The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender's Office, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Illinois Senator Graciela Guzmán, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, and other partners held a press conference to condemn the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violating state law and arresting individuals at a courthouse in Chicago. Various news agencies and outlets covered the Press Conference.
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As a young frontline public defender in the courtroom, Sharone R. Mitchell, Jr., often imagined how the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender could better serve its constituents. Now, as the agency’s head, he’s realizing that vision.
A pair of Illinois bills seeks to clarify the language in that statute, aiming to ensure that after program completion, judges can issue sentence credit, whether it was completed in a state prison or a county jail.
Resource-strapped public defenders can usually only provide direct client services. Meanwhile, police and prosecutors get to lobby for legislative changes. In Illinois, we are upending that status quo.
The MacArthur Justice Center and Legal Action Chicago sought leave to file an amicus brief on behalf of fifteen advocacy, social services, and direct legal services groups, including the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender in support of the Court Access, Safety, and Participation Act (CASPA), an Illinois law being challenged in federal court by the Trump Administration in the case USA v. Illinois.
Keshia Golden says she fatally stabbed Calvin Sidney in 2022 when he attacked her after their baby shower. Now a mother to a 3-year-old, Golden still faces murder charges in a case her lawyers argue amounts to self-defense.
Twice-yearly driver’s license reinstatement expos connect motorists with lawyers and advocates working to restore their driving privileges and relieving hardships.
A year after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) under Eileen O’Neill Burke directed prosecutors to stop the practice of sending low-level, nonviolent gun possession cases to Cook County’s Restorative Justice Community Courts, or RJCC, O’Neill Burke reversed the policy and resumed referring certain gun-possession cases to the RJCC.
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has instructed her office to resume sending some people with gun possession charges to the county’s Restorative Justice Community Courts (RJCC), which reroute young people with nonviolent charges from criminal courts to an alternative program. Upon completion, the charge is dismissed.
The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender distributed groceries, personal care items, and infant items in Roseland and in Austin as part of going beyond the courtroom and supporting people in their communities and meeting their needs. Our belief is simple: justice should not be sought only in court; it should happen on the block, in the neighborhood, and in everyday life.