Notable Cases

• Represented Illinois State Senator LaShawn Ford who had been indicted on 17 counts of bank fraud. On the eve of trial, after having filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on the grounds of racially motivated selective prosecution, the government agreed to dismiss all felony charges in exchange for a misdemeanor tax charge that resulted in a sentence of probation. (2014)
• Represented Jared Chase, one of the “NATO 3” defendants, in the first prosecution under the Illinois terrorism statute. After a jury trial Mr. Chase and his co-defendants were acquitted of all terrorism-related charges. (2014)
• Represented a group of University of Chicago graduate students who were arrested in October 2011 during the mass arrests of Occupy Chicago protesters in Grant Park. In September 2012 Associate Judge Thomas Donnelly ruled that the arrests violated the protesters’ constitutional rights.
• Represented Adel Daoud, a defendant charged with attempting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction in downtown Chicago. In January 2014, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois issued an order permitting defense counsel to review the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) materials in the case. This order represented the first time in the history of FISA that such relief was granted.
• Representation of Raja Lahrasib Khan, charged with material support for terrorism in the Northern District of Illinois, in a highly publicized case in which a sentence of seven-and-a-half years was obtained when the Federal Sentencing Guidelines called for a sentence of up to thirty years. (2012)
• Representation of Bobby DeLaughter, the former Hinds County, Mississippi, Circuit Judge in a high-profile “honest services” mail fraud case pertaining to alleged judicial misconduct. Judge DeLaughter had previously successfully prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith in the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. All mail fraud and public corruption charges against Judge DeLaughter were dismissed. (2009)
• Participant in the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to provide civilian defense counsel to assist the military lawyers in the trial of the five High Value Detainees charged in the Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with conspiring to orchestrate the September 11, 2001, attacks. Civilian counsel for Defendant Ramzi Bin Alshibh.
• Counsel, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City, for two detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and now released: Walid Ali, from the Sudan, and Abdul Raham Houari, from Algeria.
• Acquittal on all counts for Michael J. Mahoney, former Executive Director of the John Howard Association, on charges of bribery involving health care contracts with the Illinois Department of Corrections. (2008)
• Representation of Robert Sorich, the Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, in a widely publicized hiring fraud prosecution in the federal court. (2006)
• Representation of Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar on federal charges in Chicago pertaining to allegations with respect to providing material support to the Specially Designated Terrorist Organization, Hamas.
• Lead trial counsel for Matt Hale, the self-proclaimed Pontifex Maximus of the World Church of the Creator, an avowed white supremacist organization, on widely publicized charges that Hale solicited the murder of U.S. District Court Judge Joan H. Lefkow.
• Co-counsel for the Global Relief Foundation, Inc., of Bridgeview, Illinois, one of the Islamic charities whose assets were blocked after September 11, 2001, under provisions of the U.S. PATRIOT Act by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
• The only acquittal in the highly publicized federal criminal case of United States v. Spano, an eight-defendant public corruption trial involving the Town of Cicero and its President, Betty Loren-Maltese. Former Town of Cicero Treasurer Joseph DeChicio was acquitted outright on all counts. (2002)
• The defense of Jason Powell in an Indiana capital murder case that attracted national attention into an alleged racially-motivated shooting that occurred in Elkhart, Indiana. (1999)
• Court-appointed counsel in defense of one of the Chicago Police Officers charged in the corruption investigation into the Gresham Police District. (1997-1998)
• The outright acquittal on behalf of Gary City Councilman Frank Ballard, who had been charged with bribery and extortion allegations arising from the federal investigation of the Gary Sanitary District. (1997)
• The successful defense of several commodities traders in the highly publicized federal investigation of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
• The widely publicized federal investigation and trial of the high ranking members of the Gangster Disciples street gang. (1996)
• A not guilty verdict on all charges on behalf of William J. Stoecker, who was charged with federal bankruptcy fraud arising from the highly publicized Grabill Corporation bankruptcy. (1990)
• The only acquittal in the federal investigation of the Lake County Indiana Court System in the defense of Attorney Thomas Mullins who had been charged with mail fraud, bribery and income tax investigation. (1985)