holding that evidence that the defendant had long-standing mental problems at the time of trial that affected his ability to understand written and oral instructions did not raise a bona fide - 22 - doubt as to the defendant’s fitness because the issue was whether defendant was fit to stand trial, not whether he suffered from a mental illness
How later courts described this case
- holding that evidence that the defendant had long-standing mental problems at the time of trial that affected his ability to understand written and oral instructions did not raise a bona fide - 22 - doubt as to the defendant’s fitness because the issue was whether defendant was fit to stand trial, not whether he suffered from a mental illness
- rejecting a defendant’s claim that his mental illness raised a bona fide doubt of unfitness despite the fact that the defendant had “longstanding mental problems at the time of trial that affected his ability to understand written and oral instructions” and sometimes suffered from “episodic breaks with reality”
- stating, unless the underlying issue is meritorious, a defendant has suffered no prejudice from counsel’s failure to raise it on appeal
- stating a bona fide doubt of fitness was needed to establish prejudice due to trial counsel’s alleged ineffectiveness
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree that Easley’s murder conviction should not be disturbed. In my view, however, his sentence of death cannot be allowed to stand. For the reasons set forth in my partial concurrence and partial dissent in People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179 (1998), the Illinois death penalty law violates the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Easley’s sentence of death should therefore be vacated and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9 — l(j).