Illinois Official Reports

Appellate Court

People v. Williams, 2021 IL App (1st) 190535

Appellate Court 

Caption

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.

TOROLAN WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

District & No. First District, Sixth Division 

No. 1-19-0535

Filed May 14, 2021

Decision Under 

Review

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 08-CR-15108; the 

Hon. Carol M. Howard, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Affirmed.

Counsel on

Appeal

James E. Chadd, Douglas R. Hoff, and Ashlee Johnson, of State 

Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg 

and Sara McGann, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the 

People.

Panel JUSTICE HARRIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 

Justice Connors concurred in the judgment and opinion. 

Presiding Justice Mikva dissented, with opinion.
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OPINION

¶ 1 Defendant, Torolan Williams, appeals the judgment of the circuit court dismissing his 

postconviction petition at the first stage. On appeal, defendant contends that the dismissal was 

error where his petition presented a gist of an arguable claim that his mandatory life sentence 

is unconstitutional as applied to him where he was 22 years old when he committed the offenses 

and the trial court had no opportunity to consider his youth or rehabilitative potential. For the 

following reasons, we affirm.

¶ 2 I. JURISDICTION

¶ 3 The circuit court dismissed defendant’s postconviction petition on January 22, 2019. This 

court allowed defendant to file a late notice of appeal on March 21, 2019. Accordingly, this 

court has jurisdiction pursuant to article VI, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 

1970, art. VI, § 6) and Illinois Supreme Court Rule 651(a) (eff. July 1, 2017), governing 

appeals in postconviction proceedings.

¶ 4 II. BACKGROUND

¶ 5 The following are facts relevant to the dismissal of defendant’s postconviction petition. A 

full statement of the facts can be found in this court’s opinion pertaining to defendant’s direct 

appeal. See People v. Williams, 2017 IL App (1st) 142733. 

¶ 6 On the night of April 22, 2008, Lakesha Doss, Whitney Flowers, Anthony Scales, Reginald 

Walker, and Donovan Richardson were shot to death in a house at 7607 South Rhodes Avenue 

in Chicago, Illinois. On June 9, 2008, defendant was arrested in connection with the murders. 

At the police station, defendant was informed of his Miranda rights (see Miranda v. Arizona, 

384 U.S. 436 (1966)), and he stated that he understood them. During his conversation with 

detectives, defendant stated that he acted as a lookout for Michael King, the person who 

committed the murders. At 5:45 p.m. Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) Fabio Valentini arrived 

to speak with the defendant. 

¶ 7 At trial, the State called Arthur Brown to testify concerning the events of April 22, 2008. 

Brown agreed to testify at King’s and defendant’s trials in exchange for pleading guilty to one 

count of first degree murder, for which he received a sentence of 24 years in prison. 

¶ 8 Brown testified that he and defendant were old high school friends. On April 22, 2008, 

Brown and his friend, Michael McKeel, were in Lansing drinking and smoking marijuana 

together. When they ran out of drugs, they decided to drive into the city to purchase more. 

After failing to find more drugs, Brown called defendant and asked if he knew where to get 

some “kush,” a high-grade marijuana. They went to defendant’s home, and defendant called 

Michael King, who told them to meet him at 77th Street and Rhodes Avenue. When they 

arrived at that location, defendant left the car for several minutes. Upon his return, he informed 

them that he had a “sweet lick.” Brown testified that the term referred to an easy robbery. 

Brown agreed to stay and assist in the robbery. 

¶ 9 About an hour later, defendant called and asked Brown to come to an alley nearby. King 

approached carrying a flat-screen television, and defendant followed carrying a duffle bag. 

Brown testified that they formed an assembly line, with King and defendant bringing items out 

of the house and Brown loading the goods. After they finished, they drove back to defendant’s 
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place. In the car, defendant and King were saying things like “you’re crazy, you’re crazy” and 

“that was some crazy stuff that just went on.” Defendant said they would split the goods in the 

morning. 

