Court Opinion

ID: 9531745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:14:16.761669+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:34.489909
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE HEIPLE, concurring in part and dissenting in part: Roberta McCumber, a nurse’s aide at St. Francis Hospital, left work on May 19, 1983, and was picked up by her live-in boyfriend, Jeffrey Williams, for a ride home to the apartment they shared. There, as a result of an altercation, she shot him. Not once but twice. After the first shot, she felt for his pulse and, after three fast beats, felt nothing. There were, however, loud gurgling noises coming from Williams’ body that bothered her. Wanting the noises to stop, she fired a second shot in Williams’ head. The noises stopped. She then tried to move the body but found it too heavy. To make the corpse more manageable, she cut off both legs, using a hatchet, a saw and surgical scissors. She then placed the legs in a plastic trash bag, which she deposited in a dumpster at the Glenbrook Apartments, and discarded the torso in a field of tall grass in an adjacent county. After apprehension and jury trial, Ms. McCumber was found guilty but mentally ill of three criminal offenses, to wit, voluntary manslaughter, concealment of a homicidal death and obstructing justice. Upon conviction, a presentence investigation was conducted, a sentencing hearing was held and a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment was imposed for manslaughter together with a consecutive three-year term for concealment. Sentencing options to the trial judge, Peter J. Paolucci, included probation or prison. If prison, the statutory range for this Class 1 felony is not less than four years and not more than 15 years. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8— 1(4).) The sentence imposed of 10 years was well within the permissible range. Notwithstanding the propriety of the sentence, a majority of this court has chosen to reverse the sentence and to remand the case for resentencing by a judge other than Judge Paolucci. Why so? Because they say that Judge Paolucci considered and commented at the sentencing hearing that Ms. McCumber had three abortions in three years. Judge Paolucci is not accused of making an error of fact. She had the abortions, all right. No, Judge Paolucci is accused of considering a matter of fact that he should have disregarded. Abortions are a constitutional right, says the majority. Thus, since Ms. McCumber was only exercising her constitutional rights in that regard, the trial court had no right to consider such matters. Like Ms. McCumber, the majority is wrong. Dead wrong. First off, abortion is not mentioned in the constitution. Neither the word itself nor any discussion of it appears there. Many rights are enumerated in that ancient document, including life, liberty, property, jury trial, due process of law and so forth. But not abortion. A strong case can be made, in fact, that abortion violates the constitution by depriving people of life without due process of law. Notwithstanding this rationale, however, our United States Supreme Court, which “interprets” the constitution, has held that a woman may not be denied the right to an abortion. Roe v. Wade (1973), 410 U.S. 113, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147, 93 S. Ct. 705. Now, all this ruling says is that a woman cannot be denied an abortion. It does not say that abortion is an enumerated constitutional right. It does not say that abortion is a commendable act. It does not say that the perpetrator is entitled to be named Mother of the Year, receive the Good Homemaking Award or any other thing. It simply says she can do it. That is all. In a similar vein, it should be noted that there are many things which the law does not prohibit but which are not badges of honor. People can be cruel, mean, nasty, drunken, dishonest, abusive of friend, family, and stranger alike and still avoid the clutches of the law. So far as I know, there is no constitutional prohibition nor legal impediment to cutting the legs off of a corpse. Fortunately for Judge Paolucci, he did not mention that aggravating factor in passing sentence. After all, since the law does not prohibit that act, it could be argued that Ms. McCumber was only exercising another of her constitutional rights. The plain truth of the matter is that Judge Paolucci committed no error. The law mandates that a sentencing hearing be held. Further, it is a fundamental sentencing principle that a judge may appropriately conduct an inquiry broad in scope into the general moral character of a defendant, his mentality, his habits, his social environment, his abnormal or subnormal tendencies, his age, and the life, family, occupation and record of the defendant. (.People v. La Pointe (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 482.) A judge, within reasonable bounds, may seek facts which aggravate or mitigate an offense subject only to the prerequisite that such information be accurate and reliable. People v. Meeks (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 524. Certainly, the fact that the defendant became pregnant and had three abortions in the three years preceding her sentencing was relevant to the defendant’s moral character, social environment, habits and family life. In 1981, the defendant aborted an unwanted child who was the product of an unmarried union with a man other than the victim in this case. In 1982, the defendant married yet another man in Florida, left him, moved in with the victim in this case and left him to begin dating yet another man who paid for her to have a second abortion. Then, while incarcerated in the Peoria County jail on these charges, she had yet a third abortion. What is the critical language of Judge Paolucci that causes the majority to reverse the sentencing in this case? It is his mentioning of her three abortions and the asking of the rhetorical question, “what value may I ask does [the defendant] place on human life?” What value, indeed? A proper question, Judge Paolucci. An abortion constitutes the taking of a human life. That is a fact. That it may not be a crime, that the State is powerless to prevent it, does not alter the fact. The defendant’s conduct in this case, her use of three abortions in three years preceding the sentencing and coupled with her killing of the defendant, indicates a conscious disregard for human life. That is a fact. To say that the consideration of such facts by a sentencing judge is error is to fly in the face of reality. Justice is supposed to be blind but not ignorant or callous. For the reasons given, the 10-year sentence should be affirmed in this case. The sentence imposed by Judge Paolucci is well within the permissible range and is reasonable under the circumstances. Resentencing accomplishes nothing other than to give the defendant another roll of the dice and the possibility of obtaining a lenient judge who could impose a lesser sentence or even probation. Whether such will in fact happen is mere speculation. It is, however, a possibility. And if the new judge imposes the same sentence, what then? Will this court then affirm it or reduce the sentence on its own motion? Only time will tell. The procedure in this case is, however, yet another example of the legalistic manipulation, oft repeated, that has brought our system of justice into disrepute. Accordingly, while I concur with that portion of the majority opinion which affirms the conviction, I dissent from the reversal of the sentence and the remand for resentencing.