Illinois Criminal Lawyer Blog
Welcome to our blog. We are criminal defense lawyers in located in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. Here we hope that you will find a place to learn about issues facing criminal defendants and criminally accused individuals in Sangamon and the surrounding counties including, Logan, Morgan, Cass, Macon, Montgomery, Menard, and Christian to name a few.
It is our intention to use this blog as a teaching tool for you – our clients – and the family members and friends of our clients, in order to help the average citizen understand the criminal justice system and process. We also hope that this blog will help those accused of crimes in central Illinois to understand and know their rights during the investigation process.
It is fitting that the inspiration for our first blog post is the seminal case of Miranda v. Arizona. Most Americans (at least the ones that have spent any amount of time watching television) have heard the Miranda warnings before: You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you at no expense. If you decide to answer questions now, you can stop at anytime and ask for a lawyer before you answer further questioning. And the investigating officer always (or almost always) concludes the recitation of these rights by saying: “knowing and understanding these rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?”