Court Opinion

ID: 9724830
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:16:17.061293+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:06.801034
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, dissenting: The majority commits a serious error in upholding the death sentence of a defendant who has been found guilty but mentally ill (GBMI). The trial judge, after hearing the testimony of numerous witnesses, including three psychiatrists, concluded that there was a sufficient factual basis in the record to establish that the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the offense and accepted his GBMI plea. After a sentencing hearing, the judge sentenced the defendant to death. This determination is contrary to the clear intent of the Illinois legislature that those persons found guilty but mentally ill not be sentenced to death. The appropriate sentences for those found guilty but mentally ill are found in section 5 — 2—6 of the Unified Code of Corrections, which is entitled “Sentencing and Treatment of Defendant Found Guilty but Mentally Ill” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—6). These sentences specifically refer to imprisonment in the Department of Corrections or the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, periodic imprisonment, probation and conditional discharge, but not death. Because the allowable sentencing provisions are specifically set forth, they limit the general language in section 5— 2 — 6(a), upon which the majority relies. The omission of the death penalty in the section indicates the legislature’s intent to prohibit the death penalty in the sentencing of GBMI defendants. The legislature’s decision to place the sentencing provisions for GBMI offenders in chapter V of the Unified Code of Corrections, which deals with sentences other than sentences of death, further demonstrates its intent to forbid the imposition of the death penalty for GBMI defendants. Additional evidence of the legislature’s intent is the fact that certain provisions of the GBMI sentencing statute are inconsistent with death penalty proceedings. For example, although defendants sentenced to death have no right to a presentence report (People v. Gaines (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 342, 373), the sentencing statute for GBMI offenders specifically requires the trial court to order a presentence investigation and report (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—6(b)). Similarly, the GBMI statute provides that “the court” should impose sentence upon the defendant (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—6(a)), while defendants subject to the imposition of the death penalty have the right to have a jury determine whether the death sentence should be imposed (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(d)). Both provisions are concerned, not with whether the court or a jury pronounces the actual sentence, but rather with which agency of the judicial system (judge or jury) decides that a particular sentence should be imposed. Thus, section 5 — 2—6(a) refers to the court imposing a sentence, while section 9 — 1(g) provides that a jury may be called upon to determine whether a death sentence should be imposed. A sentence of death is completely inconsistent with the goals of the GBMI statutory provisions — providing treatment for the mentally ill as well as punishing them for the crimes they committed. During a reading of the GBMI bill on the Senate floor, the bill’s co-sponsor, Senator Adeline J. Geo-Karis, emphasized this goal of treatment, stating that a “guilty but mentally ill defendant, for example, can be . . . sentenced exactly as a healthy defendant charged with the same crime, except that his sentence, either to probation, periodic imprisonment, or to the penitentiary, must include psychiatric and psychological treatment or counseling.” (82d Ill. Gen. Assem., Senate Proceedings, May 27, 1981, at 131. See also 82d Ill. Gen. Assem., House Proceedings, June 27, 1981, at 136-37.) The bill as enacted includes this requirement of treatment for the offender’s mental illness. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, pars. 1005 — 2—6(b), (c), (e).) The statute also requires the Department of Corrections to make periodic inquiry and examination “concerning the nature, extent, continuance, and treatment of the defendant’s mental illness” for those GBMI offenders who are imprisoned. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—6(b).) The Department of Corrections is also to provide psychological, psychiatric and other counseling and treatment to the defendant and may transfer the inmate to the Department of Mental Health if necessary. (HI. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, pars. 1005 — 2—6(b), (c).) This treatment requirement, however, would be meaningless for someone who is going to be put to death. “In view of the statutory treatment rights that underlie a GBMI verdict, to order death as a GBMI’s treatment would not only be contrary to the legislature’s objectives, but also would be morally reprehensible.” Note, Disposition of the Mentally Ill Offender in Illinois— “Guilty but Mentally Ill,” 31 De Paul L. Rev. 869, 889-90 (1982). The majority notes that a GBMI finding does not relieve an offender of criminal responsibility for his conduct. While this is correct, a GBMI finding is also a recognition that the offender’s judgment was impaired at the time of the offense due to a mental illness. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 6 — 2(d).) The legislature, recognizing that offenders suffering from a mental illness merit special consideration, enacted a special sentencing provision for GBMI offenders that mandates treatment for the mental illness as well as punishment. The imposition of the death penalty on a GBMI offender flies in the face of this specific GBMI sentencing provision and the legislature’s intent to provide psychiatric help to offenders suffering from a mental illness. The concurring opinion relies on the fact that section 5 — 2—6 does not prohibit sentencing a GBMI offender to death. Legislative enactments regarding sentencing, however, do not normally include a laundry list of penalties that may not be imposed for a particular crime; rather, customarily they give the range of penalties that are permissible. Even if the legislature’s intent not to allow GBMI offenders to be sentenced to death were not so clear, a new sentencing hearing would nevertheless be necessary because in sentencing the defendant the judge failed to give proper weight to the fact that the defendant is mentally ill. In accepting the GBMI plea, the judge found that there was a sufficient factual basis in the record to show that the defendant was mentally ill at the time he committed the offense. When sentencing the defendant, however, the judge stated, “But looking at the facts of this case and at the time he committed this act the Court is of the opinion that he may not have been under an extreme mental or emotional disturbance ***.” The court then sentenced the defendant to death. Section 9 — 1(c)(2) of the Criminal Code of 1961 requires the court in a capital sentencing hearing to consider as a mitigating factor that “the murder was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, although not such as to constitute a defense to prosecution.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(c)(2).) The trial court’s determination that the defendant may not have been under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the offense is inconsistent with its earlier ruling that the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the offense. The majority here concludes that a finding of mental illness does not necessarily establish the mitigating circumstance of mental or emotional disturbance. On the contrary, a finding of mental illness is a recognition of the likelihood of a more serious disorder than the mental state of an extreme emotional disturbance. Under Illinois law, a finding of mental illness is a recognition that the defendant’s judgment at the time of the offense was seriously impaired, a mental state exceeded only by insanity, a complete defense. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 6 — 2(d).) The legislature has provided for a special verdict form for GBMI defendants. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 115 — 4(j).) Thus mental illness is unique among mitigating factors because it is the only one that can be incorporated into the judgment at trial. Finally, in order for a GBMI plea to be accepted, the defendant must be examined by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, the judge must examine the psychiatric or psychological report or reports and conduct a hearing on the issue of the defendant’s mental health. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 115 — 2(b). A finding of extreme mental or emotional disturbance requires none of the above procedures, indicating that the standard for this mitigating factor is much less stringent than that for mental illness. The failure to require a psychological or psychiatric examination to establish an extreme mental or emotional disturbance indicates that it can be established without a finding of mental illness, thus making it a much broader, less serious condition than mental illness. This is evidenced by cases where an extreme mental or emotional disturbance has been found without a finding that the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the offense. (See, e.g., People v. Carlson (1980), 79 Ill. 2d 564, 588-89.) Moreover, a finding of extreme mental or emotional disturbance does not necessitate treatment for the offender, and there is no special verdict form for this type of disturbance. The conclusion of the trial court and the majority that a finding of mental illness does not necessarily establish the mitigating factor of extreme mental or emotional disturbance is therefore clearly in error. By failing to recognize that mental illness is a more serious condition than extreme mental or emotional disturbance, the sentencing court did not give proper weight to the defendant’s illness as a mitigating factor, and a new sentencing hearing is required. For the foregoing reasons, I believe that serious errors were committed at the sentencing hearing, requiring reversal of the capital sentence and a new sentencing hearing, and I therefore respectfully dissent.