Court Opinion

ID: 9518800
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:02:14.563917+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:36:21.001872
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: Although I am not as impressed by the magnitude of the evidence against Hall as my colleagues are, I agree that we should not disturb the jury’s guilty verdicts. I dissent only from that portion of the majority’s opinion dealing with the validity of this state’s death penalty statute. Contrary to my colleagues, I believe that Hall’s challenge to the statute is meritorious. For the reasons set forth in my partial concurrence and partial dissent in People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179 (1998), the Illinois death penalty law violates the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Hall’s sentence of death should therefore be vacated and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — 1(j) (West 1994). Because Hall was found guilty of murdering more than one victim, the term of his imprisonment must be natural life. 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—l(a)(l)(c)(ii) (West 1994).