noting that "`the presence or absence of self-interest'" is a factor to be considered in determining whether the spontaneous declaration exception is applicable (quoting House, 141 Ill.2d at 382, 152 Ill.Dec. 572, 566 N.E.2d 259)
How later courts described this case
- noting that "`the presence or absence of self-interest'" is a factor to be considered in determining whether the spontaneous declaration exception is applicable (quoting House, 141 Ill.2d at 382, 152 Ill.Dec. 572, 566 N.E.2d 259)
- noting that “ ‘the presence or absence of self-interest’ ” is a factor to be considered in determining whether the spontaneous declaration exception is applicable (quoting House, 141 Ill. 2d at 382 )
- recognizing that plain error may be raised in a reply brief to avoid forfeiture
- accountability conviction affirmed where evidence that the defendant intended to participate in the common design of murder included her planning the offense, attempting to obtain a gun in the weeks preceding the murders, informing people she was carrying a baby with the name of the victims’ son, and subsequently telling people that the victims’ son was hers
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree that Williams’ convictions should not be disturbed. In my view, however, her 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 is void and unenforceable because it 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). Williams’ sentence of death should therefore be vacated, and she should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — l(j) (West 1994). Because Williams was found guilty of murdering more than one victim, the term of her imprisonment must be natural life. 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—l(a)(l)(c)(ii) (West 1994).