Effective over the next couple months the Saturday and holiday bond court that runs in the various suburban Cook county courthouses will end. If you are arrested over a weekend or holiday in the future you will be transported down to the main Cook County Jail and have your bond hearing at 26th and California with everyone else arrested in Cook County (city and burbs) during that time. This also means that you will be held at Cook County until you can post bond rather than being able to post at the local courthouse on the weekend as it is now. If you have someone posting your bond during the weekend or on a holiday you they will need to go down to the main Cook County jail.

If you are arrested during regular courthouse hours you will still be brought to your suburban area courthouse for a bond hearing as is done now.

Many police departments will have roadblocks set up over New Years Eve weekend and it is important to remember that you can be ticketed or arrested for any violation during one of these roadblocks, not just DUI.

If you do not have insurance or have an equipment violation you will be cited when stopped.

If you are driving on a suspended license or have an outstanding warrant you will be arrested and your vehicle impounded. This means after posting bond you will need to get to the impound lot and pay several hundred dollars to get your car out as well.

Also keep in mind that if there is a canine present at the roadblock stop they can do a sniff of your vehicle as long as it does not take longer than the length of time you are stopped.

Roadblocks are legal as long as they are done properly which means the police need to follow protocol when setting them up and when stopping vehicles. If you are ticketed or arrested at one, check with a lawyer to be sure you were properly stopped.

When charged with a criminal offense and released on bond, there is always at least one condition of that bond you must comply with….making it to your court date. Posting bond (or bail) is you guaranteeing to come to court which is why you are being released from custody. Your posting of money is insurance that you will return, or forfeit your money. That is why for more serious offenses the bond is higher….the risk that you will skip bond is also higher.

Judges can impose conditions such as drug treatment, curfew, no contact orders, checking in with a pretrial officer, staying in school, not using the internet, stay away from children or schools, not operate a motor vehicle and whatever else they want in association with your bond. If you fail to comply with these orders your bond can be increased or revoked altogether and you will await trial in custody.

A “C” bond means that the amount must be posted in cash. $25,000 C means posting the full $25,000 to be released.

A “D” bond means that 10% must be posted. $25,000D means posting of $2,500

An “I” bond, given on misdemeanor cases generally means you only need to sign your name to be released. You are being released on your own recognizance, or word, that you will return to court. If you fail to come to court a warrant will likely be issued for your arrest and chances of getting an I bond again will be slim.

Every time I have an initial consult with someone who needs representation in getting their license reinstated or seeking a permit from the secretary of state they are always surprised when I tell them the amount of time we will be spending preparing for the hearing.  Going before the Secretary of State can be very intimidating for clients. Most think that it will be their opportunity to plea their case and while that is true, both the “prosecutor” and the hearing officer will be grilling you with questions. These questions are everything from how many miles you drove prior to being stopped when you were DUI to what the fourth step of AA is. It is important that you review all that may be asked of you with an attorney who knows what to expect. While there are some cases where you can easily represent yourself, going into one of these hearings without being fully prepared can lead to certain denial. When you go back for a subsequent hearing after being denied, the testimony you gave at the first hearing will be used and your answers must be consistent. So spend the necessary time with your attorney preparing for these hearings and listen to their advice. This will greatly increase your chances of success at hearing.

You can still be charged with a felony offense for baking soda, chalk, aspirin, or whatever substance you have if you have delivered it (given or sold) to someone and either said or implied that it was illegal drugs. If you are the person just possessing it, however, you may be charged with the offense of possession but those charges will be dismissed once the lab results come back showing that to not be an illegal drug but rather a legal substance. For delivering the substance your charge will be Delivery of a Look Alike substance which is a felony offense and does carry possible time in prison.

I should add that there are cases where the substance that was thought to cocaine, heroin, ecstacy etc. is actually crushed prescription drugs. If that is the case and you do not have a prescription for that substance, you can be charged with possession as well. If you are the person delivering or selling the prescription drug, you will be charged with Delivery of a Controlled Substance the same as if that substance were cocaine, heroin, ecstasy or any other drug.

The important thing in any drug arrest is to have your attorney review the circumstances of your arrest and see if the police had a lawful reason to approach or speak with you and if the search that led to them finding the substances was proper. Also, if there were any errors in storing and transporting the substance to the lab or in the testing of the substance there could be a way to win your case. For the state to win a drug offense, a long list of procedures and rules have to be followed from the start of the case to finish and if these were not done you could win.

It is VERY important to realize that when an Order of Protection has been issued against you stating you are to have no contact with the Petitioner, the same does not go both ways. I have many clients who think that their ex-spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend, roommate etc. who got the Order cannot contact them either. That is not true. While it does not bode well for them once we get to court there is nothing illegal about it. And just because that person may bait you into having contact with them, you are still in violation if you do. This is true even if the person says they will not enforce the order against you. This decision is not up to them, it is up to the police and law enforcement. If you are INVITED to an address that you are ordered not to go to and you go, you can be arrested and prosecuted even if the petitioner on your order said it was okay.

This is an often unfair effect of Orders of Protection but is in place there to prevent abuse and harm to people who may not be able to protect themselves. If you have an Order of Protection in place against you, you MUST obey it and then just fight it in court.

When you are arrested for a DUI offense, the secretary of state suspends your license for what is called a statutory summary suspension. The duration of the suspension depends on whether or not you submitted to a breathalyzer or not. For a first offender who refuses a breathalyzer the suspension is for 12 months…for submitting to the breathalyzer it is 6 months. This suspension is separate from the offense charged as DUI. You can fight both the suspension and the DUI charge and can win both which keeps the DUI off your record and will get your license back. Even if you beat the DUI, unless you deal with that suspension, you will not be able to drive until the time period is over and you pay a reinstatement fee. The hearing on these suspensions can still be done in the courtroom where your DUI is pending.

Judicial Driving Permits (JDP) are a thing of the past. So is getting a permit known as an MPPD authorized by the Judge presiding over your DUI case. The new law is you need to go to the secretary of state to seek that permit and have the BAIID (breath alcohol ignition interlock device) installed in your car. Talk to your DUI attorney about how to get this permit as it is no longer part of the court process.

If you are given probation on any type of felony case, it should be considered an alternative to prison. During the period of probation you must comply with all the ordered community service, drug or alcohol treatment, restitution, random drug/alcohol drops or anything else the court may order. In addition you are required to mainain contact with your probation officer including phone calls and in person appointments as ordered. It may also be a violation of your probation if you are arrested for any criminal offense while on that probation. That means that not only may you be charged with the new offense, but you will be charged with a “violation of probation” which means that you can be resentenced on your original charge. Very few judges will give offenders a second chance at probation and only with very extenuating circumstances. The chances are very likely that if you fail to comply with some aspect of your probation, you will be serving some time incarcerated.

When the secretary of state suspends your driver’s license for a period of time, regardless the reason, when the period of the suspension is over most people have been counting down the days until they can drive again. It is crucial to know that even though the period of time has ended, you cannot drive until you go to the secretary of state’s office (DMV) and pay a fee to have your driving privileges reinstated. Until that is done, your license is still suspended. That means that you can and will still be arrested for driving with a suspended license until you pay that fee and reinstate your license. This will be true even if it is five or ten years later. Most prosecutors and judges will take into account that your suspension was “out of period” when negotiating a plea or sentence but technically there is no distinction and you are facing the same charge and sentence as you would have if it were during the actual suspension time.

The answer is YES, your driving privileges and child support are related. If you fail to pay child support and the other parent reports your failure you can lose your license. When you are 90 days delinquent and the delinquency is reported, notice is sent to the Secretary of State at which time they will send you notice that if you do not pay the amount in arrears and keep current with support, your license will be suspended indefinitely.

It is possible that this suspension can last many years if the support is not brought current. You need to understand the implications of not complying with any court order, including one for child support enforcement.