Defendant filed a pro se post-conviction petition alleging that the mandatory 25-year firearm enhancement added to his sentence was unconstitutional as applied to him because he was 18 years old when he committed the offense. The trial court summarily dismissed his petition and the appellate court affirmed. The Supreme Court also affirmed, finding that when looking at the factors relating to defendant’s age as well as the circumstances of the offense, defendant’s total sentence of 40 years in prison was not so disproportionate as to “shock the moral sense of the community,” and that the circuit court did not err in summarily dismissing defendant’s petition because it did not have an arguable basis in law. (THEIS, NEVILLE, OVERSTREET, HOLDER WHITE, CUNNINGHAM, and O’BRIEN, concurring)
Illinois Supreme Court
Criminal Court
Post-Conviction Hearing Act