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Crime News… Whose Perspective?

Obviously I love to troll the press and media releases for local crime.  They amuse me.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  What’s not really amusing, though, is how much they influence what shows up in the newspaper…. and how they get there.

If you read a newspaper article and don’t know what’s going on, you’d think a newpaper reporter was sitting in a courtroom watching trials as they unfold.  That certainly does happen a lot of the time.  What happens more often is that a reporter sits in for parts of a trial.  That’s exactly what was going on when the back of my head made the Huffington Post last year. Of course, in that case, the parts of the trial the reporters weren’t sitting in on were the ones where we presented our side of the case.  Crazy how that works.

Anyhow, what seems to be happening more often (especially in Kane County) is that media and press releases are pushed out to media outlets, who then write stories based largely on the reports.  Of course, those reports are coming from the Kane County State’s Attorneys office, and the police departments.

For example, take this story in the Elgin Courior News:

South Elgin woman guilty of filing false child abuse reports

From Submitted Reports December 6, 2013 4:42PM
Updated: December 9, 2013 12:30PM
A South Elgin woman has been found guilty of making a false report of child abuse that included coloring her young son with ink and claiming it was bruising caused by the boy’s stepmother, the Kane County State’s Attorney Office said.
Kimberly Carlyle, 47, of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, was convicted Friday in a trial before Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles of two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony…

This story says it’s from “submitted reports” on December 6, 2013.  I wonder what “submitted report” that might be?

It’s not hard to find, really.  On December 6, 2013 the twitter account for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office posted as follows:

If you follow that link, it takes you right to a prepared, pre-formatted press release from the Kane County prosecutor’s office.  If you go ahead and look through the Kane SAO twitter account, you’ll find all sorts of links to press releases, too.

It doesn’t take much investigation to figure out that that press release was a major source for the newspaper story.  According to the press release:

Kimberly Carlyle, 47 (d.o.b. 7-29-1966), of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, South Elgin, was convicted today by Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles or two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony.

Carlyle waived her right to a jury trial.

According to the newspaper:

Kimberly Carlyle, 47, of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, was convicted Friday in a trial before Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles of two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony.

Carlyle waived her right to a jury trial.

Press release:

On Sept. 6, 2009, Carlyle called the Kane County Sheriff’s Office to report that her young child had been physically abused during a visit with the child’s biological father and his wife. Carlyle claimed that bruises she said appeared on her child were the result of physical abuse. When a sheriff’s deputy told Carlyle that she had contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to investigate further, Carlyle acknowledged that the bruises were actually ink that had since washed off. When contacted later by DCFS, Carlyle apologized, acknowledged that the bruising marks were actually ink and said that she had no reason to believe that the child was being abused.

Newspaper:

According to prosecutors, on Sept. 6, 2009, Carlyle called the Kane County Sheriff’s Office to report that her young child had been physically abused during a visit with the child’s biological father and his wife. Carlyle claimed that bruises she said appeared on her child were the result of physical abuse. When a sheriff’s deputy told Carlyle that she had contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to investigate further, Carlyle acknowledged that the bruises were actually ink that had since washed off.

When contacted later by DCFS, Carlyle apologized, acknowledged that the bruising marks were actually ink and said that she had no reason to believe that the child was being abused.

I could keep going on, but I won’t. You get the idea- the article is practically a word-for-word regurgitation of the Kane County State’s Attorney’s media release.  It’s not so much an article as it is a rebroadcast of a prosecutor’s statement about the outcome of the case.  If the defendant had been found not-guilty, then what would the Kane County State’s Attorney’s press release say?  There wouldn’t be one, of course.

This happens nearly every day, all over Chicagoland.

So, when you’re reading the news are you really reading the news? Or are you reading propaganda from a prosecutor or police department?  I certainly have my opinion on that.

I’m curious about the human remains found in that house near McHenry. Real curious.

Last week word got out that the police had found human remains in a house in McHenry.  The McHenry County Sheriff’s Police wouldn’t say much. They especially wouldn’t say if “foul play” might have been involved.

I don’t usually jump the gun on speculating on such things- it’s not worth it. After reading the latest update in the Northwest Herald, though, I’m curious as to the full story.  According to their story titled, “Skeletal remains found near McHenry; homeowner charged,” Lawrence Synett writes that:

Deputies were called to the residence near McHenry in an unincorporated area of the county around 2 p.m. Wednesday after the caretaker of the home found skeletal remains inside a bedroom of the home, Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, appeared to have been dead for some time. A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Court said Ross put the body in a plastic bag and sealed the room where her remains were found.