¶ 10 Brown identified several items at trial that were proceeds from the robbery including a 

Microsoft Xbox video game system and several pieces of jewelry. He also identified two 

watches and a pair of diamond stud earrings that defendant had given him. Brown pawned the 

items, which the police later recovered along with receipts bearing Brown’s name. Other 

witnesses identified the goods as having belonged to the victims. 

¶ 11 When Brown confronted defendant about the murders, defendant said that King had 

already killed everyone by the time he entered the house. King had ordered him around, and 

he complied out of fear. On July 1, 2008, Brown was arrested for his involvement in the 

murders. Although he first denied involvement, Brown eventually acknowledged his role after 

being shown the pawn receipts. While incarcerated, Brown again spoke with defendant about 

the murders. Defendant told him that during the robbery, he shot Donovan Richardson. He then 

shot one of the girls because she would not stop screaming. King shot the remaining victims. 

¶ 12 Agent Raschke testified that in connection with this case, he reviewed call detail records 

for Arthur Brown and Michael King and plotted them on a map. He testified that cell phones 

generally connect to the closest tower but that this was not always the case. On crossexamination, he acknowledged that the information does not allow for the conclusion that a 

phone was at a certain address. He admitted that, while the phone does normally connect to the 

closest tower, factors other than proximity can affect signal strength and which tower a phone 

uses. 

¶ 13 During closing argument, the defense argued that the State had failed to meet its burden of 

proof. Defense counsel argued the State’s witnesses, particularly Brown, were not credible. In 

both closing and rebuttal, the State contended that the cell tower evidence demonstrated that 

Brown was at defendant’s house before and after the offense. That evidence also showed that 

King came to defendant’s residence in the middle of the night after the offense, as well as later 

the next morning. The State argued these records corroborated Brown’s account of the events. 

¶ 14 The jury convicted defendant of five counts of first degree murder and one count of armed 

robbery. At the sentencing hearing, the court noted that it received defendant’s presentence 

investigative report (PSI), but it contained only defendant’s criminal background information 

because defendant refused to cooperate with the officer assigned to the report. When the court 

asked if either side wanted to add anything to the PSI, both parties responded, “no.” The State 

entered victim impact statements into evidence. Defendant declined to say anything in 

allocution. After reviewing the notes in the case, the PSI, mitigating and aggravating factors, 

and the victim impact statements, the court imposed the mandatory sentence of natural life in 

prison pursuant to section 5-8-1 of the Unified Code of Corrections. 730 ILCS 5/5-8-

1(a)(1)(c)(ii) (West 2014). 

¶ 15 On direct appeal, defendant raised a number of issues including: 

“(1) the trial court erred in failing to suppress statements that he acted as a lookout 

because they were the product of coercion, (2) the trial court erred in admitting the 

historical cell phone site records into evidence, (3) the State improperly presented 

evidence concerning possible sentencing, (4) the State violated a pretrial ruling 

concerning the use of the historical cell phone site records, and (5) he suffered prejudice 
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when the trial court referred to three of the verdict forms as ‘guilty forms.’ ” Williams, 

2017 IL App (1st) 142733, ¶ 2. 

This court affirmed his convictions. Id. ¶ 55. 

¶ 16 On October 24, 2018, defendant filed a pro se postconviction petition in which he made 

claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Relevant here, defendant alleged that “[a]ppellate 

counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that trial counsel was ineffective for failing [to] 

argue that the sentencing statute is [un]constitutional as applied to him.” Defendant cited 

articles finding that the brains of young adults in their early twenties are still maturing, 

including areas that govern impulsivity and judgment. He alleged that his mandatory life 

sentence gave the trial court no discretion to consider his age, his minimal criminal history, or 

his involvement in the crime. Defendant argued that his sentence violated the proportionate 

penalties clause as applied to him, and he requested a new sentencing hearing where his youth 

and its characteristics can be considered. 

