Recent Blog Posts
The Age on Crime
Late last year, Clark Merrefield from The Daily Beast reported on a minor who committed a crime, was sentenced in court as an adult, and brought out concerns about what was the proper age to begin charging children as adults.
After he was found guilty of robbing two local businesses, Sean Shevlino, now 22, was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
In 2006, when Shevlino was 16 years old, he robbed a Piggly Wiggly. His friend’s older brother, who was an employee of the southern chain at the time, told him how easy it would be to rob the store.
Sean’s mother, April, told The Daily Beast that although his father and herself were providing a positive, college-bound life for Sean and his brothers, Seamus and Alex, when Sean turned 15, he became very angry and began to act out.
Sean said that his friends thought he was crazy when he told them about his idea to rob the Piggly Wiggly, but once he got away with money, they quickly changed their minds.
Brawl on Homan Avenue: the Court's View
During the past week we have followed a case involving a fight between two Chicago neighbors named Gary and Ken. During the fight Gary punched Tara in the face. Gary alleges that this happened because Ken swung at him, and then used Tara as a shield when Gary attempted to return his blow.
No one contested the fact that Gary hit Tara and that she was severely injured as a result. Gary argued that he lacked the requisite intent to harm Tara as he was attempting to return Ken's punch.
The trial court rejected the defense's version of events and said that it was unlikely that Ken would be able to pull Tara in front of him during the short time it would have taken Gary to return Ken's punch.
Gary also argued the fact that Ken and Tara had been drinking prevented them from being able to accurately remember the incident. The trial court noted that although intoxication is relative to the value of a person's testimony, it did not preclude the trial court from accepting their version of events.
Brawl on Homan Avenue: Kelly's story
This week we are covering an aggravated battery case that arose out of a fight on South Homan Avenue in Chicago. The fight involved a man named Ken and his girlfriend Tara who got into an argument with a neighbor named Gary one July evening.
The evidence indicates that Tara was punched in the face while talking to a woman who hanging out with Gary. Tara and Ken say that the punch was the culmination of Gary's hostile behavior throughout the evening.
The woman that Tara was talking to was named Kelly, and she had a drastically different version of events that night.
Kelly testified that she was over at Gary's house for a barbeque and that she had nothing to drink that evening.
Kelly says that Gary and another man were sitting on the porch when they saw Gary's neighbor Ken pull up to the drive way.
Contrary to Ken's testimony that he was not drunk, Kelly said that Ken "missed the driveway," ran over the curb and onto the grass. Kelly said that Ken and Tara then fell out of the car and had to lean on each other to make it to the house.
Brawl on Homan Avenue: Tara's story
This week we are following the case of a man who was convicted of aggravated battery after a getting into a fight with his neighbor, Ken, and Ken's girlfriend, Tara. The fight happened early one summer evening and the two sides have drastically different versions of events.
Ken and Tara testified that Gary immediately started screaming at them after they returned home from a bar one evening. The couple said that they had been drinking, but were not drunk, and that Gary's profane insults were wholly unprovoked.
Tara said that she wanted to mend the feelings between the two men, so she went back outside to try and make peace with Gary. Upon approaching the fence that divided the two houses, Tara testified that she asked Gary to shake her hand, but he would only curse at her.
The woman who was with Gary then walked up to Tara and the two had a calm conversation about how the two men should resolve their differences.
According to Tara, she be blacked out during the conversation and woke up on the ground with blood coming from her face. Medical records indicate that Tara had a broken orbital bone, nose, deviated septum, nerve damage and suffered drooping in her eye because of the incident.
Chicago man convicted of assault after fight with neighbor
In our last post we discussed a Chicago neighborly feud which turned violent one July evening. The feud resulted in one man being sentenced to aggravated battery and sentenced to two years of intense probation.
An appeals court recently reconsidered the case and affirmed the man's conviction. The man alleged that there was not enough evidence to support his conviction because he and his neighbor had drastically different accounts of what happened that evening.
So what happened?
The incident took place on July 13, 2009, on the 10800 block of South Homan Avenue in Chicago.
Version one of events:
According to trial documents, the neighbor, Ken, testified that he was out drinking with his girlfriend Tara. Ken said that he had "less than six drinks" and that he and Tara were not drunk when they returned home.