He then goes on to quote Undersheriff Andy Zinke:

“Our focus is on identifying the victim and notifying the family,” Zinke said. “This is an ongoing homicide investigation with a lot of unanswered questions. We are hopeful to bring closure to someone’s family relatively soon.”

That right there is where I get curious.  The homeowner has been charged with “concealing a homicidal death.”  In order to be guilty of that charge, a person must “knowingly [conceal] the death of any other person with knowledge that such other person has died by homicidal means.” (Emphasis added)  Of course, a “homicidal” death is one that results because of “act or acts, lawful or unlawful, of a person that cause the death of another person.”

So, this man has been charged with concealing the death of a person whom he knows died at the hands of another person.

Do you suspect foul play now?  I’m not sure if I do or don’t- that doesn’t really matter. What I wonder about is if the remains of this person were so decayed that the police couldn’t immediately determine a cause of death.  And if they couldn’t, how could you charge a man with concealing a homicidal death (as opposed to “concealment of death”- a less serious charge)?

Is the flesh-eating Heroin substitute in McHenry County?

Heroin is pretty scary stuff.  They’re claiming it’s on the rise again all over McHenry County.  I don’t have access to the numbers, but I’m not buying that there’s necessarily been a huge increase.  Every couple of years they say it’s “on the rise” or becoming an epidemic.  Despite possessing the stuff being a felony or even handing heroin to somebody who ends up overdosing (even if it’s somebody you’re using with), carrying some fairly harsh felony consequences, it hasn’t disappeared.

I know that deaths are up, although that’s not necessarily an indication that general usage patterns have substantially increased. It’s not uncommon for a batch of “bad heroin” (not that any of it is good) to cause a cluster of overdoses.  So deaths can actually rise and fall without any real correlation in total usage.

Anyhow, Krokodil use is on the rise, for sure.  The Northwest Herald seems to believe somebody in McHenry County has been hospitalized by the substance this week:

“Dangerous flesh-eating drug may have arrived in county

A nasty flesh-eating street drug may have made its way to McHenry County, experts warn.

Centegra Health System advised Tuesday that it may be treating someone who injected themselves with “krokodil,” a heroin substitute of Russian origin. The drug is a toxic cocktail of opiates like codeine and substances such as gasoline and lighter fluid.

The drug causes users’ skin to turn scaly and green, hence the name, which is the Russian word for crocodile. The skin subsequently rots and falls off.

Centegra said in a statement that it is treating an intravenous drug user who has large skin lesions. Because the drug is cheaper than heroin, and heroin use is on the rise in McHenry County, officials fear local hospitals could see more krokodil victims…”

Bad stuff right there. Don’t think so? Here’s video of a girl from Joliet showing you how nasty the sores are and talking about it:

 

I Still Remember

It’s been a year since the “Big Smooth” died.  Big Smooth is, of course Bill Gracik.  If you didn’t read what I posted about him last year, you owe it to the man to read it now. If you don’t owe it to him, you at least owe it to me.

I don’t know that I’ll have the chance to put something up here every year.  Most of my silly thoughts are ending up at Excessive Bail these days anyway, so I hardly get to post anything here.

It doesn’t mean I’m going to forget, though.  Quite the opposite, probably.  Big Smooth has come up in conversation with at least two other lawyers in the last couple of weeks… and not because of his passing.  Like I said last year, legends don’t die.

A month or so after posting my thoughts on his passing somebody asked me about the trial I mentioned.  To make a long story short, it was a DUI trial that looked not-completely-horrible on paper:  There were no field sobriety tests.  There was no breath test.  These are usually good things.  Great things, actually.

There were a lot of other bad facts, though.  Really bad facts.  Like, my client had rear-ended a car.  The car had children… one of whom received medical treatment for minor injuries.

Inside the car was a bottle of vodka. It was open.  It appeared that some of the vodka had been consumed. It was also the 4th of July.

We say that my client refused the field sobriety tests.  The police, on the other hand, testified that my client fell several times prior to completing them and offered to do them but wanted to take a nap first.  The police also say he smelled like alcohol.

He also may or may not have been arrested for DUI in the past. Several times. The jury didn’t know that, though.

On the other hand the officer admit that my client was in an accident, he might have hit his head, and the problems walking and desire to lay in the grass and sleep could very well have been symptoms of head injury. He didn’t know.

The officer also never saw my client driving.  Laying in the grass next to the smashed-up car registered in his family name? Perhaps. Actually driving? No.

