Court Opinion

ID: 9712089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:46:14.892216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:09.892073
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree that Nieves’ murder conviction 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 (111. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Nieves’ sentence of death should therefore be vacated and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — l(j) (West 1992). Because Nieves has previously been convicted of first degree murder, the term of his imprisonment must be natural life. 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—l(a)(l)(c)(i) (West 1992).