People v. Gray

Court properly dismissed Defendant's 2-1401 postconviction petition. Defendant was sentenced to mandatory term of life imprisonment on his conviction of murder via accountability theory, as he had previously been convicted of murder. Defendant's mandatory life sentence, even if unconstitutional, was not void but only voidable, had Defendant challenged it in a timely manner. Although a constitutional challenge to a criminal statute can generally be raised for the first time on appeal, it cannot be if the Defendant filed an untimely Section 2-1401 petition, failed to establish an exception to untimeliness, and failed to establish a claim of voidness. (EPSTEIN and PUCINSKI, concurring.)