On The Eve Of Chicago Federal Court Gun Trial, All Charges Against Defendant Are Dismissed And Defendant Is Released From Custody To Re-Join His Family
Federal criminal defense attorneys Gabrielle R. Sansonetti of the Law Office of Gabrielle R. Sansonetti and Michael Leonard of Leonard Trial Lawyers received that rare call from federal prosecutors late Friday August 19, 2022, informing them the United States Attorneys’ Office for the Northern District of Illinois would be dismissing all federal gun charges against their client, who had been scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday August 22, 2022 in Chicago.
The case was brought by federal prosecutors earlier this year after the Defendant had already spent 15 months in State custody awaiting trial for the very same act. The State gun charges were dismissed, and the Defendant was detained in federal custody to face gun charges under federal law. In short, federal prosecutors were attempting to obtain a heavier federal sentence by having the case tried federally, instead of in State court. At the first federal court hearing before Judge Blakey in Chicago, Defendant requested a trial date – a request rarely immediately made in federal court. The defense attorneys thereafter successfully moved for a Bill of Particulars, and then retained expert witnesses who would have provided testimony at trial that the forensic evidence exonerated the Defendant.
Defendant, who at 19 years old had waited 18 months in custody for his trial, had faced the possibility of several years in federal prison if convicted. He turned down the chance to plead guilty. He was released to his family shortly after Judge Blakey granted the Government’s Motion to Dismiss all charges. The case can be found on the Northern District of Illinois website at 2022 CR 00191.
– Management at Leonard Trial Lawyers