactions are on friendly terms, while in others they are much less so. Sometimes disputes arise over what occurred during a given police-citizen interaction. A new type of technology that some police departments are starting to use is aimed…