DO POLICE NEED A WARRANT TO GET MY BLOOD TEST RESULTS FROM A  HOSPITAL?

Posted on June 26, 2020 by mdkeenan

After having too much to drink, you were involved in an auto accident and taken to the emergency room.  The nurse was very friendly while taking a sample of your blood.  The hospital had your blood tested for alcohol which showed you were way over the legal limit. The police then got the results and charged you with DUI.

Did the police violate your constitutional rights by getting those results without a warrant?

The answer is no, as long as the nurse was not acting as an agent of the police.

A blood test is a search within the Fourth Amendment and thus requires police to obtain a search warrant before drawing your blood. The warrant requirement, however, does not apply to searches conducted by private individuals performed independently of the police. Often, a blood test is necessary before the hospital can treat you.  If the test was not medically necessary and the police were leaning on the nurse to perform it, however, you may be able to prove that the search was illegal.

If you have been charged with DUI or a similar offense, contact an experienced attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for its best possible defense.  Were the police asking or badgering the hospital to perform a medically unnecessary test? If so, an attorney may be able to petition the court to suppress your test results.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

See our related blog: Can Police See The Results of My Hospital Blood Test? and Can the State Use the Results of a Forced Blood or Urine Test? It Depends on who’s Doing the Forcing

Reference: People v. Deroo

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

 

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CAN I BE CONVICTED OF DUI WHEN THE CAR WAS OFF?

Posted on June 7, 2020 by mdkeenan

The answer is yes.

In Illinois, you may be guilty of DUI if you are in actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. To convict you, the state need only show that you had the capability or potential of operating the car.

To determine actual control, courts look at factors including whether you are in the driver’s seat in possession of the ignition key and whether you have the physical capability of starting the engine and moving the vehicle. Illinois courts have convicted drivers based on the following:

  • Defendant was zipped in a sleeping bag inside the backseat.
  • Defendant was pushing his car down the road with no one else present.
  • Defendant was staggering near a smoking vehicle which was registered to him.
  • Defendant was slumped on the passenger side of the vehicle.
  • Defendant’s head was on the driver’s side door with legs extended across the front seat.
  • Defendant was standing outside the open driver’s side door of a truck even though another person was nearby, and there was no proof as to who owned the truck.

If you have been charged with DUI, contact an experienced attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for your best possible defense. An attorney may be able to raise doubts about whether you were actually in control of the vehicle. Even if you were in control, can the state prove you were under the influence of alcohol? How well did you do on any field sobriety tests? Does the police video show you driving safely? Even if the evidence against you is overwhelming, an attorney who is respected in the courthouse may be able to negotiate a more favorable plea agreement than you could on your own.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

Sources: People v. Cox and People v. Davies.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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CAN POLICE SEARCH MY CAR AFTER THEY IMPOUND IT?

Posted on May 25, 2020 by mdkeenan

After you were arrested for DUI, the officers impounded and searched your car. The search yielded several capsules of an illegal narcotic. The officers did not have a warrant. You are now charged with possession with intent to deliver as well as DUI. Was the search of your car legal?

The answer is generally yes. Officers are allowed to perform an inventory search without a warrant. The search, however, must satisfy three criteria:

  1. The original impoundment of the vehicle must be lawful;
  2. The purpose of the inventory search must be to protect the defendant’s property, to protect the police against allegations of theft or damage, or to protect the police from danger; and
  3. The inventory search must be conducted in good faith and not as a pretext for an investigatory search.

If any of the three criteria are missing, you may be able to suppress the evidence from the search.

For example, in People v. Davis, Illinois law required police to impound a defendant’s vehicle for driving on a revoked license without proof of insurance. However, the police never asked the defendant for his insurance. As a result, the court found the original impoundment of the vehicle was not lawful.

If you have been charged with a DUI or a criminal offense, contact an experienced criminal law attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for your best possible defense. Did police have probable cause to arrest you? Was the search of your vehicle legal? Even if the police acted lawfully and the evidence against you is overwhelming, an attorney who is respected in the courthouse may be able to negotiate a more favorable plea agreement than you can on your own.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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WHY DO I HAVE TWO DUI TICKETS?

Posted on May 15, 2020 by mdkeenan

It was bad enough you were arrested for DUI. But now that you are looking at your tickets, you realize you have two tickets for DUI.

Are you in twice as much trouble? What does it mean?

Under Illinois DUI law (625 ILCS 5/11-501), there are seven different types of DUI. An officer can charge you with a combination of driving while over the legal limit of .08 (the 501A-1 ticket) AND driving while under the influence (the 501A-2 ticket).