¶ 17 The trial court found that, since defendant was 22.5 years old when the murders occurred, 

Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), did not apply. Citing Justice Burke’s concurring 

opinion in People v. Harris, 2018 IL 121932, it also found that defendant was actually making 

a facial constitutional challenge to the mandatory sentencing statute because he was 

challenging a mandatory sentence imposed by the statute. See id. ¶¶ 70-71 (Burke, J., specially 

concurring). The court reasoned that “there can be no constitutional violation by the trial court, 

where the trial court was legislatively mandated to impose mandatory life sentence” by a 

constitutional statute. Accordingly, the court found defendant’s contentions “meritless” and 

dismissed his postconviction petition. Defendant filed this appeal.

¶ 18 III. ANALYSIS 

¶ 19 On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his request for 

postconviction relief. The Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 

2016)) provides a process in which a defendant can claim that his conviction was the result of 

a substantial denial of his rights under the United States Constitution or the Illinois Constitution 

or both. People v. Cathey, 2012 IL 111746, ¶ 17. The Act provides a three-stage process for 

non-death-penalty cases. People v. Jones, 213 Ill. 2d 498, 503 (2004). To survive summary 

dismissal at the first stage, defendant need only present the gist of a constitutional claim. Id. at 

504. The circuit court may summarily dismiss a postconviction petition at this stage if it is 

frivolous or patently without merit. Cathey, 2012 IL 111746, ¶ 17. 

¶ 20 A postconviction petition is frivolous or patently without merit if it has no “arguable basis 

either in law or in fact.” People v. Hodges, 234 Ill. 2d 1, 16 (2009). Courts liberally construe 

the allegations in the petition, which need only present “a limited amount of detail.” People v. 

Brown, 236 Ill. 2d 175, 184 (2010). This “ ‘low threshold’ ” requires “only that the petitioner 

plead sufficient facts to assert an arguably constitutional claim.” Id. However, a petition 

alleging “nonfactual and nonspecific assertions that merely amount to conclusions will not 

survive summary dismissal under the Act.” People v. Morris, 236 Ill. 2d 345, 354 (2010). We 

review the summary dismissal of a postconviction petition de novo. Brown, 236 Ill. 2d at 184. 

¶ 21 Defendant was convicted of five counts of first degree murder and one count of armed 

robbery, and he received a mandatory sentence of natural life in prison pursuant to section 5-

8-1(a)(1)(c)(ii) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code) (730 ILCS 5/5-8-1(a)(1)(c)(ii) (West 

2014)). This section provided that “the court shall sentence the defendant to a term of natural 
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life imprisonment when the death penalty is not imposed if the defendant, *** irrespective of 

the defendant’s age at the time of the commission of the offense, is found guilty of murdering 

more than one victim.” Id. Defendant argues that, although he was 22 years old when he 

committed the offense, he was entitled to Miller’s protections because studies have shown that 

his brain, like those of juvenile defendants, is still developing in areas relevant to maturity and 

moral culpability. He contends that, as a result, his statutorily mandated life sentence is 

unconstitutional as applied to him where the trial court could not fully consider the 

characteristics of youth or his personal culpability before sentencing him. 

¶ 22 Miller recognized that children lack maturity and have an underdeveloped sense of 

responsibility, are more vulnerable to negative influences, and have character that is not yet 

well formed. Miller, 567 U.S. at 471. Not only do these characteristics diminish a child’s 

culpability, but the “distinctive attributes of youth diminish the penological justifications” for 

imposing life without parole upon children. Id. at 472. Thus, “a sentencing scheme that 

mandates life in prison without possibility of parole for juvenile offenders” violates the eighth 

amendment because such a scheme, by making the factors of youth “irrelevant to imposition 

of that harshest prison sentence *** poses too great a risk of disproportionate punishment.” Id. 

at 479. To minimize this risk, Miller required that before sentencing a juvenile defendant to 

life in prison without parole, the court must consider “how children are different, and how 

those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.” Id. at 

479-80. 

