Petitioner appealed from the circuit court’s first-stage summary dismissal of his pro se post-conviction petition, arguing that his petition stated an arguable basis of a meritorious claim that the Truth-in-Sentencing Act was unconstitutional as applied to him as a juvenile offender and that his 32-year sentence for first-degree murder violated the proportionate penalties clause. The appellate court affirmed, finding that petitioner waived his claims by pleading guilty in exchange for an agreed sentence. The appellate court further found that the truth-in-sentencing statute requirement that a juvenile offender serve 100 percent of a non-life sentence does not violate Miller v. Alabama or the Eighth Amendment and that petitioner forfeited his argument regarding the proportionate penalties clause because he raised it for the first time on appeal. (HARRIS and ODEN JOHNSON, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Post-Conviction Hearing Act