The state can prove driving over the legal limit through a breathalyzer, or less commonly, a blood test. On the other hand, you can be found guilty of driving while under the influence without scientific testing.

The good news is that even if you have been charged with two counts of DUI, you will not serve two separate sentences. If convicted, the same sentence will cover either or both counts together.

If you are charged with any type of DUI offense, you are best advised to contact an experienced DUI attorney early on to preserve any defense that you may have. As with most criminal charges, the state must prove all the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Was the breathalyzer recently certified according to law? Does the police video show that your driving was steady, and you did well on field sobriety tests? Did the police have probable cause to stop you in the first place?

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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CAN THEY SUSPEND MY LICENSE BECAUSE OF A DUI DURING THE QUARANTINE?

Posted on April 29, 2020 by mdkeenan

The answer is yes.

While many offices of the Secretary of State are closed for business, the DUI unit in Springfield is still at work. Fighting a suspension during the quarantine has become more difficult as court dates are postponed. However, the situation is not hopeless.

If you are charged with DUI, your license will generally be suspended for at least six months, starting on the 46th day after your arrest. It is important to act quickly. Your lawyer may still be able petition the court to block that suspension. If successful, you could still save your driving privileges along with substantial fees and inconvenience.

If you have been charged with DUI or a similar offense, contact an experienced attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for its best possible defense. Did the police have probable cause to stop you? Did they issue the appropriate warnings at the appropriate time? Can the state prove you were driving? How well did you do on any field sobriety tests? Even if the police acted lawfully and the evidence against you is overwhelming, an attorney who is respected in the courthouse may be able to negotiate a more favorable plea agreement than you could on your own.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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HIGH SPEED CRASHES MEAN BIG TROUBLE

Posted on April 8, 2020 by mdkeenan

The roads were clear so you zoomed ahead. But your high speed made it difficult to brake when the car in front of you stopped suddenly, and so you crashed. The police came to the scene, and you are now facing criminal charges.

What can happen to you? What can you do?

If you were involved in a high speed accident, you may be looking at serious consequences. Even if there were no witnesses, you can be charged with misdemeanor speeding (625 ILCS 5/11-605.1) based on accident reconstruction evidence. If you were speeding in a school or construction zone, you can be charged with a special speed limit offense (625 ILCS 5/11-605). If someone was seriously injured or killed, you may well be looking at reckless homicide charges (720 ILCS 5/9-3). If you left the scene of the accident, you can be charged with that (625 ILCS 5/11-401).

Depending on the offense, you can be hit with anything from a Class B Misdemeanor, punishable by 6 months in jail to a Class 1 Felony, punishable by 4 to 7 years in prison.

If you are charged with any of the above offenses, contact an experienced defense attorney immediately. Do not try to talk your way out of your situation. More often than not, your attempt at a reasonable explanation will instead help the state to convict you.

An experienced attorney can review your situation in order to present your defense in its most favorable light. Is there video of the accident? Did the police witness anything personally? Were you actually at fault? Are the conclusions made by the state’s accident reconstruction expert reasonable? Is it worth hiring your own? Can the state prove all the elements of your offense beyond a reasonable doubt?

Even if the evidence against you is overwhelming, your situation may not be hopeless. An attorney, who is respected in the courthouse, may be able to negotiate a more favorable plea agreement than you could on your own.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

See our related blogs:

2014 Update to Illinois Speeding Law

Update to Illinois Speeding Law: The Crackdown Continues

“I Didn’t Know I Hit Anyone”: Leaving the Scene of an Accident in Illinois

Reckless Homicide in Illinois

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY DUI CASE WHILE COURT IS CLOSED?

Posted on April 7, 2020 by mdkeenan

Courts throughout Illinois are closed due to the COVID-19 quarantine. Any guess about when they will open is merely a guess at this point.

If you already have a case in court, rest assured that it will be dealt with in time. If anything, many defendants will benefit from the delay. For one thing, older cases tend to weaken in time. The arresting officer may not recall the details of the event clearly. Witnesses may not be available to come to court at a later date or may have moved on to other matters.

Many court watchers believe that the quarantine could motivate prosecutors to offer more lenient terms for plea bargains, if only to lessen the growing backlog of cases. If so, this will be done strictly on a case to case basis.

If you have been arrested during the quarantine, do not hesitate to consult an experienced criminal defense attorney. An attorney can still handle certain matters during the quarantine such as reviewing the conditions of your bond for work reasons or by serving a subpoena for evidence before potentially beneficial evidence is lost or destroyed. The court is still holding bond hearings, preliminary hearings and arraignments—all early procedures in a felony matter.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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CAN I BE STOPPED BY POLICE FOR TINTED CAR WINDOWS?

