Court Opinion

ID: 9860652
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:28:41.990352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:26:18.094705
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree that Williams’ murder conviction should not be disturbed, but that his sentence of death should be set aside. In my view, however, the State should not be permitted to seek the death penalty under any theory at the new sentencing hearing. For the reasons set forth in my dissent in People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179 (1998), this state’s present death penalty law does not meet the requirements of the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) or article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). It is therefore void and unenforceable. Accordingly, on resentencing, the circuit court should impose a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — l(j) (West 1998).