¶ 23 In Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190, 208 (2016), the Court elaborated that the 

sentencing of a juvenile to life without parole is “excessive for all but the rare juvenile offender 

whose crime reflects irreparable corruption.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) “Even if a 

court considers a child’s age before sentencing him or her to a lifetime in prison, that sentence 

still violates the Eighth Amendment for a child whose crime reflects ‘unfortunate yet transient 

immaturity’ ” of youth rather than “irreparable corruption.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) 

Id. Therefore, the judge at a sentencing hearing must consider “ ‘youth and its attendant 

characteristics’ ” so that juveniles who may be sentenced to life without parole can be separated 

from those who may not. Id. at 210. 

¶ 24 The Supreme Court, however, “has clearly and consistently drawn the line between 

juveniles and adults for the purpose of sentencing at the age of 18.” Harris, 2018 IL 121932, 

¶ 58. Miller’s decision to draw the line at 18 years old “was not based primarily on scientific 

research” but instead reflected an imprecise categorical rule that society used to distinguish 

between children and adults for various purposes. Id. ¶ 60. Although an 18-year-old defendant 

is precluded from raising an eighth amendment claim pursuant to Miller, our supreme court 

determined that such a defendant may raise a postconviction constitutional claim under the 

proportionate penalties clause. Id. ¶ 48 (citing People v. Thompson, 2015 IL 118151, ¶ 44). 

¶ 25 In his proportionate penalties claim, the defendant in Harris alleged that the sentencing 

scheme resulting in his mandatory de facto life sentence, as applied to him, violated the 

proportionate penalties clause. Id. ¶ 36. In support, he argued that the reasoning of Miller

should also extend to him as an 18-year-old adult. Id. ¶ 37. He contended that, because the 

record included information about his personal history, the court had sufficient information to 

consider his claim. Id. ¶ 42. 

¶ 26 Our supreme court disagreed. It noted that “[a]ll as-applied constitutional challenges are, 

by definition, dependent on the specific facts and circumstances of the person raising the 
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challenge.” Id. ¶ 39. Since the defendant was 18 years old when he committed the offenses, 

the record must contain facts to support his claim that the evolving science of maturity and 

brain development “applies to defendant’s specific facts and circumstances.” Id. ¶ 46. 

Defendant raised this issue for the first time on direct appeal, and nothing in the record showed 

how Miller applied to him as an adult. The court found, however, that the defendant’s claim 

may be raised in a postconviction petition because postconviction proceedings are more suited 

to address constitutional issues based on facts not found in the record. Id. ¶ 48. The court did 

not express an opinion on the merits of the defendant’s potential postconviction claim, and it 

declined to remand the cause for an evidentiary hearing. Id.

¶ 27 The question before us, which our supreme court did not consider in Harris, is whether 

defendant’s postconviction petition alleged a gist of a constitutional claim that the rationale of 

Miller should be applied to him as a 22-year-old adult. In his petition, defendant claimed that 

his statutorily mandated life sentence violated the proportionate penalties clause because the 

trial court could not consider the characteristics of youth before sentencing him to life in prison. 

As support, he cited articles discussing how the brain does not fully mature until a person 

reaches his or her mid-twenties. Defendant argues that his allegations presented a gist of a 

constitutional claim, which is a low threshold. 

¶ 28 While a petitioner need only present a limited amount of detail in his petition, that “does 

not mean that a pro se petitioner is excused from providing any factual detail at all surrounding 

the alleged constitutional deprivation.” People v. Delton, 227 Ill. 2d 247, 254 (2008). For 

defendant to make a claim that Miller applies to him, he must allege “how the evolving science 

on juvenile maturity and brain development *** applies to [his] specific facts and 

circumstances.” Harris, 2018 IL 121932, ¶ 46. In other words, defendant’s claim must allege 

facts specific to him as a 22-year-old adult and how they rendered him more akin to a juvenile 

when he committed his offenses. We find People v. Savage, 2020 IL App (1st) 173135, 

instructive. 

