03 Apr Updates to Illinois Laws
New laws are going to affect our criminal justice system which only an experienced criminal defense attorney will know. There are a few changes in DUI and drug related laws that you should know about. First, the statute of limitations on prosecution for aggravated DUIs causing death has been removed when the person causing death was driving on a suspended or revoked license. This means that the State could still charge a driver with this type of DUI long after the incident occurred. The state legislatures wanted to make sure that if someone dies years after a bad motor vehicle accident, the driver causing the injury could still be charged for the death. Of course, an experienced DUI attorney will investigate the incident to make sure that the death was undeniably caused by the accident and not some intervening cause. That is a possible defense only an experienced DUI attorney would know how to execute to protect your rights. Second, before the change in law, a person could only be charged for Drug-Induced Homicide if the delivery of the fatal dose was in Illinois. New legislature allows a person to be charged if the death occurred in Illinois, regardless of where the deliver was.
2018 also brings the expansion of Illinois Hate Crime laws including additional qualifying locations and removing the restitution cap with additional civil penalties. Additionally, unlawful contact with a gang member has been redefined to include unlawful participation in street gang-related activity. This should greatly limit the use of this offense by law enforcement. Lastly, there are increased sentencing guidelines for repeat gun offenders.
