Areas of Practice
Felony and Misdemeanor Criminal Defense
Leveraging deep expertise as both a former prosecutor and a seasoned criminal defense attorney with over 30 years of experience, Paul offers unparalleled representation across a broad spectrum of criminal law cases. His practice spans defending serious and complex felonies, including first degree murder, reckless homicide and aggravated DUI, aggravated unlawful use of weapons, drug delivery and possession, sexual assault, and financial crimes, to misdemeanors such as domestic battery, DUI, and driving while revoked or suspended, down to even minor traffic violations. This comprehensive criminal defense law office ensures robust, informed, and strategic advocacy for every client, targeting optimal outcomes in every case.
Pretrial Fairness Act
Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, once a person is arrested and charged with the commission of a crime in violation of Illinois law, that person may, in less serious cases, be released by the officer on standard conditions to not violate the law, to attend all court proceedings, and to maintain a current address with the Clerk of the Court. However, in certain cases, the arresting officer may instead hold the person in custody - sometimes overnight - until that person may be brought before the Court, at which time the prosecution may petition the Court to detain the person in custody through the final disposition of the case, or to only release the person from custody on certain more restrictive conditions. Accordingly, these first court appearance proceedings under the Pretrial Fairness Act are extremely important and deserving of great attention by your attorney.
The Complaint or Indictment
The Complaint, Information, or Indictment is the formal charging instrument which sets forth the specific allegations against you, the date and time of the alleged offense, and the statutory provision which you are alleged to have violated. The statute alleged to have been violated will dictate the class of the alleged offense, whether it is a petty or business offense punishable by fine only, or a misdemeanor or felony offense, some of which carry mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. Paul will make sure that you are fully aware of your exposure based upon the nature of the offense charged.
Defense Investigation and the Discovery Process
Often times, some discovery material, typically police reports at a minimum, will be provided to Paul by the prosecution on or before the first court date. Paul will thereafter collect all discoverable evidence from the prosecution, and will often times move the court to order supplemental discovery, or issue subpoenas to preserve and produce all material he deems necessary for your defense. Once that material has been obtained, you and Paul will review it together, and you will be able to more intelligently discuss your alternatives toward the resolution of your case.
Felony Aggravated DUI and Misdemeanor DUI
Felony Aggravated DUI charges - most significantly, those involving collisions resulting in death or great bodily harm - carry exposure to lengthy sentences of imprisonment. Even Misdemeanor DUI charges carry serious penalties, and collateral consequences including exposure to a loss of driving privileges. DUI charges, both felony and misdemeanor, oftentimes involve toxicological issues where Paul’s decades of experience will prove vital to your defense. Paul has successfully prevented the admission of evidence of toxicological evidence against his clients by demanding that crime laboratories remain true to their own strident scientific standards.
A charge of Driving While Under the Influence of Alcohol and/or Drugs is a complex matter with many issues that may have an impact on your life. There exists an entire area of law covering those many issues. Paul has been involved prosecuting or defending DUI charges for over 30 years, and is typically in courtrooms every day defending several clients charged with DUI offenses - both misdemeanor and felony - in DuPage, Cook, Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, and many other surrounding counties. He has been involved as an attorney in hundreds of DUI cases over the decades. Accordingly, he is very adept at both educating you on all related issues, and vigorously defending you to ensure that the event has as little negative impact on your life as possible. It is our strong recommendation that you contact him as soon as possible for your free consultation and education in this regard.
The typical DUI education process takes approximately 1 hour, and, accordingly, we offer here only a brief summary of some issues related to your DUI charge. In the event that you have been charged with a DUI offense, it will be alleged as a violation of a state law prosecuted by a State's Attorney's Office, or as a violation of a municipal ordinance prosecuted by a local prosecutor. It is likely that upon your arrest you were fingerprinted and photographed, and, accordingly, arrest and identification records regarding the incident have been generated and will be maintained by the Federal Bureau of Identification, the Illinois Bureau of Identification, and the arresting agency.