Neither did the lady in the accident. She couldn’t identify the driver.

So, the prosecutor takes his best facts- car accident, hurt kid, vodka in car, man smelling like alcohol, falling down during field sobriety tests, asking to take a nap, and that he’s probably coming back from a 4th of July party.  He argues to the jury that my client was driving drunk.  He says it’s obvious.

I do the same.  The only thing that’s obvious is that he might have had a serious head injury.

My client wasn’t so drunk he fell down during the field sobriety tests, rather he refused them. The officer just didn’t like how he refused.  Plus, he needed to nap because he hit is head on the steering wheel and had a concussion.  That’s also why he was having trouble walking.  Did he have something to drink that day? Sure he did. Was he so drunk that it impaired his driving?  It’s the state’s job to prove that… and they haven’t

And then?  Well, then I do what Gracik was laughing about.

In fact, they haven’t even proved that my client was driving.  The officer never saw who was driving the truck, and the lady who was hit can’t identify anybody.

When you stand up to make that closing argument, you must believe what you’re arguing.  You have to take the facts in the case- whatever facts they may be- and put them together in a way that makes sense.  If you don’t buy what you’re about to argue, nobody will. Rule #1 of being a trial attorney is to always say true things. Always tell them what you think is the truth. There are no exceptions.

Here, the prosecutor believed my client’s behavior was a result of being intoxicated- there weren’t any other options.

I believed that it might have been the result of a mistake (the accident) and a head injury.

You both believe what you believe.  So, after closing arguments, when the jury saunters off to deliberate, you both think you’ve got a good shot at winning.  One of you won’t, and he’s going to be disappointed- right or wrong, it’s disappointing.  It’s almost cruel how this system works.

Gracik crushed my spirits before the jury even came back.

“What do you think, Smooth?”

“I think you did good. I like the argument about the head injury- how do they know he didn’t have a bad concussion, right? You asked for too much when you said they can’t even identify your guy, though.”

“You think I’ve got a shot?”

“Oh, hell no. There isn’t anybody who thinks he wasn’t driving that car.”

If Bill hadn’t said that, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to figure that out.  I see lawyers in court with a lot more experience now than I had then who still haven’t.  It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard, with 13 years of practice and thousands of legal arguments of experience since, and see how obvious that is.

It’s a simple idea, really.  If a prosecutor says something is black, a defense attorney argues it’s white.  Suppose the defense attorney also argues that it wasn’t raining outside.  The jury might go back and focus on whether or not it’s raining as opposed to the more important black/white argument.  If they decide you were wrong about it not raining, why should they think you’re correct about it being white? They shouldn’t.

If you leave the discussion about rain out of it, they haven no choice but to focus on the real issue.

That’s not to say I would have won if I hadn’t asked for too much.  After all, what verdict form would you have signed for the guy with open vodka in the car who kept falling down and wanted to take a nap?  The reality is that we only went to trial because the prosecutor wanted to run the trial, and I figured we could get a better sentence from the judge after trial than the prosecutor was offering (which, by the way, we did).

Keeping things straightforward and not arguing extra things to a jury is the only way to go, though.  That was a lesson I learned quicker than most because The Smooth took the time to watch my closing and point it out.  You can’t have enough good friends in this job- especially when you’re just getting going.

That was an important lesson to learn, and I won’t forget it.

I won’t forget Bill Gracik, either.

That dude from Moonshiners doesn’t listen (to me, anyway).

Moonshiners Arrest.JPEG-005ce

I try to be helpful here.  I really do. I know I probably fail.  It’s not for lack of trying, though.

A while back I wrote these riveting tips on what to do once you’ve been arrested.  It was ground breaking stuff.  Earth shattering, even.  I thought lives would be saved.  It felt good to help.

You ever seen that show Moonshiners?  It’s about the brightest in American small businessmen trying to eek out a living in this brutal world.  It’s entertaining.  If you’ve ever seen it, you know some of those guys could use any help they can get.

It appears that one of the “best” of those bright, small businessmen just got arrested.  As you know, I’m not one to hold an arrest against somebody.  I am one to hold mistakes a man makes after arrest against him, though.

So, re-read those tips about what to do once you’ve been arrested.  Then, read this article on the Moonshiner guy who got arrested.  Then look at his mug shot.  Does he look like a guy who was illegally drinking in the Quickie Mart parking lot?   Maybe just a little bit.  What conclusion can we draw from all of this?

Clearly the guy can’t read.