People v. Thompson

This case presents question as to whether Appellate Court properly dismissed defendant’s appeal that challenged his mandatory life sentence on murder charges, after trial court denied his post-conviction petition. Although defendant asserted that his sentence was void under 8th Amendment, since instant sentencing statute mandated life sentence for individuals committing multiple murders without consideration of any mitigating factors, Appellate Court found that defendant’s sentence was not void, and thus it had no jurisdiction to consider merits of defendant’s challenge to his sentence, where defendant raised said issue for first time on appeal from his untimely section 2-1401 petition.