Chicago court help - Three cheers

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
November 10, 2010

My friend with the Chicago cell phone ticket just called to tell me the outcome.

First off, she was told earlier today, when she returned to court, that there was no way that yesterday's plea would get changed. Her only recourse would be to appeal, pay filing fees, etc. and go that route. She was told that no one in the Adm. Hearing Court had ever changed a decision and, further, there was no one with whom she could speak today. If she wanted to go higher up, she'd probably have to wait days or weeks for an appointment.

She persisted and reached the office of a decision-maker, who returned to the office while her administrative assistant was saying that she was out of the office. That manager accepted the call, listened and arranged immediately for yesterday's conviction to be vacated. The woman with the ticket then appeared before a judge, gave her explanation and was found Liable. She agreed to pay the balance of the fine and court costs, and then the Assistant City Attorney noticed that the Order incorrectly still showed the community service sentence. So he returned to the bench and had that removed.

At least one Assistant City Attorney was almost foaming at the mouth over the change in yesterday's decision.

No doubt that most of Chicago's prosecuting attorneys are hurried and harried, but she got great help from at least two of them, and she is very appreciative of their listening and their action.

And the Disorderly Conduct conviction won't be recorded. It turned out that the advice from the City's attorney yesterday was wrong that a D.C. conviction would not be recorded anywhere. Of course, it would be!