Monkey stories have made headlines recently with tales of monkeys disappearing from the zoo and a new Stephen Colbert segment on “Monkey Mysteries.” But left unexamined is the story of “a good little monkey” known by generations of young readers as Curious George. My youngest grandson is a big fan of the curious little monkey.
Illinois was set to become the first state to eliminate any form of cash bail as a requirement for pre-trial release when the Illinois Supreme Court hit the pause button on New Year's Eve. The decision to delay implementation of the law follows a ruling several days earlier by a Kanakee County judge deeming the
Rare is the judge willing to stand before an audience and discuss his views on politically sensitive Supreme Court rulings, controversial bond reform measures and the harm done by long prison sentences. Fourth District Appellate Judge James Knecht talked about those topics and more on Tuesday night during a speech sponsored by the Central Illinois
Brandon P. Fleming is founder of the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project, nationally recognized for its success in introducing minority students to the Ivy League institution’s debate team. He should not be where he is today. In his recently published memoir Miseducated, Fleming shares all the reasons for his unlikely success, beginning with an abusive
It was a long three weeks of trial and an even longer three days waiting for a jury to return its decision in the People of Wisconsin v Kyle Rittenhouse. On Friday afternoon, the waiting was over. The panel unanimously agreed that the 18-year-old is not guilty of murder in the shooting deaths of two
Bart McNeil was in prison a dozen years when a newspaper clipping that renewed hope for his exoneration arrived in the mail. With decades yet to go on his 100-year sentence in the murder of his 3-year-old daughter Christina, hope was a dim light at the end of a dark tunnel. From the day he
There are some developments in criminal cases that leave you shaking your head. Things that fall under the You Can't Make This Stuff Up category. This week, a judge ordered the state to turn over about 8,000 pages of police reports to lawyers for Jamie Snow, who has been challenging his murder conviction since he
Soon Alan Beaman will mark 30 years since he was wrongly accused of killing his girlfriend. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed his murder conviction in 2008 and later he was pardoned by the governor. The state awarded him a certificate of innocence. But Beaman has never had his day in court to ask a jury
Should children who commit serious crimes, including murder and sexual assaults, be sent to prison for life without the chance of future parole? State courts have struggled with this issue for decades, with each jurisdiction crafting a set of guidelines that reflect the views of the local community and current state law. The U.S. Supreme
Defense lawyer Curtis Lovelace has a special bond with his clients during the nerve-racking moments that precede the delivery of a verdict. “I’ve been in that seat and I’ve been in that jail. I know what it’s like to sit and wait for a verdict,” Lovelace told me recently in a phone call on his
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