You have likely been charged with Driving While Under the Influence of alcohol, drugs (either prescription, non-prescription, legal or illegal), a combination of alcohol and drugs, or with any amount of an unlawfully consumed drug in your blood or urine. If you submitted to a blood, breath or urine analysis which revealed a blood or breath alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more, or the presence of an unlawfully consumed drug, then it is likely that you have been charged with a second count of DUI. It is also likely that you have also been charged with one or more companion traffic offenses. Among the important documentation you have received, the arresting agency may have also provided you with a copy of a Complaint and/or one or more Uniform Traffic Citations which are the formal charging instruments, and which set forth the specific allegations against you, the date and time of the alleged offenses, and the statutory provisions which you are alleged to have violated. The laws alleged to have been violated will dictate the class of the alleged offenses and whether the law provides for any mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. In most cases, the DUI charge will be alleged as a Class A Misdemeanor which carries a maximum sentence of up to 1 year of incarceration and up to $2,500 in fines plus mandatory costs and assessments. However, in some cases, if certain circumstances exist, a DUI charge may be enhanced for felony prosecution, or may be charged as a felony offense from inception. Paul will make sure that you are fully aware of your exposure based upon the nature of the offense charged and the circumstances that exist.
Unless you submitted to a breath analysis revealing a breath-alcohol concentration of under 0.08%, or you have submitted to a blood or urine analysis for which the results are still pending, your arresting officer should have also provided you with an important document, thin and white in color, entitled Notice of Summary Suspension/Revocation. That document is related to the Illinois implied consent law found at 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1. The Notice of Summary Suspension/Revocation in most cases provides that, on the 46th day following the date on which the Notice was issued to you, a summary suspension will enter against your Illinois driver's license and/or driving privileges as a result of either your alleged refusal to submit to a blood, breath or urine analysis, or your alleged submission to such a test which revealed a failing result. The suspension will enter for a one-year term if you allegedly refused to submit to an analysis, or for a six-month term if you allegedly submitted to a failing analysis. If you have had a prior DUI disposition or implied consent suspension within the previous 5 years, then the term of the summary suspension will be longer: a three-year term if you allegedly refused to submit to an analysis, or a one-year term if you allegedly submitted to a failing analysis. In either case you will be entitled to a pre or prompt post-deprivation due process judicial hearing to determine the propriety of the summary suspension.
It is important that a pleading requesting the hearing is filed with the court on your behalf as soon as possible because, under current Illinois law, you are entitled to such a hearing within 30 days of the filing of the pleading or on your first scheduled court date, whichever is later. Should you prevail at hearing, the summary suspension will thereafter be rescinded. However, if you do not prevail at hearing, the suspension will enter and continue in effect.
If you are eligible, you may apply to the Secretary of State for the issuance of a Monitoring Device Driver's Permit which will help relieve the hardship caused by the suspension. The permit may be effective during the entire term of the suspension term, and may be used for any purpose, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, but is strictly conditioned upon the use of a vehicle equipped with a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device.
The first scheduled court date in most cases is for the purpose of arraignment, potentially for a hearing regarding the impending summary suspension, but not for trial. At the arraignment you will be asked to enter your plea to the charge against you. In the vast majority of cases, you will enter your plea of not guilty, the matter will be continued for an interim court date, and the discovery process will begin.
Often times, some discovery material, typically police reports at a minimum, and often times a copy of audio and video evidence will be provided to Paul by the prosecution on or before that first court date. Paul will thereafter collect all discoverable evidence from the prosecution and will often times move the court to order supplemental discovery, or will issue subpoenas to preserve and produce all material he deems necessary for your defense. Once that material has been obtained, you and Paul will review it together, and you will be able to more intelligently discuss your alternatives toward a prompt resolution of your case.
Traffic Cases and CDL Concerns
Traffic cases may also be charged as felony offenses, but most often are charged as misdemeanor or even petty offenses. The charges, in certain cases, may carry exposure to serious penalties, along with serious collateral consequences including the loss of driving privileges. For CDL holders, even a minor moving violation may result in serious repercussions, including CDL disqualification. In many cases, however, minor traffic citations carry only mild penalty provisions. Whether serious or less so, Paul has decades of experience in minimizing all hardships associated with the process while reaching the best possible outcome for your case.
In some jurisdictions, only with regard to minor traffic offenses for which no court appearance is required, the issuing officer may provide you with a method by which you may enter a plea of guilty by mail and request a lenient disposition of court disposition. Determining your eligibility for a specified disposition, and determining your best course of action can become a complicated exercise, and, accordingly it is our strong recommendation that you contact Paul and request a free consultation in that regard.
