Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

falsely identified

What recourses does one have when they have been wrongly identified in a crime. Our 15 year old son was identified as a person that was in his store asking for a knife or something sharp to open a locked car door. That car had been stolen. However this store is one near the school in which the students frequent at lunch. The school verifies he was in class all day. The lunch hour is 40 minutes 11:50 to 12:30. His picture was taken in the store as they video is running all day at 12:02 - the car was stolen about 4-5 miles away from the location and the student does not know how to drive nor has every driven. But is being harrassed by an investigator for this crime which happened 1 month before he was ever contacted. He is bewildered as we his parents are. He willingly gave his jacket as they said the person had a jacket on of that style. They supposedly are doing a fingerprint analysis and also want him to be fingerprinted. If this is ever cleared - what rights does he have toward the false accusers and the police department.


Asked on 4/25/01, 5:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Shestokas Shestokas, & Associates

Re: falsely identified

You do not mention if your son has actually been charged with a crime (or in his case, had a delinquency petition filed against him, as he is a juvenile). If he has not been charged, and the police are investigating, there is little to do, except let the investigation run its course.

If he has been charged, before anything can be done, he must be found not guilty or have the case dismissed. If he enters a plea of guilty any recourse he may have will be lost.

Regarding the false accusation: If he is found not guilty (or the case is dismissed), there is a heavy burden in proving that the false accusation was more than just a mistake. If there is proof that he was arrested when the accuser had reason to believe someone else was involved, your son would have a claim for damages. If it was a reasonable mistake, it is unlikely that there is anything that can be done.

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Answered on 6/15/01, 10:29 pm


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