# People v. Mahaffey

> Illinois Supreme Court · October 13, 2000 · 194 Ill. 2d 154

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9862059

## Case

- **Full name:** The PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. REGINALD MAHAFFEY, Appellant
- **Court:** Illinois Supreme Court
- **Decided:** October 13, 2000
- **Citations:** 194 Ill. 2d 154; 252 Ill. Dec. 1; 742 N.E.2d 251; 2000 Ill. LEXIS 1391; 2000 WL 1523148
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Harrison
- **Judges:** McMorrow, Harrison
- **Cited by:** 113 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Red flag:** Overruled on other grounds by People v. Wrice, 962 N.E.2d 934 (2012).
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9862059

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding that an ineffective assistance of - 12 - No. 1-21-1192 counsel claim cannot be established where no error occurred

## Opinion text

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree that Mahaffey’s convictions 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, XTV) and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Mahaffey’s sentence of death should therefore be vacated and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(j). Because Mahaffey was found guilty of murdering more than one victim, the term of his imprisonment must be natural life. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8—1(a)(1)(c).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9862059. Public record. Not legal advice.