Practice Area Details
Criminal Defense
For both individuals and organizations facing criminal charges, whether felonies or misdemeanors, attorneys at Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym, Ltd. fight to protect rights, reputations, and dignity at every stage of the criminal justice process, from preliminary hearings and grand jury inquiries through trials and appeals, in federal and state courts.
HSPRD’s criminal defense practice is led by Mary Rowland, who was a staff attorney and then the Chief Appellate Attorney for the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois. During that time, she represented over 275 indigent defendants in every aspect of a federal criminal case, including trying several federal criminal jury trials, arguing many cases before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and filing petitions for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Rowland has extensive experience in defending federal criminal cases, including narcotics, conspiracies, weapons violations, bank robberies, and fraud. She has litigated several multi-count, multi-defendant criminal appeals involving application of the Sentencing Guidelines, violations of the Fourth Amendment, the ex post facto application of the federal supervised release statute and various jury instruction issues. Ms. Rowland has also successfully argued for many downward departures under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
Representative Matters
Represented one of seven defendants who were charged with capital murder under the RICO statute in connection with allegedly operating the Insane Deuce street gang and successfully persuaded the government not to seek the death penalty against him.
Publications
- Mary M. Rowland, General Offense Level: Base Offense Level and Specific Offense Characteristics, in Practice Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (Phylis Skloot Bamberger, David J. Gottlieb eds., Aspen Pub. 1998).
- Mary M. Rowland, Pretrial Discovery in Federal Court, in Federal Criminal Practice (IICLE 1997).
Speeches & Presentations
- Mary M. Rowland, Psychology Testimony on Competency to Waive Miranda Rights, Address presented as part of "Psychology and Other Expert Testimony in Civil and Criminal Litigation," a presentation at the Joint National Institute of the American Bar and American Psychological Associations (2002).
- Mary M. Rowland, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Address at "Federal Criminal Appellate Practice for Court-Appointed Attorneys," a conference sponsored by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (held in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin) (1998).
- Mary M. Rowland, Pretrial Discovery, Address at "Winning Strategies for Defending Federal Criminal Cases," a conference sponsored by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (1997, 1998).
- Mary M. Rowland, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Address at "Winning Strategies for Defending Federal Criminal Cases," a conference sponsored by the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts (1996) (held twice).
