Criminal Law

In re Commitment of Rendon

In re Commitment of Rendon
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act
Citation
Case Number: 
2014 IL App (1st) 123090
Decision Date: 
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
District: 
1st Dist.
Division/County: 
Cook Co., 3d Div.
Holding: 
Reversed.
Justice: 
LAVIN
Defendant was civilly committed as a sexually violent person, and committed him to secure facility. Court later conditionally released Respondent, but then revoked release on State's petition, concluding that revocation was required according to danger to "safety of others" as identified in Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act. Court found that State failed to prove that Respondent committed a conditional release rule violation, but then court erred in identifying rule violations, related to perfidy during polygraph exams, as basis for determining Respondent posed danger to safety of others. Experts presented evidence that Respondent's behavior and mental health had improved based on their evaluations and testing. (FITZGERALD SMITH and EPSTEIN, concurring.)

People v. Daly

People v. Daly
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Sentencing
Citation
Case Number: 
2014 IL App (4th) 140624
Decision Date: 
Monday, December 1, 2014
District: 
4th Dist.
Division/County: 
Champaign Co.
Holding: 
Remanded with directions.
Justice: 
POPE
Defendant entered open plea of guilty to one count of reckless homicide, and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Defendant, then age 24, was driving four relatives around family's rural property at 3 a.m. on an ATV, after family birthday party and bonfire. Defendant made a right turn, and ATV skidded on wet gravel and overturned. Front seat passenger, Defendant's 19-year-old cousin, fell off ATV and died from internal injuries from accident. Defendant admitted drinking alcohol earlier in evening, but no evidence she was speeding. Court failed to reference specific facts at sentencing, and appeared to be sentencing Defendant for aggravated DUI, although those counts were dismissed as part of plea. Court erred in focusing on passenger's death in sentencing, where death is implicit in offense of reckless homicide. Appellate court reduced sentence to probation, and directed that conditions of probation are to be imposed by a different judge on remand. (KNECHT and TURNER, concurring.)

Senate Bill 2799

Topic: 
FOIA

(Currie, D-Chicago) amends the FOIA Act to do two things. (1) It expands exemption (f) to include “correspondence” as exempt from a FOIA request. But this exemption is waived if and only if the specific record is publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body. If the specific record is publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body, then only those portions of the specific record publicly cited and identified are no longer exempt. Records exempt from disclosure under this subsection and not publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body, including, but not limited to, purely factual material, remain exempt regardless of whether the record was adopted or incorporated into a final decision of the public body. (2) If the public body produces the records after a suit has been filed under this Section, but before the court renders a final judgment, the court must award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs if the court imposes a civil penalty under subsection (j). For purposes of this subsection (i), a requester “prevails” if the person obtains relief through: (a) a court-approved settlement or consent decree; or (b) a final unappealable judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction. House Amendment No. 3 remains in House Executive Committee.

View Full Text of Legislation

U.S. v Jenkins

Federal 7th Circuit Court
U.S. v Jenkins
Criminal Court
Sentencing
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 13-3409
Decision Date: 
December 1, 2014
Federal District: 
S.D. Ill.
Holding: 
Vacated and remanded
Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to 168-month term of incarceration on charge of aiding and abetting kidnapping, where his sentence was based in part on assessment of three criminal history points arising out of defendant’s prior conviction on Illinois charge of aggravated use of unlawful weapon (AUUW), and where instant AUUW statute had been found unconstitutional prior to defendant’s sentencing hearing. Under applicable sentencing guidelines, conviction based on invalidated statute cannot be counted in defendant’s criminal history points, and thus defendant was entitled to new sentence hearing where resultant loss in criminal history points would produce lower sentencing range, and where there was no notation in record that Dist. Ct. would have imposed same sentence based on lower sentencing range.

U.S. v. Kelly

Federal 7th Circuit Court
U.S. v. Kelly
Criminal Court
Search and Seizure
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 14-1015
Decision Date: 
November 26, 2014
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., W. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed
In prosecution on drug and firearm charges, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress drugs and firearms seized from his apartment pursuant to search warrant, even though defendant argued that police exceeded scope of warrant when searching his apartment, where floor plan of apartment contained in warrant did not match actual floor plan of his apartment, and where police searched areas of instant apartment building that were not mentioned in warrant. Minor technical errors in description of premises to be searched will not invalidate warrant so long as there is no danger that police might search wrong place, and instant inaccurate description of plaintiff’s apartment as “upper unit” instead of two-story rear unit did not present such risk, where officer knew that defendant’s residence was only unit accessible from rear door of apartment building.

U.S. v. Boswell

Federal 7th Circuit Court
U.S. v. Boswell
Criminal Court
Evidence
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 13-3641
Decision Date: 
November 26, 2014
Federal District: 
S.D. Ind., Indianapolis Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed
In prosecution on unlawful possession of firearm charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in allowing prosecutor to ask defendant origin of his firearm tattoo on his neck. Defendant had previously testified that he “did not mess with” firearms, and thus inquiry into his firearm tattoo was permissible impeachment. Moreover, admission of such evidence was not unfairly prejudicial, and other evidence, including defendant’s voice on recording that involved defendant's role in sale of two firearms, overwhelmingly established defendant’s guilt on charged offense.

People v. Ligon

Illinois Supreme Court PLAs
People v. Ligon
Criminal Court
Sentencing
Citation
PLA issue Date: 
November 26, 2014
Docket Number: 
No. 118023
District: 
1st Dist.
This case presents question as to whether defendant’s sentence of mandatory natural life under Habitual Criminal Act on charge of aggravated vehicular hijacking while armed with dangerous weapon was void as violation of proportionate penalties clause of Ill. Constitution. Appellate Court agreed with defendant that his sentence was void, and that he should have been sentenced for Class 1 offense since: (1) his Class X offense of aggravated vehicular hijacking had identical elements of proof required for conviction in Class 1 offense of armed violence predicated on vehicular hijacking with dangerous weapon; and (2) defendant should not have been sentenced to mandatory natural life imprisonment under habitual offender statute where instant conviction was actually either Class 1 or Class 2 offense.

People v. Thompson

Illinois Supreme Court PLAs
Criminal Court
Sentencing
Citation
PLA issue Date: 
November 26, 2014
Docket Number: 
No. 118151
District: 
118151
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.

People v. Timmsen

Illinois Supreme Court PLAs
People v. Timmsen
Criminal Court
Search and Seizure
Citation
PLA issue Date: 
November 26, 2014
Docket Number: 
No. 118181
District: 
3rd Dist.
This case presents question as to whether police had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant, where defendant made legal U-turn 50 feet from police roadblock to avoid said roadblock. While trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress and ultimately found defendant guilty of driving while his license was suspended, Appellate Court reversed, after finding that although defendant’s U-turn suggested that he was attempting to avoid contact with police, there were no other factors suggesting that criminal offense had been or was about to be committed by defendant so as to justify eventual stop of defendant. (Dissent filed.)

People v. Goossens

Illinois Supreme Court PLAs
People v. Goossens
Criminal Court
Probation
Citation
PLA issue Date: 
November 26, 2014
Docket Number: 
No. 118347
District: 
3rd Dist.
This case presents question as to whether trial court properly imposed, as condition of probation on his intimidation conviction, requirement that defendant become current on his child support obligation. While defendant argued that instant child support obligation was unauthorized because it made his probation indeterminate term and was otherwise not reasonably related to charged offense, Appellate Court found that child support obligation did not increase defendant’s term of probation and was authorized under section 5-6-3(b) of Code of Corrections, regardless of whether it was related to charged offense.