Illinois gun crimes law is struck down
By KEVIN MCDERMOTT Post-Dispatch
updated: 06/19/2003 10:44 PM
It makes lesser offenses
get harsher punishment,
state Supreme Court finds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois cannot tack on 15 or 20 years of prison time for certain crimes just because a gun was used, since that makes the punishment for some crimes harsher than the punishment for worse crimes, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a decision that strikes down key parts of the state's "15-20-25-to-life" law enacted in 2000, the court reversed the sentences of 11 convicts from the Cook County area. The ruling will probably affect cases in Madison County, shortening sentences and causing prosecutors to take a new approach, an official there said.
In St. Clair County, however, officials never have invoked the disputed law, for fear it would be overturned.
The new law added extra years to defendants' sentences if they'd used guns during the crimes, with the "enhanced" prison time based on a specific formula: An extra 15 years if a gun was carried during the crime, an extra 20 years if the gun was fired, and an extra 25-to-life if someone was shot.
The problem, ruled the court, is that the law created violations of the constitutional principle of "proportionality" - meaning a given crime should not have a harsher punishment than a more serious crime.
For example, someone who commits aggravated battery with a firearm can get as little as six years under normal sentencing. But someone who simply carries a gun during a robbery will get at least 21 years in prison if the 15-20-25-to-life charges are invoked.
"The less serious conduct ... is punished more harshly than is the more serious conduct" under some circumstances, states the 4-3 court decision.
Supporters of the new law expressed frustration at the ruling Thursday. "I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans would agree with me that if a mother and her children have an automobile hijacked by a thug using a gun, that should be a tougher sentence," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, who sponsored the legislation that created the new law.
The court's ruling could mean shorter sentences for hundreds of defendants in Cook County alone, a county official said Thursday.
But in St. Clair County, the ruling will have no effect on past or pending cases. That's because authorities there, fearing the law wouldn't stand up in court, never invoked the added sentences.
"We recognized there were going to be (legal) challenges ... and that there might be cases where there would be disproportionate sentences" for different crimes, said St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida. "I'm all in favor of harsher sentences for people who use guns when they commit crimes, but those sentences have to comply with the Constitution."
Madison County Assistant State's Attorney Calvin Fuller said the court's decision was likely to affect pending and future charges in the county.
"One thing I can see happening from this is that as prosecutors, we will likely then be asking the court to impose more time when we get to the sentencing hearing phase," Fuller said, since the "15-20-25-to-life" option won't be available to prosecutors at the beginning of the cases when they are deciding what charges to file.
"The court may do that, the court may not," he said.
The Associated Press and Paul Hampel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Reporter Kevin McDermott:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 217-782-4912
By KEVIN MCDERMOTT Post-Dispatch
updated: 06/19/2003 10:44 PM
It makes lesser offenses
get harsher punishment,
state Supreme Court finds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois cannot tack on 15 or 20 years of prison time for certain crimes just because a gun was used, since that makes the punishment for some crimes harsher than the punishment for worse crimes, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a decision that strikes down key parts of the state's "15-20-25-to-life" law enacted in 2000, the court reversed the sentences of 11 convicts from the Cook County area. The ruling will probably affect cases in Madison County, shortening sentences and causing prosecutors to take a new approach, an official there said.
In St. Clair County, however, officials never have invoked the disputed law, for fear it would be overturned.
The new law added extra years to defendants' sentences if they'd used guns during the crimes, with the "enhanced" prison time based on a specific formula: An extra 15 years if a gun was carried during the crime, an extra 20 years if the gun was fired, and an extra 25-to-life if someone was shot.
The problem, ruled the court, is that the law created violations of the constitutional principle of "proportionality" - meaning a given crime should not have a harsher punishment than a more serious crime.
For example, someone who commits aggravated battery with a firearm can get as little as six years under normal sentencing. But someone who simply carries a gun during a robbery will get at least 21 years in prison if the 15-20-25-to-life charges are invoked.
"The less serious conduct ... is punished more harshly than is the more serious conduct" under some circumstances, states the 4-3 court decision.
Supporters of the new law expressed frustration at the ruling Thursday. "I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans would agree with me that if a mother and her children have an automobile hijacked by a thug using a gun, that should be a tougher sentence," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, who sponsored the legislation that created the new law.
The court's ruling could mean shorter sentences for hundreds of defendants in Cook County alone, a county official said Thursday.
But in St. Clair County, the ruling will have no effect on past or pending cases. That's because authorities there, fearing the law wouldn't stand up in court, never invoked the added sentences.
"We recognized there were going to be (legal) challenges ... and that there might be cases where there would be disproportionate sentences" for different crimes, said St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida. "I'm all in favor of harsher sentences for people who use guns when they commit crimes, but those sentences have to comply with the Constitution."
Madison County Assistant State's Attorney Calvin Fuller said the court's decision was likely to affect pending and future charges in the county.
"One thing I can see happening from this is that as prosecutors, we will likely then be asking the court to impose more time when we get to the sentencing hearing phase," Fuller said, since the "15-20-25-to-life" option won't be available to prosecutors at the beginning of the cases when they are deciding what charges to file.
"The court may do that, the court may not," he said.
The Associated Press and Paul Hampel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Reporter Kevin McDermott:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 217-782-4912
(personally I don't think either is constirutional, but I am not a prominate jurist).