¶ 29 In Savage, a case cited by defendant, the appellate court reversed the dismissal of a 22-

year-old defendant’s postconviction petition at the first stage. The defendant had alleged that 

the sentencing court failed to consider his history of drug addiction, in conjunction with his 

young age, when it sentenced him to 85 years in prison. He stated that he had been a drug 

addict since he was nine years old and was using drugs every day at the time of the offense. Id.

¶ 71. He further alleged that his long-time drug addiction left him more susceptible to peer 

pressure and rendered him more volatile in “ ‘emotionally charged settings.’ ” Id. The 

defendant acknowledged that he was older than 18 years old when he committed the offenses. 

He argued, however, that his drug addiction and other issues made him the functional 

equivalent of a juvenile. Id. ¶ 60. 

¶ 30 The Savage court found the defendant’s allegations supported by detailed hospital records 

and the PSI. Id. ¶ 72. The record also failed to show that the sentencing court considered the 

“attributes of young adulthood *** in light of defendant’s lifelong drug addiction.” Id. ¶ 74. 

The court concluded that, “where defendant’s argument finds support in both the filed record 

and recent case law, it cannot be considered frivolous and patently without merit.” Id. ¶ 76. 

¶ 31 In Savage, the defendant argued that a lifelong drug addiction made him more readily 

influenced by peers and more volatile. As such, his allegations demonstrated how the science 

of brain development and juvenile maturity applied to his specific circumstances, as Harris

instructed. Unlike the defendant in Savage, defendant here did not allege any facts particular 
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to him that rendered him the functional equivalent of a juvenile. He cited only general articles 

finding that the brain continues to mature into one’s mid-twenties. 

¶ 32 Furthermore, the facts in the record do not support defendant’s claim that his brain was the 

functional equivalent of a juvenile’s when he committed the offenses. He not only took part in 

planning the robbery, he instigated it by calling King about where to get some “kush.” After 

meeting with King, defendant told Brown that he had a “sweet lick,” or an easy robbery. About 

an hour later, he called and asked Brown to come to an alley nearby. They loaded the robbery 

proceeds into the car and drove back to defendant’s place. Defendant told them they would 

split the goods in the morning. Brown subsequently discovered that five people were killed 

during the robbery and defendant shot two of them. Unlike the case in Savage, the record here 

shows that defendant, who was an adult when the murders occurred, exhibited none of the 

impulsivity or reckless decision-making associated with juveniles. Rather, he planned and 

participated in the robbery in which five people were killed. 

¶ 33 We further find that defendant’s mere reliance on general scientific studies is insufficient 

to state a gist of a constitutional claim under the Act. Although research has found that the 

brain continues to develop into a person’s mid-twenties, our supreme court recognized that a 

line must be drawn between adults and juveniles for sentencing purposes, and that line is “not 

based primarily on scientific research.” Harris, 2018 IL 121932, ¶ 60. “Rather, determining 

the age at which human beings should be held fully responsible for their criminal conduct is 

ultimately a matter of social policy that rests on the community’s moral sense.” Id. ¶ 77 (Burke, 

J., specially concurring). The legislature is “better equipped to gauge the seriousness of various 

offenses and to fashion sentences accordingly.” People v. Buffer, 2019 IL 122327, ¶ 35. 

¶ 34 Our legislature recently enacted a provision that signals 21 years old as the age of adulthood 

for accountability and sentencing purposes. Section 5-4.5-115(b) of the Code provides for 

parole review, “after serving 20 years or more” of their sentence, for defendants who were 

under the age of 21 when they committed first degree murder. See Pub. Act 100-1182 (eff. 

