Legal

Last September, I wrote a long series of articles about my service on a jury hearing a case in which the defendant—whom I called "Jose"—was accused of assault and battery against a police officer. At the end of the 3-day trial, we found him guilty. After I wrote the first four articles about the case—Voir Dire, Testimony, Verdict, and Reflections—I had … [Read more...] about Jury Duty: The End?

It's time to tell you how my traffic ticket saga ends. First, however, I should tell you how it started. About a month ago, I was driving on a local expressway when I entered an area with some construction off to the side of the road. At about the same time, I came up behind a slow-moving car. We were in the middle lane, so I changed lanes to pass him on the left. I was … [Read more...] about What I Learned About Cops and Lawyers

Commenting on my description of how I picked a lawyer, Gideon says: Interesting stuff there: He presumes that proximity to the courthouse means familiarity with the court At first I didn't understand why he thought it odd that I assumed a lawyer close to the courthouse would be more familiar with it. Re-reading what I wrote, I think Gideon and other out-of-town readers might … [Read more...] about More About Finding a Lawyer

For reasons I explained in a previous post, I decided to hire a lawyer to handle my court appearance for a traffic ticket. I was going to write about my day in court, but I thought maybe I should explain how I hired a lawyer. As in most things, I used the web. I did a search at findlaw.com for traffic lawyers with offices near the courthouse, on the theory that a lawyer … [Read more...] about Finding a Traffic Lawyer

About a month ago, my wife and I were on our way to dinner at a new restaurant when a cop pulled us over. I got a ticket. Then we continued to dinner, which sucked. When I got home that night, I did some research on the law I had allegedly broken. It's listed in the online Illinois code as 625 ILCS 5/11‑907(c), and the officer described it on the ticket as "Failed to Yield … [Read more...] about What I Learned About Scott’s Law