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Breathalyzers
When someone is pulled over for suspected drunk driving, police officers often use a breathalyzer to check the blood alcohol content (BAC) of the driver. The legal limit for BAC is currently 0.08. If a driver is operating a vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 or higher, that is considered driving drunk, is illegal and could lead to a lot of trouble for the driver.
Many people learn this information in their drivers’ education classes. What people do not know, however, is how a Breathalyzer can determine the amount of alcohol in a person’s blood just from testing their breath.
Although the best way to determine the BAC of a potentially drunk driver is to test their blood, it is very impractical to have to take a blood sample back to a lab to test it, then find the driver again to punish him or her. Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. said that is was Dr. Robert Borkenstein from the Indiana State Police that invented the first Breathalyzer in 1954.
Breathalyzers work to determine BAC because alcohol that is consumed and taken into the bloodstream is also absorbed into the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines. As the blood goes through the lungs, some of the alcohol from the blood passes across small air sacs in the lungs, and into the air, which is then exhaled out and into a Breathalyzer.
White Collar Crimes
Often times, when thinking of crimes, things like theft, arson, and destruction of property come to mind. There is, however, an entire category of crime that does not involve any violence, called white collar crime. Typically, these crimes involve dishonesty on a large scale often in business. Entrepreneurs and other business professionals are usually the types of people who commit white collar crimes. Because of the broad range of crimes that fall under white collar crime, it is hard to define what it is, but most states have laws that cover all white collar crime so that criminals cannot get around the law. One type of white collar crime that is more commonly heard of is securities fraud. There is a statute that covers all behaviors involving securities fraud, so long as the illegal behavior can be proven. If someone is accused of securities fraud, it must be proven that they acted willfully, not under order of someone else that may have forced them to break the law. The penalties for this could potentially be criminal and also civil. When someone commits securities fraud, there are two categories that the crime can fall under.- One form is when someone sells securities to investors for an amount that is substantially higher than the true value, such as shares of a company for a much higher price than what the company is worth. This can be discovered rather easily because prices can be easily compared online, over the phone or in person.
Man Arrested for Soliciting Prostitute during Honeymoon
Most often, honeymoons are a chance for a new husband and wife to celebrate after their wedding. Couples go to romantic international cities or tropical islands to spend time with one another. Sometimes, though, that time away from the world includes a crime or two. For one man, it was a crime that would get him in trouble not only with the law, but probably also with his new wife. Mohammed U. Ahmed, from Lincolnwood, was reported missing by his wife on their honeymoon in Orange County, Fla. earlier this month. The sheriff’s department spokeswoman said that she reported it after he did not return to their hotel room, and was then informed that he had been arrested nearby. Ahmed told the arresting officers that he was on his honeymoon, and police reported that he then contacted the undercover detective that he found in an ad online. The police said that he offered her $100 for sexual intercourse after telling her that he was “horny.” According to police, this was the second time that Ahmed had used the same website and offered a woman money for sex. Police also found a marijuana cigarette in a cigarette box of Ahmed’s that he admitted to buying from someone at his hotel. Ahmed was “charged with offering, committing or engaging in lewdness and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia,” according to the Chicago Sun Times. According to federal and Illinois state laws, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia are both illegal. Other items that are not created for drug use can also be used in paraphernalia cases such as credit cards, small mirrors, lighters and razor blades. If you have been caught with drugs or drug paraphernalia, contact a criminal attorney to help you out with your criminal case. Located in Chicago, Ill., attorneys at the Law Office of Hal M. Garfinkel will assist you with your drug and drug paraphernalia criminal case today.Image courtesy of adamr/freedigitalphotos
Son Stabs Father to Death in Chicago
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Settlement Reached in False DUI Case
In 2008, Julio Martinez was falsely charged with a DUI, handcuffed to a metal bar, and beaten by a Chicago Police officer in a holding room. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Officer John Haleas was “indicted and relieved of his police powers in 2008 and pleaded guilty four years later to misdemeanor attempted obstruction of justice.” In early May, the City Council’s Finance Committee ruled that Martinez will be compensated $325,000 by the City of Chicago, “but not before aldermen demanded to know why Haleas was still being paid by Chicago taxpayers,” according to the Sun-Times.
Officer Haleas was once “Chicago’s most prolific officer in making DUI arrests,” according to the Sun-Times, having accumulated 718 arrests in 2005 and 2006. After he was stripped of his badge and accused of falsifying drunken driving arrests, more than 150 of these cases were dismissed. Yet after a five-day suspension that was reduced to one day, Officer Haleas was assigned to the Records Division and is still on the City of Chicago’s payroll.
