Q & A

Today's Q & A

Criminal Law Can the Second Chance Act Help My Dying Grandfather Get Early Release? Jeralyn Merritt Q. My Grandfather was convicted and has served 21 years of his sentence. He is dying of cancer and our family would like him to be able to live the rest of his life outside of prison. We were wondering if the second chance law would apply to him and how we would go about getting him clemency. -- Anonymous A. In March, Congress passed the Second Chance Act. President Bush signed it into law a few weeks ago. It's purpose is to help prisoners reintegrate into society when they complete their prison sentences, and to reduce recidivism. About 700,000 state and federal prisoners are released every year. The Act authorizes funds to be spent on programs such as education and drug treatment inside prison. Other programs will provide assistance with housing and employment after release. There are also programs aimed at strengthening family and community ties. One portion of the bill pertains to early release of federal elderly prisoners. It is a limited pilot program called the Elderly and Family Reunification for Certain Nonviolent Offenders. It will be in place at only one federal prison. In order to qualify for it, the prisoner must be at least 65 years old and serving a sentence of less than life in prison for a nonviolent offense that also is not a sex crime. He or she has to have served more than 10 years, or 75% of their original sentence, whichever is greater. Sound daunting? There's more. The prisoner can't have a past conviction for a state or federal violent crime or sex offense. And, the prisoner must be determined by the Bureau of Prisons not to have a history of violence or sexual misconduct even if conviction free. The prisoner must also have a record free of escape attempts. If the prisoner meets these qualifications, the Bureau of Prisons can release him or her to home detention, provided it believes that such release is not likely to endanger any person or the community. The program is likely to be in place around October, 2009 and last through 2010. If your grandfather is already ill, your better bet would be to contact a post-conviction lawyer in your state who can advise you if your grandfather is eligible for release under some other law or regulation. -- Jeralyn Merritt

Real Estate Disclosure Of Defects In Condo Purchase Michael T. Sawyier Q. My husband and I purchased our condo in May 2007. At that time, there were no scheduled special assessments on the property. However in November 2007, we learned that the building was to undergo a $1MM+ special assessment, to be divided amongst all the owners of the property. Our portion of the special assessment is to be between $12-18K. This special assessment came about as a result of an engineering report commissioned in 2005 to evaluate the state of the building. This report was commissioned for litigation the building's owners were involved in against the developer. While the results of the report were never divulged publicly to all the owners, we learned that the person who sold us our condo was the person who commissioned the report. This, of course, means that he was fully aware that the results of the report stated the building had structural defects in it. We can prove his knowledge of the defects by obtaining a copy of the engineering report which was addressed directly to him. He never disclosed this information to us during the sale of the condo. Additionally, the owner who sold the condo to us was also previously on the condo association's board and was the listing agent of the property. My question: Do we have any legal recourse here since we can prove that the owner did not disclose defects in the building that he had knowledge of? Keep in mind that these are defects to the overall building structure, NOT to our condo alone. -- Anonymous A. Illinois' Residential Real Property Disclosure Act is designed to protect buyers of residential real property, including condominium property, by requiring that sellers disclose certain known material defects in the property. Under the Act, a material defect is defined as a condition that would have a substantial adverse effect on the value of the property or that would significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants of the residential real property, unless the seller believes the condition has been corrected. The Act does not require the seller of condominium unit to disclose defects in the common elements of a condominium. However, in the case that you describe, the seller's failure to disclose these known defects that would lead to the special assessment may have violated a representation or warranty in the sales contract itself that the seller did not know of any such defects. In addition, a number of reported Illinois decisions have held that mere silence by a seller with knowledge of such material "latent" defects, when they are not know to or readily discoverable by a buyer, can constitute fraud and are actionable in court. -- Michael T. Sawyier