June 1, 2019) (adding 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-110); Pub. Act 101-288 (eff. Jan. 1, 2020) 

(renumbering 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-110 to 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-115). Furthermore “[i]n considering 

the factors affecting the release determination ***, the Prisoner Review Board panel shall 

consider the diminished culpability of youthful offenders, the hallmark features of youth, and 

any subsequent growth and maturity of the youthful offender during incarceration.” Pub. Act 

101-288 (eff. Jan. 1, 2020) (renumbering 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-110(j) to 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-115(j)). 

This language closely follows Miller’s admonitions to courts before sentencing juveniles to 

life imprisonment. Section 5-4.5-115, however, draws the line at 21 years old. Illinois law also 

prohibits persons under 21 years of age from purchasing tobacco and alcohol products. See 

720 ILCS 675/1 (West Supp. 2019); 235 ILCS 5/6-16 (West 2018). 

¶ 35 We cannot say that the legislature’s decision to define adulthood as being 21 years old or 

older shocks the moral sense of the community. Nor can we say that a statute mandating a 

sentence of life in prison, for an adult who was convicted of murdering more than one person, 

is so wholly disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community. 

Accordingly, there is no basis in the law to support a claim that section 5-8-1(a)(1)(c)(ii) of the 

Code violates the proportionate penalties clause as to defendant, merely because he was 22 

years old when he committed the offenses. 

¶ 36 Courts must evaluate a postconviction petition “within the framework of the ‘frivolous or 

*** patently without merit’ test.” Hodges, 234 Ill. 2d at 11 (discussing 725 ILCS 5/122-
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2.1(a)(2) (West 2006)). A petition that is summarily dismissed as frivolous or patently without 

merit has no “arguable basis either in law or in fact.” Id. at 16. In arguing that Miller should 

apply to him as an adult, defendant did not allege any facts particular to his case. Nothing in 

the record or in defendant’s petition supported his allegation that the trial court should have 

considered him a juvenile when he committed the offenses as an adult. In fact, the calculated 

and goal-oriented nature of defendant’s conduct belied his argument that he acted impulsively 

due to an immature brain. There is some basis in the law to support that 18- to 20-year-olds 

are more akin to juveniles than adults, given recent legislative enactments concerning 

defendants under the age of 21. Defendant, however, falls outside those protections because 

he was 22 years old when he committed the offenses. Since defendant’s postconviction petition 

has no arguable basis in law or in fact, it was properly dismissed as frivolous or patently 

without merit. See id.

¶ 37 IV. CONCLUSION 

¶ 38 For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.

¶ 39 Affirmed.

¶ 40 PRESIDING JUSTICE MIKVA, dissenting:

¶ 41 In an initial postconviction petition, Mr. Williams, who was 22 years old at the time of his 

crimes, invoked a still-evolving line of cases expanding the protections outlined in Miller and 

its progeny to young adults who can demonstrate that, as applied to them, a natural or de facto

life sentence violates the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution. The 

majority affirms the circuit court’s dismissal of this claim as frivolous, patently without merit, 

and having no arguable basis in law or fact. I disagree.

¶ 42 In Thompson and Harris, our supreme court held that young adults are “not necessarily 

foreclosed from raising” as-applied proportionate penalty challenges to life sentences based on 

the evolving science on juvenile maturity and brain development. Harris, 2018 IL 121932, 

¶¶ 46, 48 (citing Thompson 2015 IL 118151). The court thus opened the door for a young-adult 

offender to demonstrate, through an adequate factual record, that his or her own specific 

characteristics were so like those of a juvenile that imposition of a life sentence absent the 

safeguards established in Miller was “cruel, degrading, or so wholly disproportionate to the 

offense that it shocks the moral sense of the community.” See People v. Klepper, 234 Ill. 2d 

337, 348 (2009) (stating what is required to succeed on a proportionate penalties claim). In so 

holding, the court established no maximum age at which such claims could be cognizable. 

