One neat thing about this blog is that we can see what you, the reader, is putting into your search engine that leads you here. Sometimes we see some pretty interesting questions asked that way and today, we’re going to do our best to answer them. Many of them have been answered by prior posts, so when appropriate, we’ll put the link into our answer. Here are some of our more frequently asked questions.
1. What are the new criminal laws in (put your state here)
It seems that looking up new criminal laws is an important question on people’s minds. We have had people come to this blog looking for new criminal laws in Illinois. However, we’ve also had people arrive here looking for laws in Mississippi, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, those made by Congress, and those being proposed in the Illinois State Legislature. And that’s just in the last 30 days! Apparently this is not a frequently updated area of the web (or it’s hard to find). Most state legislatures will post new laws on their websites. However, we did a quick summary of them you can read and
2. What are the new retail theft laws?
This falls under the new Illinois criminal laws and you can go to the first link above to get your answer. The easy answer is that it is a misdemeanor if you steal less than $300 and a felony if you steal more than $300 worth of merchandise from a retail establishment. The law used to be that if you stole more than $150 it was felony, but recently the legislature raised the amount that must be stolen to get you to a felony charge.
3. Could K-9 go inside your car without a warrant?
If you you will get a longer answer to this question. Generally, a K-9 officer (drug sniffing dog) cannot go INSIDE your car without a warrant. However, they can go around it, and now, according to Illinois law, an officer can ask you to close your doors and windows and crank up your heat, thereby forcing air out of your car to help the dog sniff it. If the officer thinks you are using or possessing drugs then the K-9 could go inside your car.
4. What happens when I get a speeding ticket in my personal car when I have a CDL?
We and noted that even in your personal vehicle, a CDL holder can risk losing their CDL privileges for a period of time if convicted of a serious traffic violation. So, treat every moving violation seriously and consider calling us if you get a ticket, even in your own car.
5. What is day for day credit in Illinois?
This may never have been addressed by our blog, so here’s a quick answer. Most jail and prison sentences in Illinois carry with it a “day for day” credit, which means you would serve only 50% of any sentence imposed. In other words, a six-month jail sentence is finished in three months. However, plenty of crimes carry with it 85% sentences, some carry with it no day for day credit (first degree murder, for instance) and others have mandatory minimum jail sentences. So, consult a lawyer because it is NOT a guarantee that your jail sentence will just be half of what you were sentenced.
As always, we will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability. However, most legal questions are too complicated to answer unless you make an appointment to come see us or call us. So go ahead and call us at Botto, Gilbert, Schottland and Andrle, P.C. at (815) 338-3838 if you need your questions answered. We represent criminal defendants in Cook County, McHenry County, Kane County, Boone County and Winnebago County.
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