Court Opinion

ID: 9720742
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:40:35.751877+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:20.937634
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE KILBRIDE, concurring in part and dissenting in part: The majority correctly reverses in part the judgment of the circuit court and remands this cause for an evidentiary hearing in light of the United States Supreme Court decision in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 153 L. Ed. 2d 335, 122 S. Ct. 2242 (2002). Nonetheless, for the reasons set forth in my dissents in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585, 636-40 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), and People v. Simpson, 204 Ill. 2d 536, 581-85 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), I believe that the majority fails to grant defendant the constitutionally required relief of a new trial conducted in accordance with the new supreme court rules governing capital cases. The procedures in capital cases prior to this court’s adoption of the new rules were inherently unreliable and did not adequately protect a defendant’s constitutional rights. Consequently, since the new rules were promulgated to address the deficiencies of constitutional dimension that regularly occurred under the old system, the rules must be applied retroactively to all capital cases. See People v. Caballero, 179 Ill. 2d 205, 220-21 (1997).