¶ 43 Citing with approval this court’s decision in Savage, 2020 IL App (1st) 173135, ¶ 80, the 

majority in this case agrees that it is possible for a 22-year-old offender to state the gist of an 

as-applied sentencing challenge seeking Miller’s protections. Supra ¶¶ 28-29. The majority 

distinguishes that case from this one, however, on the basis that the defendant in Savage alleged 

in his postconviction petition that a lifelong drug addiction had made him volatile and more 

susceptible to peer pressure, characteristics associated with juvenile offenders. Supra ¶¶ 29-31 

(citing Savage, 2020 IL App (1st) 173135, ¶¶ 71-76). Mr. Williams has made no similar 

allegations.
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¶ 44 I do not believe that this, on its own, should prevent his petition from advancing to the 

second stage. “To be summarily dismissed at the first stage as frivolous or patently without 

merit, [a] petition must have no arguable basis either in law or in fact, relying instead on an 

indisputably meritless legal theory or a fanciful factual allegation.” (Emphasis added and 

internal quotation marks omitted.) People v. Boykins, 2017 IL 121365, ¶ 9. To attain the very 

low threshold necessary for advancement to the second stage, a petitioner “need not set forth 

[a] claim in its entirety” and “need only present a limited amount of detail.” (Internal quotation 

marks omitted.) People v. Edwards, 197 Ill. 2d 239, 244 (2001).

¶ 45 In the past, this court occasionally held that a postconviction petitioner was required to 

include facts supporting each element of a constitutional violation. Id. This is a standard our 

supreme court unequivocally rejected in Edwards. Id. at 244-45. Requiring this type of “full 

or complete pleading” was, the court explained, not only contrary to its holding that a pro se

defendant need present only a limited amount of detail to survive summary dismissal but also 

“at odds with the ‘gist’ standard itself since, by definition, a ‘gist’ of a claim is something less 

than a completely pled or fully stated claim.” Id. at 245. It is unreasonable to expect a petition 

to contain facts that, if proved, would establish each element of a constitutional violation 

because a pro se petitioner will “in all likelihood, be unaware of the precise legal basis for his 

claim or all the legal elements of that claim.” Id. And in many cases, he will also “be unaware 

that certain facts, which in his mind are tangential or secondary, are, in fact, critical parts of a 

complete and valid constitutional claim.” Id. In the court’s view, requiring a pro se defendant 

to “recognize the facts that need to be pled to support a ‘valid claim’ ” was “an unrealistic 

requirement.” Id.

¶ 46 I find these concerns particularly applicable here, where Mr. Williams faced a statutorily 

mandated natural life sentence. Given the certainty of the sentence he faced, Mr. Williams 

declined to participate in the preparation of a presentence investigation report or offer the court 

a statement in allocution. His counsel likewise waived all arguments in mitigation. As a result, 

the record in this case is devoid of any facts concerning Mr. Williams’s particular 

circumstances. Nor is there any indication that Mr. Williams discussed with his counsel or 

understood the sorts of facts that, in cases where a life sentence is not certain, might be 

established and offered in mitigation or might suggest, as in Savage, that drugs or mental health 

issues lowered the defendant’s functional age. See Savage, 2020 IL App (1st) 173135, ¶¶ 70-

74.

¶ 47 I believe Mr. Williams has stated the gist of a constitutional violation. His argument—that 

as applied to him the statute mandating that he receive a natural life sentence violates the 

proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution—has an arguable basis in law and is 

not positively contradicted by the record in this case. Whether, with the assistance of 

postconviction counsel, he can marshal the facts necessary to make a substantial showing in 

support of that claim is a consideration that must be reserved for second-stage proceedings. 

See Edwards, 197 Ill. 2d at 245-46 (setting out the function and purpose of second-stage 

proceedings). The majority’s holding that he must do so now, on this record, as a pro se

petitioner, is in my view contrary to our supreme court’s guidance on such matters. 

¶ 48 I would reverse the circuit court’s summary dismissal of Mr. Williams’s postconviction 

petition and remand for second-stage proceedings. 

¶ 49 I respectfully dissent.