View excerpts of “Out of Bounds”

In what is bound to be one of the more controversial sports books of this year, Benedict (Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL) applies his superb investigative reporting skills to the “dark, sinister side” of dozens of NBA players, painstakingly detailing criminal behavior ranging from drug abuse and domestic violence to armed robbery and rape. Using criminal background checks on …
More nearly 200 NBA players; thousands of pages of trial transcripts and other legal documents; and more than 400 interviews with police officers, attorneys, players, victims and witnesses, Benedict tells hard stories, some well known and others discussed in depth for the first time here. Benedict also has no fear of naming some big names-including all-stars Patrick Ewing, Gary Payton, Glenn Robinson and Damon Stoudamire-to detail what he calls “the rash of lawlessness that is currently gripping the NBA.” Benedict exposes how life as a touring player in the NBA offers vast amounts of free time and sex, encouraging criminal behavior and leading to a warped perception of women and their availability, as well as producing an environment “hot-wired” to produce incidents of sexual assault. He explains how the “see-no-evil approach” of NBA teams and their armies of lawyers fosters the perception in players that they are above the law, leading to outrageous behavior toward law-enforcement officials. As well, he explores the role that agents play in keeping criminally accused players from accountability. This is an excellent book that proves its point that life in the NBA is “out of control and absolutely demands close scrutiny.” (June 14) Forecast: While Benedict avoids discussing the ongoing sexual assault charges against superstar Kobe Bryant, the massive media attention that case is getting should result in this book being widely discussed.

Sheppard obtains release of man directly from the police staiton without any charges where police had detained this individual regarding shooting and killing one person and injuring another: Click on this link to be redirected to CBS article.

Police had not filed charges against anyone Monday in a shooting that killed a Chicago man and wounded another man Sunday morning at a Skokie car wash used regularly to clean police vehicles. Skokie Police Sgt. Fred Brehmer said at least one person of interest is in custody but no charges had been filed as of 12:45 p.m. Monday.

Police received several 911 calls at about 3:50 a.m. Sunday regarding shots fired at Lucky’s Car Wash, 8440 Niles Center Rd., Brehmer said.

Brehmer said two men were found shot on the scene. One of the men, identified as Turner E. Yaghoub, 21, of 6551 N. Fairfield Ave. in Chicago, was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, while the other was listed in critical condition.

One of the victims was somehow “related” to the car wash, but Brehmer would not elaborate. “There is no risk to the general public,” he said. “Everybody involved is in police custody and we are interviewing all involved parties.”

Brehmer said the car wash and the neighborhood surrounding it are not known for being frequent crime scenes. The car wash, in fact, is not far from the police station on Laramie Avenue, and police cars are regularly washed there, he said.

“There is no risk to the general public,” Brehmer said.

Homicides in Skokie are rare. Brehmer said the last time he remembers a fatal shooting was when Northwestern basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong was killed in 1999 by a member of a white supremacist group.

In 2003, a man and two women were convicted of murdering the owner of the Great Steak & Potato Co. in Westfield Old Orchard.

And in 2005, Jeanette Sliwinski of Morton Grove was charged with murder when she rammed her vehicle into a stopped car at Niles Center Road and Dempster Street, killing three men inside. But Sliwinski was convicted of a lesser crime and released from prison last year.

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1 slain, 1 wounded in Skokie shooting

February 8, 2009 9:26 PM | 65 Comments | UPDATED STORY

Skokie police are talking to several people who witnessed a fatal shooting outside a carwash early today and have identified a person of interest in the case, Sgt. Frederick Brehmer said.

Investigators examine the area of a shooting this morning in Skokie in which one person was killed and another was hospitalized in critical condition. (Tribune/Tom Van Dyke)

Brehmer declined to describe the person or people police think fired the shots or a possible motive.

Police said they received several calls about 3:50 a.m. about shots fired just outside Lucky’s Hand Carwash and Detailing, 8440 Niles Center Rd. When police arrived, they discovered two gunshot victims — a Chicago man who later died, and a second person who is in critical condition at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.

Brehmer identified the slain man as Turner E. Yaghoub, 21, of the 6500 block of North Fairfield Avenue.

Brehmer said neither victim is believed to be associated with the carwash and declined to comment on what they may have been doing at the business, which is near the Skokie Yellow Line “L” tracks. The carwash was closed at the time of the shooting. The shooting was not random, Brehmer said.

Police on Sunday blocked Niles Center between Main Street and Wright Terrace, and marked and photographed more than a dozen pieces of evidence on the tracks and street.

– Emily S. Achenbaum

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Chicago man released in Skokie shooting

February 11, 2009 5:21 PM | 12 Comments
A Chicago man in custody since a weekend shooting outside a north suburban carwash has been released without charges, police said Wednesday.
One man was shot to death and another was seriously wounded early Sunday outside Lucky’s Hand Carwash and Detailing, 8440 Niles Center Rd., in Skokie.

The man who fired the fatal shot was released Tuesday without charges after being questioned by investigators, said Skokie police Sgt. Fred Brehmer.

Brehmer said the results of the police investigation were turned over to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which will decide if charges should be filed. Brehmer declined to release the police findings.

A spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office also declined to comment.

Turner E. Yaghoub, 21, of the 6500 block of North Fairfield Avenue was shot to death. The wounded man remains hospitalized, authorities said.

