Earlier in 2021, the Illinois legislature passed House Bill 3653, known as the Criminal Justice Omnibus Bill, and Governor Pritzker subsequently signed it into law. The bill provides for substantial policing reforms, as well as significant changes to how defendants are treated in the Illinois criminal justice system. Parts of the bill take effect on July 1 of this year, while others will be phased in over time. If you are arrested on criminal charges in the coming months and years, you are likely to benefit from the additional protections the bill provides for your constitutional rights.

Criminal Defendants’ Rights in Illinois

The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution provides several important protections for people who are charged with a criminal offense. These constitutional rights apply in both federal and state cases. If you are charged with a crime, you should be sure to understand the following:

• The Fourth Amendment provides protection from unreasonable search and seizure of your person or property, which typically means searches without a warrant, consent, or probable cause.

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With regards to criminal law and criminal defense in particular, all crimes are serious, carrying with them significant penalties, but all crimes also have varying degrees of this substantiality. Concerning battery and assault specifically, and aggravated battery and aggravated assault especially, the differences are slight but certainly could result in much more serious and severe consequences depending on classification. Here is a summary of the major differences between assault, battery, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery to illustrate this point.

Assault: Defined

According to Illinois law, assault happens when someone without any legal authority knowingly engages in an action that places someone else in a circumstance more likely to lead to battery.

A simple assault would result in a Class C misdemeanor, which carries with it up to 30 days in jail and up to $1,500 worth of fines, in addition to potential other penalties.

If your son or daughter has been accused of a crime, he or she will probably need to face trial but not in an adult criminal court. For minors ages 17 and younger, DuPage County has a robust juvenile court system. They take every crime committed by young people very seriously. From relatively minor crimes such as theft or traffic violations to much more serious offenses like underage drinking, DUI, drug possession, and sexual assault,  juvenile offenses in Illinois have the potential to threaten the future of your son or daughter’s life.

Fortunately, in Illinois, despite a strict juvenile court system, the objective is still rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. Nearly everyone involved in the process is looking to help the accused get back on track after the follies of their youth or other lapses in judgment attributed to immaturity as a young person. However, that is not to say that your son or daughter should not have the appropriate representation from a juvenile defense attorney during their trial. Here are some reasons why the right lawyer during a juvenile defense case is critical.

Why Having an Attorney Matters

If you hire the right lawyer to represent your son or daughter in juvenile court, you and your child can benefit in the following ways:

If you are apprehended by law enforcement for any criminal charges, including DUI, drug charges, assault, Internet sex crimes, or a wide variety of other criminal offenses, there are myriad ways that a police officer could fail to follow proper procedures during and after your arrest that could be used against the prosecution if your case goes to trial. Anything from use of excessive force to neglecting to read you your rights or corrupting the evidence collected at the scene, be it unintentionally or otherwise. However, in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic, even with the first round of vaccines already being rolled out, there is an increased likelihood of the police making some mistakes that could infect you with the COVID-19 virus. If that is the circumstance, you might get the case dismissed or you could win the case on that single technicality. Here is an overview of the potential in using coronavirus exposure as a unique criminal defense strategy for this unprecedented time in history.

Law Enforcement Procedures in Place to Cope with COVID-19 in Illinois

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the federal level and state health authorities, as well as city-wide governments throughout Illinois at the local level, have issued directives and guidance for law enforcement concerning properly handling arrests and jailing or imprisonment during the pandemic. Among the major changes in police officer behaviors and procedures due to COVID-19 are:

• The same advice given to civilians. Officers must maintain good hand hygiene by washing your hands/sanitizing yourself, do not touch your face, wear personal protective equipment (PPE like masks) whenever possible, and keep your distance at six feet whenever possible (within reason in the case of officers, provided it does not interfere with proper arrest and booking procedures).
• If COVID-19 exposure or infection is suspected, the police should notify the EMS so they can evaluate anyone who exhibits symptoms and take them to a healthcare facility for initial care.
• Disinfect belts, gear, and equipment regularly, especially if exposure is suspected.
• For jailing, if the alleged offender is exhibiting COVID symptoms or claims to have COVID, the officer must attempt to separate them from the other people in jail or working in the jail as often as possible, even if that means giving them their own cell whenever possible until the alleged offender can get tested for the virus.

If you suspect or witness the police blatantly or deliberately—possibly even maliciously—not following such safety guidelines, your experienced lawyer might be able to use that during his arguments in court.

Internet sex crimes alone are difficult to defend, especially in such a fast-paced, technology-driven world where it takes more than good old-fashioned research and quality in-person testimonies to create compelling arguments. Sometimes you and your lawyer will need experts in computer forensics and other fields to help clarify issues and circumstances. Other times you will need a lawyer to go above and beyond in his or her own work to understand the complexities, subtleties, and intricacies of your case. Defending against possession of child pornography charges is no different in this sense. Here are some basic ways that a child pornography defense lawyer can help you with your case.

Ways a Child Pornography Defense Lawyer Can Help

There are many different strategies that a possession of child pornography defense lawyer can use to help you with your case. These key strategies include:

• Disputing your knowledge of the illegal material—Perhaps someone else used your computer or other electronic device to download these illegal images. If they did this without your knowledge, the prosecution has the wrong person on trial. Even if you did know this, your charges might be reduced because you yourself did not engage with those images, or you immediately worked to remove them from your device(s).
• Showing you had no intent to download illegal material—With the Internet being so confusing and full of chaotic information, it can be difficult to know when you are downloading something legal or illegal. Most times, the assumption is it is legal by virtue of the fact that you can easily get access to it and the company you are getting it from seems legitimate, but this is not always the case. If your lawyer can prove that you never intended on downloading anything illegal, then you might be able to improve your case.
• Employing the assistance of experts—Your case, including showing your lack of knowledge with regards to the illegal images as well as your lack of intent to download such images, can be further helped by experts in the fields of computer forensics, psychology, and other disciplines. These experts can provide evidence supporting your arguments—from showing that your downloads were accidental or inadvertent to proving you thought you were downloading something legal.

Contact a DuPage County Internet Sex Crimes Defense Attorney

As with most cases, the right lawyer can make all the difference. This is just as true with any Internet sex crime as it is with child pornography charges. That is why you must retain representation from a knowledgeable Wheaton IL child pornography defense lawyer. Stephen A. Brundage, Attorney at Law, is an aggressive and experienced lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in criminal defense. Call Stephen A. Brundage today at 630-260-9647 for a free confidential consultation.