Court Opinion

ID: 9535851
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:45:33.408161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:21.916564
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Underwood, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur in that portion of the judgment which affirms the guilt of defendant. I cannot agree that the sentence should be reduced by this court. We have frequently expressed our opinion that “the trial judge ordinarily has a superior opportunity in the course of the trial and hearing in aggravation and mitigation to make a sound determination concerning the punishment to be imposed” than does the reviewing court. (People v. Gold, 38 Ill.2d 510, 518.) We there indicated, as well as in People v. Taylor, 33 Ill.2d 417, 424, that the power conferred upon reviewing courts to reduce sentences imposed by trial judges “should be applied with considerable caution and circumspection.” See, also, People v. Miller, 33 Ill.2d 439; People v. Smith, 14 Ill.2d 95. While I do not mean that a clearly excessive sentence should never be reduced (see People v. Crews, 38 Ill.2d 331), the sentence here imposed is not, to me, as excessive as it appears to be to my colleagues. Nor am I clear as to why the majority believe this to be an appropriate case for substituting a different penalty for that determined by the. trial judge. The penalty reduction accomplished by the majority is immediately preceded by rather substantial discussion of the prior offenses and generally undesirable conduct of this defendant, but I certainly would not have thought this any reason to mitigate the punishment. Nor is there any indication that the sentence was imposed by the trial judge other than as the result of serious and substantial deliberation. Quite the converse is true. The extensive hearing in aggravation and mitigation was adjourned on July 27 to August 10 for the imposition of sentence. On the latter date the trial judge orally reviewed the evidence, defendant’s past history and referred to several articles by judicial authorities concerning the sentencing process. In short, the death sentence here imposed was considered by the experienced trial judge to be the appropriate penalty for a murder committed in the course of an armed robbery by an individual whose past record included numerous misdemeanors, a conviction for burglary and who was at the time of the murder on parole from the penitentiary where he had been serving a sentence for forgery. The defendant was not intoxicated at the time of the killing as is clearly demonstrated by his careful attempt to conceal his identity and the vividness with which he recalled the details of that evening’s events. In my opinion there is nothing in this record justifying rejection of the penalty selected by the one judge who saw and heard the witnesses and who is more knowledgeable as to the facts of this case than any of us. I would affirm the judgment and the sentence.