–Staff report

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District Court in Camden, New Jersey, Sheppard & Associates obtains dismissal of all charges for man charged in international conspiracy to import more than one billion counterfeit cigarettes worth $42 million, high-quality fake $100 bills, as well as ecstasy, methamphetamine and Viagra worth hundreds of thousands of dollars: See link and article below for discussion of investigation which led to the charges, codenamed “Operation Royal Charm”

FBI wedding sting busts crime ring

Jamie Wilson
Wednesday August 24, 2005
The Guardian

It should have been such a happy day. The wedding presents had been bought, a luxury yacht hired for the ceremony, and the guests – some from as far away as China – had all arrived. But then the bride and groom went and ruined it all by having everybody arrested.

In fact the “wedding” on the yacht moored just off Atlantic City in New Jersey was an elaborate FBI sting to lure members of an international smuggling and counterfeiting ring. The bride and groom, who had been working with the accused smugglers for several years, were undercover agents.

Operation Royal Charm – named after the yacht – led to the arrest of 87 people in raids across Canada and the US. Authorities said they had seized $4.4m (£2.4m) in high-quality fake $100 bills and more than 1bn counterfeit cigarettes worth $42m, as well as ecstasy, methamphetamine and Viagra worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Eight of those arrested were on their way to the fake wedding, due to begin at 2pm on Sunday, and were dressed in their finest when they were taken into custody. “Invitations were sent out, a date was given and RSVPs were received from different points from around the world,” Christopher Christie, a prosecutor in New Jersey, told reporters. “One guest even bought a pair of gold Presidential Rolex watches.”

The authorities would not disclose the identities of the two undercover agents who had posed as the bride and groom, but said the pair had spent years gaining the trust of dozens of the alleged key figures at the highest level of the smuggling operation. Their cover story worked so well that the authorities decided to incorporate their “relationship” into their plans to close down the syndicate, Mr Christie told the Los Angeles Times.

Article in Decalogue Newsletter: http://decaloguesociety.org/Documents/Newsletter%202009c%20autumn.pdf

In a successful appeal to the Circuit Court of Cook County from an Administrative Decision of the Secretary of State, Barry Sheppard & Associates, P.C. obtained a reversal of a suspension of a limousine driver’s livery license. The Secretary of State had suspended the driver’s license based on a drug test indicating the presence of marijuana in the driver’s system. The Secretary of State though had given the driver two drops: one time the driver tested dirty; another time he tested clean. In the Administrative Hearing Officer’s written “Findings of Fact,” it only considered the dirty drop. On appeal to the Circuit Court of Cook County, Barry Sheppard & Associates argued that because the Secretary of State authorized the second drop, it should have been equitably estopped from disregarding it. In other words, the Secretary of State was required to consider the clean drop before deciding whether to keep the suspension in effect. The Circuit Court agreed and reversed the Administrative Hearing Officer’s decision and remanded the case to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State subsequently terminated the suspension and reinstated the driver’s livery license.

In the case of People v. Santiago, the Sheppard firm obtained an acquittal for a defendant charged with Possession with the Intent to Distribute 15 kilos of cocaine and three kilos of heroin. Through cross-examination of the police officer, Barry Sheppard adduced evidence that the defendant did not have exclusive control over the garage where the drugs were found and other evidence which raised reasonable doubt as to whether the drugs in question belonged to the defendant. At the close of the State’s case, we made a motion for a finding of acquittal. We presented a Memorandum of Law in Support of Acquittal which outlined the relevant case-law in the area of Constructive Possession (controlling the area where the drugs are located). The judge granted our motion for a finding of acquittal at the close of the State’s case and the defendant was alleviated from testifying or from calling any witnesses on his behalf.

Barry Sheppard & Associates currently has a Petition for Leave to Appeal pending in the Illinois Supreme Court. In this case, the defendant was charged with soliciting sex acts from one he believed to be a minor over the internet. In fact, the purported minor was an undercover officer posing as a teenager. The Petition to the Illinois Supreme Court involves the admissibility of instant message transcripts into evidence. The Petition also addresses the salient issue of whether defendants who present an entrapment defense should be permitted to ask potential jurors in voire dire (the questioning of jurors during jury selection) whether they are willing to honor the entrapment defense — i.e., whether jurors are willing to negate a defendant’s criminal responsibility based on overreaching by law enforcement officers. Other interesting issues in this appeal include whether trial exhibits containing one party’s highlights or other extraneous markings should be permitted in the jury room during deliberations and whether a defendant should be permitted to introduce his lack of criminal history in support of his entrapment defense.

A trial date has been set for the winter in the case discussed in this Department of Justice Press Release — our firm represents one of the lead defendants. The allegations are Mortgage Fraud: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2008/pr0619_01.pdf

http://www.criminaldefenseattorneyschicago.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Article-on-Police-Roadblocks2.pdf

Below, please find the link to Adam Sheppard’s article on criminal investigations of students on college and high school campuses. The article appeared on the front page of the the autumn newlsetter for the Decalogue Society of Lawyers and Judges. The impetus for the article was a case that we handled in Champaign, Illinois, where University of Illinois police in conjuction with local law enforcement authorities raided a fraternity house pursuant to a search warrant. Read on: http://decaloguesociety.org/Documents/Newsletter%202009c%20autumn.pdf