Court Opinion

ID: 9739643
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:18:58.452513+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.276948
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree that McNeal’s murder convictions should not be disturbed. In my view, however, his sentence of death cannot be allowed to stand. 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). McNeal’s sentence of death should therefore be vacated and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — l(j) (West 1994). Because McNeal 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).