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Greetings,

I know you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been posting much.  I’m sure it’s been keeping you up at night.  I’ll bet that some of you have been so worried that the stress is making it hard for you to function.  It’s horrible, I know.

To you, I offer my sincerest apologies.

It’s not that I haven’t been posting.  To be honest, I have a secret to tell.  I’ve been cheating on you.

It’s not your fault.  You’re great.  Seriously. You’re the best and I wouldn’t ever want you to change.  It’s just that I’ve been contributing to another web page and I didn’t think you were ready to hear about it.

Its name is Excessive Bail.  Excessive Bail is a fairly new deal.  It’s actually a collaboration among several criminal defense attorneys- so it’s not just my stuff.  It’s got some fun stuff, some serious stuff, and some stuff about Walmart hot dogs.  Over there, you can even comment and tell me how nuts I am.

But I still want to be friends with you.  So, I’ll still write stuff here- just not as often.  I’ll use this space for local stuff… like my hatred for certain local police departments or when we make the big-time news.  I’ll use Excessive Bail for the more general types of stuff… like making fun of new lawyers, or how listening to a pimp can help you in traffic court.

I’m sorry I had to break it to you like this.  Please don’t hate me.

The subject of one of the most popular posts on here is in the news again.  Back in April you may recall that the McHenry City Police Department had an officer get charged with misconduct stemming from that officer’s purported theft from the department evidence lockup.  I was a bit cranky about the press release put out by the chief of that department:

The fact is that I feel bad for the whole situation.  The life Hojnacki knew is over- whether or not he’s guilty.  If he stole money or didn’t steal money, that’s sad.  The intensity of a criminal arrest for a cop is off-the-meter when compared to a non-cop.  It’s possible to be empathetic without condoning what somebody has done or is accused of doing.  It seems they don’t teach that in Police Chief school.

Well, it’s not a “purported” crime anymore.  According to the NW Herald Mr. Hojnacki has entered admissions to a couple of the charges, with sentencing to follow.  What does the Chief have to say about that?  Lots, I guess.  He’s not going to tell us yet, though:

“I want to speak, but there’s a gag order and I’m respecting that gag order,” he said.

I feel so sad for the Chief.  I’m sad that he has things he wants to say and he can’t.  That must be frustrating.

I’m also sad that he’s Chief of a department that seemingly had no real control over the integrity of its evidence.  I’m sad that it seems anybody could walk into his evidence vault and take whatever they wanted (“Hojnacki was not assigned to the evidence vault and was not an evidence custodian, McHenry Police Chief John Jones has said.”).  I’m sad that, in a moment of weakness, any officer in that department could have compromised the evidence and possibly effected a lot of criminal cases.  It saddens me to think that the blame in that office doesn’t seem to run all the way to the top.

Like I said in the original post, Hojnacki has made a mistake and it has cost him far more than it would a non-police officer.  What has allowing this to happen cost Jones?

Maybe if he hadn’t been bound by the gag order, Jones was going to come out and tell us how he messed up.  How all of this was allowed to happen.  How he’s completely changed the way they keep their evidence.  How anybody who wants to get into that evidence vault has to go through him, or somebody he trusts.  How he bought a mirror and he looked in that mirror and realized the guy in that mirror is no better than anybody else.

Maybe.

Probably not.

Man, I think the police are catching on. Looks like the Kane County Sheriff was doing the DUI/Roadblock thing the night before Thanksgiving.  Who would have thought?

According to the Kane County Chronicle, the State’s Attorney’s office was also doing their “no refusal” thing.  That means that if you refuse the breath or blood test, they’re claiming they’re going to get a warrant and force you to submit to chemical testing.  Guess what?  People refused:

Three people initially refused to submit to chemical testing, and two people continued to refuse until they were told by police that a warrant would be obtained. One of those people submitted to chemical testing after a warrant was obtained.

What about that other person?  The one who wouldn’t take the tests even after the warrant was issued?  What happened to him?

The other person continued to refuse to submit to chemical testing, which resulted in an additional charge of felony obstructing justice.

Ouch!  It will be interesting to see where this goes.  Depending on the guy’s background and history, a low-level felony case just may impact his life a lot less than a misdemeanor DUI.  Maybe.  It’s going to be interesting to see if the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office handles this any differently because it’s part of their pet project.

-Update (12/5/13): A year later and this one still drags on.  The Kane County Chronicle is reporting today a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the deceased man.  Contrary to what was reported (and I wrote about below- nearly a year ago) the lawsuit alleges the deputy did not abandon the pursuit.  While that certainly adds an interesting twist to the story, the point I originally made still holds true. If you’re put in a situation where you might make your legal situation worse, just don’t.

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About that car crash in Campton Hills this weekend…

A Kane County Sheriff’s deputy reportedly saw Liston’s car traveling on Route 38 at Bricher Road. The deputy tried to stop  her but ended the pursuit because she was driving too recklessly, Hoffman said.

The Kane County Chronicle reported on a pretty horrific accident.  In case you didn’t catch the article, here’s the short version:  A lady with a suspended license in a stolen car was going to be pulled over… until she fled.  Reaching speeds of 100 MPH, she ended up causing a chain of traffic accidents.  The result?  She is dead. Another motorist is dead.  Others were injured and taken to the hospital.  According to the Kane County Chronicle, it sounds like a pretty grim scene:

Multiple police and fire departments throughout the county responded to the scene, which included a vehicle on its top, a smoking vehicle and cars sandwiched together, police said.

I’ve offered a lot of opinions in here.  I’ve explained why you probably shouldn’t talk to the police.  I’ve told you what not to do in traffic court.  Probably something I’ve assumed you know but, perhaps, you don’t is the most simple advice possible:  When you’re in a legal bind, help your situation every chance you can.  Before you’re charged, when the police have you at the station, or even after you’re charged, your actions can affect what happens.  Because you’re in a bind for one crime (or two, or three), doing anything that will get you charged with a worse offense is usually a bad idea.

Have a suspended license?  Maybe you stole a car?  I don’t know.  All I know is that killing other people is going to take your case to a whole new level.

I’m not saying the lady in this story was or was not guilty of anything- she managed to kill herself before being hauled into the Kane County courts so we’ll never hear her story.  All I know is that if she hadn’t killed herself, the wake of her destruction in this case was going to make it really bad for her– even if she had a legitimate defense.

Don’t make things worse than they have to be.  Don’t kill people minding their own business.  That’s pretty simple

 

How do you start a letter to O.J. Simpson?

I wasn’t sure either.  So, I opened with “Mr. Simpson,” and went on to apologize that we’d never met and I was sending him seemingly random mail.  Hopefully, he’ll get back to me.

There’s a new project in the works that will be “out there” soon.  It’s going to be fun. Seriously.

Stay tuned.