Attorney Douglas H. Johnson writes regularly on Illinois criminal defense, post-conviction relief, wrongful convictions, and changes in federal and state law. If something you read here applies to your situation, call for a free consultation.
One of the first questions clients ask after deciding to file a post-conviction petition is whether they will be stuck in front of the same judge who convicted them. The concern is understandable, and in many cases, well-founded. Judges are human, and a judge who presided over a trial and entered a guilty verdict may, consciously or not, be resistant to reconsidering that outcome. The short answer is that reassignment is possible. In August 2025, the Illinois Supreme Court ad
If you or a loved one was wrongfully convicted in Illinois, two recent legal developments could make it easier to obtain a Certificate of Innocence. A Certificate of Innocence is court order that officially clears your name, allows your record to be expunged, and can open the door to significant state compensation. At the same time, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office continues to aggressively oppose many of these petitions. Fortunately, Illinois courts have continued