USA v. Brown

In that case, the defendant, Brown, was charged with federal weapons and narcotics offenses. Prior to trial, Himel filed a motion to suppress the evidence, arguing that the police officers did not have probable cause to arrest and search Brown. The Chicago Police officers wrote the case up with all the necessary lies to make it appear that they had probable cause. The officers wrote that Brown was drinking alcohol on the public way and when they approached to arrest him, he threw bags of drugs on the ground. The officers claimed that after Brown was placed under arrest they recovered a gun from his waistband. 

Himel went the extra mile for Brown and he will go the extra mile for you. Himel proved the police were lying by having a DNA test done on the alcohol bottle which showed that two people, and not Brown, had been drinking from that bottle. Himel also had the police in-car camera video enhanced to show that Brown never threw any drugs on the ground.

In granting Brown’s Motion to Suppress Evidence and dismissing the case, the Honorable Judge Harry Leinenweber wrote, “But (the officer’s) story is simply not credible in light of the crime lab’s inability to find DNA from Defendant Brown on the bottle,”and “(t)he Court takes no pleasure in jettisoning the evidence … (b)ut the Fourth Amendment and the exclusionary rule command it when the evidence is plain that the police exceeded their authority and obtained their evidence through an illegal search.”

USA v. Patino

In that case, Himel’s client, Patino, was charged alongside two of the most notorious drug dealers in Chicago history, the Flores twins, the ones that ultimately brought down Chapo Guzman. Himel realized during trial preparations that the only way the Government could convict Patino was through the testimony of the Flores twins. Himel used his insight as a former prosecutor and took a risky and aggressive approach answering ready for trial knowing that the Government would not call the Flores twins to testify against Patino because the Government would be saving their testimony for Chapo Guzman’s trial.  The strategy paid off and the Government dismissed the case against Patino.