Man Convicted for Eighth DUI
Timothy Morrow, 43, was sentenced in mid-May to 13 years in prison for his eighth DUI conviction, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Round Lake Beach man got his first DUI when he was 17, and since then, “has been cited nine more times with driving while intoxicated and twice with boating while under the influence,” Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon told the Tribune. “Four of those cases ended with not-guilty verdicts or with charges dropped or reduced,” Dillon noted. Yet Dillon also told the Tribune that, “it defies logic that an individual that has been arrested for DUI 10 times continues to drink alcohol. It is clear that this defendant just doesn’t get it and doesn’t care.” Morrow, reports the Tribune, has already been to jail twice, “first in 1995 for DUI, then in 1996 for driving while his license was revoked.”
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, about a third of DUI and DWI offenders are repeat offenders. “One study showed that about 3 percent of all licensed drivers had a prior arrest for DUI within the past three years, yet 12 percent of intoxicated drivers involved in fatal crashes had at least one prior DUI conviction in the past three years.” The same study reported that drivers with previous DUI convictions were about four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than first-time DUI offenders.
Aurora Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Burglaries
A 27-year-old man has begun his six-year prison term, which he received after he was found guilty of two burglaries, including a break-in into a private swimming club in Naperville. Philippe A. Ayala, 27, was transferred in February from DuPage County Jail to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, where he will serve his sentence, according to the Naperville Sun.
Ayala and his accomplice, Jonathan M. Klimek, 23, were caught during their burglary attempt. Police were dispatched to the club after a burglar alarm went off. Officers noticed that the club’s rear door had been pried open and spotted two hooded and masked subjects inside the building. Police were forming a security perimeter around the club when “both suspects fled the club in different directions,” according to a police spokesman. Both men were captured after a short chase. Some money and stolen property was recovered from them.
Ayala was linked to other burglaries in Naperville. However, he and Klimek were charged only of the break-in to the Naperville Tennis & Swim Club. The other burglaries netted the men about $1,400 and minor amounts of alcohol. Ayala is serving a concurrent prison term for a burglary he committed in 2007.
Two Charged after Armed Robbery & Police Chase
According to a recent article, two individuals were charged with armed robbery after holding up a bank in Altamont on Tuesday.
Annalisa McGhee and Altonio Graves were charged with armed robbery and aggravated robbery after the pair robbed the People’s Bank and Trust.
According to police, Graves walked into the bank and demanded money. This took place around 2 p.m. A staff member of the bank complied and Graves exited the bank with cash, though the exact amount he left with is unknown.
A grade school nearby was put on lockdown status after the suspect fled in its direction.
Graves ran past the school and quickly jumped into a vehicle that McGhee was driving. The two took off toward Interstate 70.
As the suspects headed into Bond County, police pursued. When county lines were being crossed, Bond County deputies put out stop sticks attempting to disable the suspects’ vehicle.
According to police, the suspects spun out of control in efforts to avoid hitting the stop sticks. After that, officers were able to take them both into custody.
Pastor Pleads Innocent to Sexual Assault
A La Grange pastor, the Reverend Donald R. Jung, 59, of the Second Baptist Church in La Grange, has plead innocent to the charges of assaulting a 9-year-old girl, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Strangely enough, Rev. Jung admitted guilt to raping a 10-year-old girl more than 20 years ago, though he was never charged in that assault. Rev. Lynn Lacey, another minister at the church, told the Sun-Times that “that’s not the man I know… he’s an honest person.” The honest priest is being held on $750,000 bail on one charge of predatory criminal sexual assault, a crime that’s a felony in Illinois and could land him in jail for an extended period of time.
Sexual assault of children is not a new story, and unfortunately, not a new one in the realm of church or religion, either. The Catholic church has come under fire repeatedly in the 20th and 21st century for alleged sexual abuse that’s either been perpetrated or glossed over by high-ranking church officials. The same goes for sexual abuse in Boy Scout troops—the most recent case blew up in San Francisco in January.
Mayor and State’s Attorney Call for Harsher Gun Sentences
The year of 2013 has been bloody in Chicago, actually it has been the bloodiest start of the year since a decade ago. There were 42 homicides in Chicago for the month of January. And according to a CBS report, the number of homicides in Chicago was three times that of New York City, even though New York City has over three times the population.
The national attention for this violent month has spurred community leaders and politicians to plead for a change. On Monday February 11th, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to ask for harsher sentences for gun crimes. They were also joined by Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Alvarez has asked lawmakers to consider lengthening the sentences for criminals arrested for illegally possessing guns. The current sentence is two years but Alvarez asked for an increase to three, with repeat offenders getting five years.
Rahm Emanuel had rough words for the current state of the justice system. He called it a “turnstile and a revolving door” which does not punish the offenders. The average person who is found guilty of a gun crime only serves half the time sentenced in jail with good behavior, usually only a year. He called for truth-in-sentencing guidelines for these crimes, which means that at least 85 percent of the sentence must be served.