# People v. Williams

> Illinois Supreme Court · October 12, 2000 · 193 Ill. 2d 306

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9861687

## Case

- **Full name:** The PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. JACQUELINE ANNETTE WILLIAMS, Appellant
- **Court:** Illinois Supreme Court
- **Decided:** October 12, 2000
- **Citations:** 193 Ill. 2d 306; 250 Ill. Dec. 692; 739 N.E.2d 455
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Harrison
- **Judges:** McMorrow, Harrison
- **Cited by:** 380 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9861687

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- 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

## Opinion text

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).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9861687. Public record. Not legal advice.