Subject Index Evidence

On Aug. 21, 2023, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that barring a necessity defense does not necessarily deny the defendant a fair trial in a criminal case.

On Jan. 20, 2023, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that an arresting officer’s official reports were admitted into evidence once they were filed, although the defendant neither stipulated nor chose to utilize the reports in his case.

On Dec. 16, 2022, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a firearm found on a defendant during a Terry search, after the defendant was observed by officers adjusting his waistband and stating he dropped a bag of cannabis, must be suppressed.

This Act amends The Expressway Camera Act by modifying the circumstances under which footage from cameras on expressways and Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive in Cook County may be extracted.

On July 29, 2022, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a brief refusal to put one’s foot in a squad car did not materially impede an officer’s job performance to support a conviction of resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

On Mar. 31, 2022, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that failure to object to hearsay evidence did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel when it would have been admitted through a hearsay exception.

On Jan. 21, 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a single, partial fingerprint might be sufficient to uphold a residential burglary conviction.

On Jan. 21, 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a prosecutor did not impermissibly shift the burden of proof to the defendant when the prosecutor said in rebuttal closing argument that the defendant could have requested evidence testing.

On Dec. 16, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained through a Terry stop.

On Nov. 18, 2021, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a trial court properly authenticated Facebook messages through circumstantial evidence.

Defendant was convicted after jury trial of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver.

On June 11, 2021, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a new trial is warranted because the state impermissibly used the defendant’s other bad acts as substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt.

The defendant argued the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed prosecutors to play a voicemail recording of the victim during his cross-examination.

A traffic stop based on failure to signal a lane change led to police finding methamphetamine after searching the defendant's vehicle.

On Sept. 28, 2018, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois held that a defendant raising a freestanding actual innocence challenge after previously entering a guilty plea must present a truly persuasive demonstration of innocence in the form of compelling evidence.