Belleville Criminal Defense Blog

If you have a previous experience with a DUI arrest, you know the serious nature of a conviction. You may have spent many months or even years catching up after the hit your family's finances took, including fines, fees and the hike in your auto insurance premiums. You may have been fortunate to keep your job, and your life is back on track because your DUI charge was only a misdemeanor.

The next DUI may not be so easy. In fact, as in most states, the penalties for drunk driving in Illinois increase with each offense. Although a third DUI may be a felony in Illinois, there are other factors that may result in felony charges related to drunk driving.

Most people in Belleville regard automobiles as a necessary part of modern life, but for some, cars are the source of criminal behavior. A young man from Cahokia has been charged with six very serious felonies in connection with his unsuccessful attempt to steal a car.

The suspect was allegedly attempting to steal a car in O'Fallon when an unknown person interrupted him. The suspect pointed a pistol at the interloper and climbed into the car. He drove off but not before the witness was able to furnish a description of the suspect and the stolen vehicle to police shortly after the incident occurred.

The police have reported a raid in Swansea in which they arrested the homeowner on charges of trading a room for a supply of methamphetamine from the alleged drug dealer who lived in the room. The case seems ordinary on the surface, but the defendant is raising an energetic defense predicated on a single argument -- the police lied in the affidavit in which she was accused of accepting drugs as rent.

Two women were arrested on Friday morning after members of the St. Clair County Drug Tactical Unit claim that they found meth in the house owned by one of the women. In the affidavit submitted in support of the police request for a search warrant, officers claimed that they had learned from a confidential source that the two women were selling meth from the house's garage. After the arrests, an article containing these facts was posted on line. The homeowner, one of the two women charged with selling meth, called the local newspaper and said the online story was false.

A man from New Athens, Illinois, who is awaiting trial on charges of aggravated DUI resulting in death and reckless homicide is attempting to persuade the court to suppress important evidence in the case. Police obtained a warrant to search the defendant's truck for evidence of alcohol consumption, and the defendant wants the results of the search excluded from evidence at trial because police failed to follow proper procedures.

The accident occurred on July 8, 2017, when the defendant allegedly crossed the centerline on Highway 15 and collided with a vehicle heading in the opposite direct. Both men in the other vehicle were killed, while the defendant survived the accident. After the accident, Belleville police filed an affidavit seeking a search warrant authorizing them to search the defendant's truck for the event recorder and any evidence "related to the consumption, use or possession of alcohol or marijuana." The affidavit accompanying the search warrant application quoted emergency personnel as telling police that they smelled alcohol on the defendant's breath. The affidavit also stated that police officers found cold cans of beer and prescription pill bottles when they inventoried the contents of the vehicle after it was removed from the scene of the accident.