On August 31, 2010, in the matter of People of the State of Illinois v. K.M., at Branch 29, Belmont & Western, Adam and Barry Sheppard won an acquittal for their client, K.M., a 73 year-old Orthodox Jew who was accused of punching his downstairs neighbor 12-15 times and kicking her.   The complainant testified that she went upstairs to knock on K.M.’s door to ask him to turn his television down and to stop playing his acoustic guitar and singing.  The complainant was also bothered by creaky floor boards in the defendant’s apartment.  On cross-examination, the complainant denied that she was using the judicial process as a means of reprimanding the defendant for the noise disturbances.   The complainant was then impeached with a note that she had written four months before the incident in question where she had threatened to call the police based on the noise.   Barry Sheppard also cross-examined the complainant about whether she had photographed her injuries, sought medical treatment or informed any of her friends or family of her injuries.  The complainant revealed that she did not have any friends in the area.  Nor was there any other corroboration of the complainant’s injuries.  Sheppard also explored the complainant’s bias against the defendant’s practice of orthodox Judaism or whether there were any issues in the complainant’s social life that resulted in her having a ”displaced embitterment” against men in general.

On direct examination, Adam Sheppard walked K.M. through his version of events.  K.M. testified that he was roused from his sleep by loud pounding on the door and that when he opened the door abruptly, the complainant stepped backwards, falling over shoes that had been left in the hallway.  K.M. denied ever touching the complainant.

In closing argument, Adam Sheppard emphasized the lack of corroboration of the complainant’s purported injuries, the three week time lag between the filing of the complaint and the date of the alleged offense, and the complainant’s lack of credibility.   The trial judge found the defendant “not guilty.”