Brian L. Polinske

Brian Polinske has been practicing law in Illinois since 1992. Mr. Polinske concentrates his practice on criminal defense, DUI matters, civil rights cases, and personal injury law. He was a prosecutor with the Madison County State's Attorney's Office early in his career, where he ran the DUI division, then the felony drug division. He was assigned civil forfeiture cases and conducted many jury trials. He has continued successfully conducting over 145 jury trials in a variety of venues. He formed his own office in 1993 concentrating in criminal defense. He has won many types of jury trial in both state and federal courts. He has won jury trials in Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Clinton, Macoupin, Marion and Jersey Counties. Cases from Murder, Methamphetamine Manufacturing, Domestic Battery, Aggravated Battery, DUI, and many other clients have successfully obtained acquittals after he tried their cases. He specializes in drug trafficking cases and can boast that very few clients have ever served any jail time for any form of cannabis trafficking that he has represented. Much of his practice is concentrated in: Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapons; Methamphetamine Charges; Trafficking Charges; Sex/Child P Charges; Cannabis Charges; DUI Charges (both misdemeanor and felony); He has been extremely successful in both fields. Oftentimes he is able to secure greatly reduced cash bond for the clients. He then carefully scrutinizes the State's discovery. Many times the State will not fully comply with the discovery. He pushes them to produce all materials by using Motions for Sanctions. Motions to suppress are then filed and many times won. Hot topics in this field are compelling production of all relevant canine "packets," federal EPIC communications, and NPLEX records. Other hot topics are data extraction via Cellebrite software from portable devices. Discovery violations by the State routinely result in suppressed evidence that translates into winning the case. Let my 33 years of trial experience work for you.

• Attorney

• Madison County State's Attorney, 711 Law Student/Assistant State's Attorney, 1990 - 1993
• Representative Clients
• Alan Castleberry - Murder - Macoupin County - Jury Verdict NOT GUILTY
• Arvin Freeman - Murder - Madison County - Bench Verdict - NOT GUILTY
• Charles Payne - Aggravated Battery - Madison County - Jury Verdict NOT GUILTY
• Kaden Phillips - Murder - Fayette County - Negotiated Reduced Charge - Agg. Discharge of Firearm/Murder Dismissed
• D. Crane - Child P - Macoupin County - Open Plea 15 years - AG had offered 30 years
• Zachary D. - Sex Abuse of Minors - Madison County - Probation - State had offered 12 years
• David H - DUI - Madison County - DUI dismissed
• Cesar Augusto BT - Bond County - Methamphetamine Trafficking - State has offered probation when he would receive a minimum 30-120 years in prison
• G Khan - Madison County - DUI - DUI Dismissed

• People v. Alan Castleberry
• Citation: 20CF169 - Macoupin County
• Court: Macoupin County
• Year: 2020
• Serial Number: 2020CF169
• First Degree Murder
• Citation: 2020 CF 169
• Serial Number: 2020 CF 169
• People v. Arvin Freeman First Degree Murder
• Citation: 2021 CF 437
• Court: Madison County
• Year: 2021
• Serial Number: 2021 CF 437
• People v. Kaden Phillips First Degree Murder
• Citation: 2024 CF 27
• Court: Fayette County
• Year: 2024
• Serial Number: 24 CF 27
• People v. Charles Payne - Aggravated Battery
• Citation: 2024 CF 1103
• Serial Number: 24 CF 1103
• People v. Marcus Walter - Agg. Criminal Sex Assault (x6)
• Citation: 2024 CF 198
• Court: Clinton County
• Serial Number: 24 CF 198

• Illinois, 1992
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois, 1992
• U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, pro hac vice

• ISBA, 1992 - Present (Member)
• ABA
• National DUI Defense Association
• Madison County Bar Association
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers