Court Opinion

ID: 9533872
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:35:11.3173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:12.168011
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree that Nielson’s convictions should not be disturbed and that we should reduce the sentences on his concealment convictions to five years’ imprisonment. In my view, however, we should also set aside Nielson’s death sentence. For the reasons set forth in my dissent in People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179 (1998), this state’s present death penalty law does not meet the requirements of the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) or article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Because the law is unconstitutional, Nielson should be resentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9—1(j) (West 1996). Because he was found guilty of murdering more than one victim, the term of his imprisonment must be natural life. 730 ILCS 5/5—8—1(a)(1)(c)(ii) (West 1996).