RECKLESS DISCHARGE

•  Reckless discharge of a firearm simply refers to the act of setting off or discharging a firearm in a reckless manner endangering the bodily safety of any person other than oneself (courts have held that so endangering oneself is not covered by the statute despite its ambiguous wording of “the bodily safety of an individual”). One example here is the common practice of firing a weapon pointed up into the air on the Fourth of July or on New Year’s Eve. 
•  If a reckless discharge of a firearm is committed by a passenger of a moving vehicle with the driver’s knowledge then the driver is “accountable for such conduct,” meaning that the driver is also guilty of reckless discharge of a firearm. 
•  If you are a police or other peace officer and discharge a firearm while performing your official duties, you cannot be considered guilty of this offense. 
•  If you recklessly discharged the weapon in the direction of person or a group of people or a vehicle or building when you should have known there was a chance the vehicle or building was occupied, that can be an aggravating factor leading to the more serious charge of aggravated discharge. 
•  The element of intent is the difference between aggravated discharge and reckless discharge. Other aggravating circumstances can include discharging the weapon in circumstances where you were within 1000 feet of a school or if you had any reason to believe a peace officer, a teacher, or other public servant was present. Such circumstances can make the sentence significantly more severe.

How we can defend you against a reckless discharge charge

•  We can argue that it was a case of mistaken identity (someone else fired the weapon) or that the weapon was not discharged at all. 
•  We might argue that you had a valid reason for discharging the weapon such as self-defense, a warning shot to an aggressor, that it was purely accidental (as a mitigating circumstance) or as the result of a malfunction of the weapon, or that you did it simply to raise an alarm when there was no other way to do so. 
•  If you were the driver of the vehicle where your passenger recklessly discharged a weapon, we might contend that you had no idea they were about to discharge a weapon and did not approve of their doing so even if you said nothing about it. Often this is a defense that works if your passenger was not in the front seat of the vehicle beside you.
•  We can dispute the facts and testimony of witnesses or officers for this charge by filing “motions to suppress” unreliable, improperly obtained, or other questionable evidence or testimony (especially if you were improperly questioned or were not made aware of your rights).
•  If the evidence or testimony is still ruled admissible by the judge, we can argue at trial that the evidence or testimony is incorrect or fabricated against you and therefore should give the jurors a reasonable doubt. 

This is where having an experienced attorney to represent you and negotiate and speak for you can save years of your life and tens of thousands of fines and/or foregone income. It is worth it, and you deserve a good defense.

Other lawyers so often talk of how they will “aggressively fight for you.” They are doing nothing more than basically quoting from the American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct about the principle of a “lawyer's obligation zealously to protect and pursue a client's legitimate interests, within the bounds of the law.” When you hire Phillip Haddad as your criminal defense attorney in Chicago or elsewhere in its suburban area, he will not only do his professional duty to zealously represent you but will get you the justice you deserve. His extensive experience in criminal defense will help you avoid conviction or else minimize the penalties. Call criminal defense attorney Phillip Haddad at 708-833-3505 as soon as possible if you are in legal trouble.