Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Sexual Assault
Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of predatory criminal sexual assault of his ex-girlfriend's three children, and sentenced to natural life imprisonment. Court properly admitted hearsay statements of children: letter written by child, and interviews of minors, one with and one without audio. TIme, content, and circumstances display safeguards of reliability, with specific protections against suggestion. Code of Criminal Procedure mandates life sentence if predatory criminal sexual assault of two or more children. Sentence was neither cruel nor unusual, and penological goals justify sentence. (SPOMER and CHAPMAN, concurring.)