Man faces prison after trial. Attorney gets conviction thrown out. Client walks out of jail that night.

Lewis Gainor represented a young man who was held in jail for his fourth driving under the influence (DUI) arrest. The State's Attorney charged him with a nonprobationable Class 2 Illinois felony DUI. By law, the young man would be sentenced to no less than three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (prison). Probation was not even possible.

The DUI resulted from a night of heavy drinking in Fox Lake, Illinois, with his girlfriend. On the way home, the driver crashed the vehicle into a utility pole, severing the pole in half. The car was totaled.

The matter went to trial before a Lake County jury in September of 2007. The verdict came back guilty. The judge scheduled the young man for sentencing in thirty days.

After spending many hours in jail consulting with his client, attorney Lewis Gainor filed a motion for new trial. He demanded that the conviction be thrown out. During the trial, he argued, the prosecution had tainted the jury with impermissible arguments. They had violated the man's rights to due process. It wasn't a fair trial.

The judge granted Lewis Gainor's motion, and gave the man a new trial. On the same day, Lewis Gainor was able to convince the prosecutor to release the man on probation.

Lewis Gainor had the conviction thrown out, and the man walked out of jail the same night.

When I take a case, I make a commitment to see it through to the end. I take my job very seriously. There's no quitting. My belief is, that's the right way to be an attorney. Never give up. This is one of the cases I'm most proud of. It never made the news, but the result means a lot to me." - Lewis Gainor