Upon pulling into his driveway, he noticed that his neighbor Gary was sitting on the porch next door. Gary had two friends with him, a woman and a man.
Minors and Alcohol in Illinois
According to Illinois law, selling and distributing any type of alcoholic beverage to anyone under the age of 21 is illegal. Even though it is against the law, many people still serve alcohol to minors without fear of consequence.
If someone chooses to sell, deliver, or serve alcohol to a minor, or to any already-intoxicated person, the penalty is that of a Class A Misdemeanor. This applies to any vendor of alcohol, like bars, or any grocery store, drug store or party store. This penalty includes of fine of at least $500 and a jail sentence of up to one year.
Along with a fine and jail time, a business’s liquor license may also be revoked and/or criminal sanctions can be imposed onto the license, putting restrictions on the license and a “warning.”
This penalty is also for anyone who is over 21 and chooses to purchase alcohol and give it to deliver it to anyone below the age of 21.
Neighborly feud results in assault charges against Chicago man
The bond between neighbors is one of the things that makes Chicago such a great place to live. Ties with neighbors create a sense of community and can greatly enrich the quality of a person's life.
Just the opposite is true for strained neighborly relationships. A toxic relationship with a neighbor can be a minor annoyance, at best, or result in serious criminal charges.
One Chicago man was recently convicted of aggravated battery after a feud with his neighbors turned violent. The man was sentenced after a bench trial and was ordered to serve two years of intensive probation.
An appeals court recently upheld the man's conviction, which he challenged based on the sufficiency of the evidence.
The trial documents show that the incident which led to the man's charges occured during the early morning hourys of July 13, 2009 on the 10800 block of South Homan Avenue in Chicago.
That evening the man hosted a BBQ with several friends. He and his friends were sitting outside when his next door neighbor pulled up next door.
New Travel Restrictions for Suspects of Violent Crimes
In 2012, a Chicago Tribune investigation uncovered a high number of criminal suspects flee the state of Illinois to avoid sentencing. It is a problem that existed across all levels of law enforcement.
The Tribune found that police departments have allowed over 60 fugitives escape justice when they ran to Mexico. When they submit extradition paperwork it often overwhelms the county officials who need to process these requests. Of the fugitives in Mexico, at the time of their investigation, officials were only seeking the deportation of 12 suspects.
There is also an issue with the judges who held bond hearings. They set low bonds for suspects who were being charged with crimes such as rape and murder. They also were not required to confiscate passports from suspects with dual citizenship. But now Illinois lawmakers have passed a law to limit these avenues for suspects to escape justice.
When an Illinois spouse files for divorce in another country
Divorce is never an easy process, but divorces involving spouses filing in different countries can be highly complicated. One recent Illinois case involves a couple who was married in India in early 1999 and moved to Illinois later that year. The couple had a daughter in Illinois and started a company here as well.
The husband alleges that during 2008 and 2009, his wife spent extended periods of time in India. He also alleges that she was living with another man during this time and representing herself as his wife.
The wife returned to Illinois from India on March 10, 2009 and the husband filed for dissolution of his marriage in India on March 14, 2009, alleging adultery and mental cruelty. Two days later the wife filed a petition for divorce in Will County, Illinois. The wife alleged that the couple had irreconcilable differences and also alleged that the husband was mentally cruel.
The husband filed a petition to dismiss the Illinois divorce proceeding arguing that there was already a divorce proceeding in India at the time.
Man who Spent over 20 Years in Prison Exonerated
Over 25 years ago, James Kluppelberg was convicted of setting a deadly fire in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The home that was burnt contained a woman and her five children. Elva Lupercio, 28, and her children who ranged between 3 and 10 years old, died in their home on the 4400 block of South Hermitage Avenue. After reviewing the scene, investigators determined that the fire was an accident.
Four years after the incident, Kluppelberg was identified as the perpetrator by a man who was arrested for burglary. They booked Kluppelberg and, shortly after, he confessed to the crime. Sentenced to life in prison, he maintained that he was innocent of all wrongdoing.
Kluppelberg was exonerated in 2012 of this crime due to advances in fire sciences. It was also revealed that his confession of guilt was coerced by officers who had beaten Kluppelberg so badly that he started to urinate blood. The man who turned him in was found to be lying in order to receive leniency for his burglary conviction. The police department also withheld information about a drunk woman who started another fire nearby the
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