People v. Royer

Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Juvenile Sentencing
Citation
Case Number: 
2020 IL App (3d) 170794
Decision Date: 
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
District: 
3d Dist.
Division/County: 
Bureau Co.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded.
Justice: 
HOLDRIDGE

(Modified upon denial of rehearing 2/16/21.) Defendant, age 17 at time of offense, was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder. Sentencing court erred in considering Defendant's violent, abusive childhood home environment as an aggravating, rather than mitigating circumstance. The 60-year sentence is a de facto life sentence. Sentencing court erred in failing to consider Defendant's youth and its attendant characteristics as mitigation. (McDADE, concurring; SCHMIDT, dissenting.)