If a court appearance is mandatory, or recommended and desired, in some jurisdictions the citation itself notifies you of the first scheduled court date, time, and court location. In other jurisdictions, the issuing officer will provide you with documentation which must be properly completed and mailed to the applicable Circuit Court Clerk in order for you to be notified by mail regarding your first scheduled court date. And, in still other jurisdictions, if you simply wait and do not mail any documentation to the Circuit Court Clerk, you will automatically by notified by mail regarding your first scheduled court date. Using our links page, you may make an inquiry with the applicable Circuit Court Clerk in that regard.
If it is your intention to proceed to trial in connection with the traffic charge against you, in some jurisdictions it is necessary for you to direct notice of your intent to plead not guilty to the applicable Circuit Court Clerk in order for a trial date to be set, and for you as well as the issuing officer to be properly notified of that trial date. If you have any questions with regard to your first scheduled court date, it is our strong recommendation that you contact Paul and he will assist you in resolving those issues.
If it is your intention to contest the traffic charge against you, then the traffic matter will proceed through the court system in the same manner as any other criminal offense. On your first scheduled court date, you will enter your plea of not guilty and the discovery process will begin. Paul will obtain a copy of all police reports completed in connection with the cause, and will often times move the court to order supplemental discovery, or will issue subpoenas to preserve and produce all material he deems necessary to your defense. Once that discovery material has been obtained, you and Paul will review it together, and you will be able to more intelligently discuss your alternatives toward a prompt resolution of your case.
However, many motorists do not desire to contest their traffic citations, and therefore do not retain Paul for his trial expertise, but rather request his assistance in obtaining the most lenient disposition available. Court supervision is a lenient disposition by which, upon a finding of guilt, no judgment of conviction enters. Rather, the case is deferred for a period of time, and during that term the court will order the motorist to comply with certain conditions typically including the payment of a fine and court costs, in some cases the completion of a driver improvement program, and an order that the motorist commit no further violations of the law. Under current Illinois law, any motorist under the age of 21 must complete a driver improvement program as a condition of court supervision granted in connection with a moving violation. If, at the conclusion of the term of court supervision, the motorist is in compliance with all conditions, then the disposition of court supervision will be terminated satisfactorily and the traffic charge will be dismissed. Under current Illinois law, a motorist is eligible for a disposition of court supervision with regard to no more than two moving violations occurring within any 12-month period.
The Office of the Illinois Secretary of State is the governmental agency charged with the duty of issuing, sanctioning, and maintaining records regarding driver's licenses and driving privileges within the State of Illinois. The Secretary of State maintains two driving records for every motorist: an internal record called a "court purposes" record, and an external or public record. Only the public or external record is typically accessible by insurance companies and employers. For all motorists other than those holding Commercial Driver's Licenses, traffic offense dispositions of court supervision are reported only on the internal or "court purposes" driving record, and are not reported on the external or public driving record. Traffic offense convictions are reported on both driving records. A discretionary suspension or revocation will enter against the driver's license or driving privileges of a motorist 21 years of age or older if that motorist is convicted of three or more moving violations which occurred within any 12-month period, and against the driver's license and driving privileges of a motorist under the age of 21 years of age if that motorist is convicted of two or more moving violations which occurred withing any 24-month period.
Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL)
The law governing traffic citations issued to CDL holders is much more onerous, even if the alleged violation occurred at a time when the CDL holder was operating his personal motor vehicle. Traffic violations subject a CDL holder to significant risk that his CDL may be disqualified by the Secretary of State. Accordingly, it is our recommendation that a CDL holder contact Paul for representation immediately upon the issuance of any traffic citation.
Other Areas of practice
Domestic Battery and Orders of Protection
Paul has decades of experience defending clients against charges of domestic battery, and representing clients in order of protection matters.
Juvenile Court Proceedings
Similarly, Paul also has decades of experience representing young clients in Juvenile Court proceedings in which the prosecution seeks to have the Court enter findings of delinquency.
Expungement and Sealing of Criminal Records
It has become increasingly important in recent years to have a clear criminal history as prospective employers have more often included a review of the criminal history of applicants in their hiring process. If you have a previous police contact, arrest, or criminal or traffic proceeding that you believe is a blemish on your criminal history, contact Paul in order to determine whether you are eligible to petition the court for the issuance of an order that the records be expunged, or sealed from dissemination to the public.
Other areas of concentration
Our firm shares offices with skilled attorneys who handle various areas of law, including personal injury, medical malpractice, family law, and Secretary of State driver's license-related administrative hearings.