COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Gun charges against former Ald. Sharon Dixon (24th) were dismissed Tuesday in response to a court decision that found part of the state's gun law unconstitutional, prosecutors said.
Dixon was charged in May 2013 with aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon after prosecutors said she carried a loaded .357 Magnum into a police station at 3315 W. Ogden St.
She was acting erratically, and an attorney representing Dixon later said she had been struggling with mental health issues.
But prosecutors dropped the case because it falls under a part of the state's gun law found by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2013 to be unconstitutional, prosecutors said.
The Illinois Supreme Court struck down part of the state's unauthorized use of weapons law, which, among other things, made it a criminal offense for people to bear arms outside of their home or business, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment.
The decision stems from the 2008 arrest and conviction of Alberto Aguilar, a 17-year-old who got caught with a gun in a friend's backyard.
After he was found guilty, Aguilar appealed, with his lawyers arguing the law under which he was convicted was unconstitutional. The high court agreed, labeling the law a "comprehensive ban.”
Dixon has had brushes with the Chicago Police Department before — and even filed suit against officers in 2011, claiming she was falsely arrested for DUI in 2009 after watching President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Dixon has said she was with friends in Evanston that day and had a few glasses of wine. On her drive home, she encountered a Sheridan Road roadblock in Rogers Park. Firefighters had the street blocked as they fought a fatal fire, according to published reports.
She told officers she needed to get through and then got out of her car and into an argument with them. That's when she was arrested.
The first-term alderman was charged with DUI, but those charges too were later dismissed.
