Court Opinion

ID: 9732182
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:11:02.560035+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:24.717399
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE BILANDIC, specially concurring: I agree that defendant’s claim is procedurally barred and that the judgment of conviction is not void. I therefore join the majority opinion. I write separately, however, to address an issue that was raised during oral argument — the repatriation of defendant to the Republic of Poland. Defendant was born in Poland. However, as the circuit court observed, defendant has lived in this country for all but the first 18 months of his life. Defendant has. attended school here, has earned a living here, and has even served in the United States army. Defendant has committed numerous other crimes for which he was imprisoned in the United States. In short, defendant’s life history reflects that he would be a stranger in Poland— without immediate family, friends, and social roots. A significant interest of the Polish government in this case is to spare defendant from the death penalty. At the time of defendant’s arrest in 1981 for the rape and murder of Barbara Doyle, Poland employed the death penalty. Poland abolished its death penalty, effective January 1, 1998. Amnesty International Report, The Death Penalty Worldwide: Developments in 1997, ACT 50/04/98, April 1998, at 5-6. Defendant has received nearly 20 years of due process from the Illinois courts. We have treated defendant in precisely the same manner as we would treat a United States citizen, and we have given defendant every constitutional right and protection that we would give a United States citizen. Nevertheless, I note that, although such a decision is not within the province of this court, I would favor the repatriation of defendant, a convicted murderer and rapist, to Poland. The Polish government, however, has never requested the return of defendant to Poland. It is up to the Polish government to initiate discussions in this regard with the appropriate authorities of the United States government.