Posted on March 28, 2020 by mdkeenan

You binge-watched your favorite season of CSI, downing the last of your favorite craft beer. Making a run to the store, the police stopped you. They said your new car’s tinted windows were too dark. The smell of alcohol then led to your DUI arrest.

Can the officer stop you because of the tinted windows? The answer is, under certain circumstances, yes.

In Illinois, you may have tinted car windows, but there are restrictions. Violating those restrictions may give police probable cause for the stop.

Under 625 ILCS 5/12-503(a-5), no window treatment or tinting may be applied to the windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver seat except:

      1. Where none of the windows behind the driver’s seat allow less than 30% light transmittance, you may use a non-reflective tinted film that allows at least 50% light transmittance, with a 5% variance observed by any law enforcement official metering the light transmittance.
      2. Where the windows behind the driver’s seat allow less than 35% light, the tinted film must allow at least 35% light transmittance with a 5% variance.
      3. Where the manufacturer originally installed a non-reflective smoked or tinted glass on the windows behind the driver’s seat, you may use a non-reflective tint that allows at least 50% light transmittance, with a 5% variance.

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A recent Illinois case examined whether an officer must use a meter to measure the light transmittance. In People v. Dunmire, the officer did not use a meter but testified that he could not see anything through the defendant’s windows. The court upheld the stop stating that an officer need not be able to describe what windows within the above percentages look like, as long as the officer can describe (1) the general differences between legally and illegally tinted windows and (2) the facts that made the particular window appear illegally tinted under the particular circumstances in which it was viewed.

Prior to 2010, Illinois law did not permit any tint on the front driver’s or passenger’s
side windows.

If you have been charged with a DUI or a similar offense, contact an experienced attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for its best possible defense. Were your windows within the legal limits? If so, an attorney may be able to bring a motion to suppress the evidence from the police stop.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois DUI or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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CAN POLICE SEARCH MY CAR WITHOUT A WARRANT?

Posted on March 13, 2020 by mdkeenan

The answer is they can if the search falls under the “automobile exception” to the warrant requirement.

Because a driver could easily take off with the evidence before police have time to get a warrant, police are allowed to search your car as long as probable cause exists to believe that your car contains evidence of criminal activity. The search may include any interior compartment of the vehicle that might reasonably contain the contraband.

If you have been charged with a crime, contact an experienced criminal law attorney immediately. Did the police have the necessary probable cause or did they search outside the limits of the suspected contraband? If so, an attorney may be able to bring a motion to suppress the results of any unlawful search.

Note that determining whether a police search violated the law is very fact specific, and different judges can weigh those facts very differently. An attorney who is familiar with the courthouse may be better able to present your particular situation.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

Reference: People v. Davis

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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WHAT HAPPENS IF THE STATE LOSES THE VIDEO OF MY ARREST?

Posted on February 29, 2020 by mdkeenan

During an arrest for DUI, the officer or the squad car may be filming you. In some cases, this video can help your case by showing you did not appear impaired.

But what happens if that video disappears? Can the charges against you be dismissed? The answer is it depends.

If the evidence was materially exculpatory—in other words, important to proving you were not guilty, the court may sanction the state for failing to produce such evidence. This could include forbidding the officers from testifying as to matters that might have been shown on the video. However, if the evidence was merely potentially useful, you must show the state acted in bad faith in order to prove a violation of your due process rights.

But the inquiry does not end there. The state may also be sanctioned if you can show that it violated a discovery court rule or a court order issued under such a rule. In one Illinois case, the court granted the defendant’s motion to overturn the automatic suspension of her driver’s license when a video was not viewable because of technical difficulties (People v. Aronson).

However, a recent Illinois decision held that the state would not be sanctioned if a video never existed. In People v. Althoff, the squad car video from a DUI stop seemed to be missing. The defendant petitioned the court to dismiss his case or at least prevent testimony about matters that would have been shown on the video. The defendant admitted, however, that the state had not acted in bad faith. The court did not find a violation since there was no evidence that the video ever existed or that it would show much of value to defendant’s case. Therefore, the state had not violated either due process or a discovery rule.

If you have been charged with a crime, contact an experienced DUI attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case for its best possible defense. Can any evidence against you be excluded? If so, an attorney may be able to petition the judge to keep that evidence out at trial. In limited cases, this could result in your case being dismissed.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)

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