DUI and traffic

Rick represents clients in Rockford, Loves Park and across Winnebago County from his office at 7111 N. Alpine Rd, Loves Park.

What Rick handles

• DUI charges, a first offense or a later one
• Statutory summary suspensions after a DUI arrest, and the hearing to challenge one
• Driver's license suspension and revocation
• Speeding tickets, including speeding in a construction zone
• Stop sign and red light tickets
• A driving record close to a suspension for too many moving violations, including for drivers under 21

A DUI arrest starts two cases

One is the criminal charge under 625 ILCS 5/11-501. The other is the statutory summary suspension of your license, which the Secretary of State enters on the officer's sworn report (625 ILCS 5/11-501.1). They run on separate clocks, and the license clock starts when you are given the suspension notice.

In Winnebago County, traffic court is courtroom 125, on the first floor of the Winnebago County Courthouse, 400 W. State St, Rockford, and traffic and criminal filings and payments go to Room 111 of the same building (Circuit Clerk). Your ticket names the courtroom for your first date. The 17th Circuit lists a temporary entrance to the courthouse at 403 Elm Street, one block south (17th Judicial Circuit).

What Rick looks at in a DUI case

How and why you were stopped. How the breath test was given and recorded. Whether you were asked to do field sobriety tests, and any medical condition that bears on how you did.

Rick goes through the police report and the test records with you, then tells you what he sees and what your options are.

Know what the law requires of you at a traffic stop before you are stopped. Pulled over in Illinois: what to do and say

Refusing the chemical test after a DUI arrest suspends your license for at least 12 months, and the refusal can be used as evidence. Know what each test at a stop requires before an officer asks. Stopped for DUI in Illinois

Questions and answers

• Do I have to take a breathalyzer in Illinois?
• What does refusing the test after arrest cost?
• Do I have to take a field sobriety test in Illinois?
• When does a statutory summary suspension start?
• Can I fight the suspension?
• Can I drive during the suspension?
• Is a first DUI a felony in Illinois?
• How many tickets before Illinois suspends my license?

Traffic tickets

A ticket can raise what you pay for insurance, and enough of them can cost you your license. Rick reviews the ticket and your driving record and tells you your options before the court date.

What to have ready

The ticket or charging papers, any notice you have received about your license, the receipt the officer gave you for your license, and your court date. Write down the date you were given the suspension notice: the suspension starts on the 46th day after it, and the 90 days to ask for a hearing run from it.