People v. Dorsey

• Decision Date: 29 July 2021
• Docket Number: Docket No. 123010
• Citation: 2021 IL 123010,183 N.E.3d 715,451 Ill.Dec. 258
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Derrell DORSEY, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

2021 IL 123010

183 N.E.3d 715

451 Ill.Dec. 258

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee,

v.Derrell DORSEY, Appellant.

Docket No. 123010

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Opinion filed July 29, 2021.

Rehearing denied November 22, 2021

Derrell Dorsey, of Sumner, appellant pro se.

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Michael M. Glick and Gopi Kashyap, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE MICHAEL J. BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The central issue in this case is whether good-conduct credit is relevant to the determination of what constitutes a de facto life sentence for a juvenile offender for purposes of applying the principles enunciated in Miller v. Alabama , 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012). We hold that good-conduct credit is relevant and that a sentence imposed pursuant to a statutory scheme that affords a juvenile an opportunity to be released from prison after serving 40 years or less of the term imposed does not constitute a de facto life sentence.

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Around 7 p.m. on March 11, 1996, defendant kicked open a door to a takeout restaurant in Chicago and began firing a gun at four customers who were waiting for their food. Defendant killed 16-year-old Tyran Snow and severely injured 13-year-old Irene Williams and 16-year-old Calvin Sims. The fourth customer was able to flee the restaurant uninjured through another door. After she was taken to the hospital, Williams told police that defendant—whom she knew from school—was the shooter.

¶ 4 Defendant was 14 years old at the time of the shooting. The State filed a delinquency petition and asked for permission to prosecute him in adult criminal court. After hearing evidence and considering the appropriate statutory and nonstatutory factors, the juvenile court allowed defendant's prosecution to proceed in adult criminal court. A grand jury subsequently indicted defendant on charges of first degree murder for Snow's death and attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm for the injuries inflicted upon Williams and Sims.

¶ 5 Defendant was convicted following a jury trial in August 1998 of one count of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder.¹ At the sentencing hearing, the trial court received a presentence investigation (PSI) report. According to the PSI, defendant's parents were married but had a long history of substance abuse and separated frequently. Defendant lived primarily with his mother until the age of 10, while his father was in and out of prison; defendant spent his summers with his grandmother. After age 10, defendant's grandmother was his primary caretaker.

¶ 6 According to the PSI, defendant reported that his childhood took a downward turn in the seventh grade when he joined a street gang. At age 13, he was arrested for robbery, adjudicated delinquent, and sentenced to juvenile probation. Defendant violated his probation when he committed the offenses in this case.

¶ 7 The PSI further indicated that, while awaiting trial, defendant obtained an eleventh-grade education in the juvenile detention center with "very good grades." His teacher stated that he was an "excellent student motivated to learn."

¶ 8 The State presented the testimony of Adrian Bowman at the sentencing hearing. Bowman testified that he was 16 years old and had resided with defendant at the juvenile detention center. While at the detention center two months earlier, defendant perpetrated an unprovoked attack on Bowman when he hit Bowman in the face with a chair while they were playing cards. Three of defendant's friends then jumped on Bowman and began punching him in the head. The injury from the chair attack required that Bowman receive eight stitches to his lip.

¶ 9 Bessie Snow, the grandmother of Tyran Snow, read her victim impact statement to the court. She stated that Tyran's death was a tremendous shock to her. She had given him the money to buy food at the restaurant on the evening of his murder. She felt guilty because, if she had not given him the money, he might still be alive. She noted that her grandson was kind and loving to everyone and would be missed by many.

¶ 10 The State also presented victim impact testimony from Tyran Snow's great aunt. The court then had the record reflect that it had reviewed the victim impact statements of Williams and Sims.

¶ 11 Sheila Teague, defendant's aunt, testified in mitigation for the defense. She stated that she had lived with defendant in the same house and that he was "always a good kid" who respected adults and was not a troublemaker. She acknowledged, however, that defendant became a member of the Black Stone street gang when he was 13. She was unaware that he had been convicted of a juvenile robbery and placed on probation. She told the court that she prayed defendant would not be incarcerated all his life and hoped that one day he would be able to drive a car, have children, and go to the store.

¶ 12 Seana Teague also testified in mitigation. She stated that she was defendant's cousin but that he was like a brother to her because she was an only child. She testified that defendant was a "good boy" who always had good grades in school.

¶ 13 The prosecutor asked the court to impose a "more severe sentence," with the sentences for the various convictions running consecutively. He based his recommendation upon several factors, including the unprovoked nature of the offenses, which evinced a total disregard for human life and caused death and severe bodily injury. The prosecutor recounted how defendant ambushed four persons as he stood in the doorway of a tiny carryout restaurant and started shooting. The result was that Snow suffered a gruesome, terrifying death and Sims was rushed to the hospital in critical condition in need of various surgeries. The prosecutor was sure that Snow would one day want an opportunity "to have children, drive a car, or go to the store." The prosecutor also told the court that not only did defendant's actions demonstrate a disregard for life inside the restaurant but also a total disregard for the southside community that surrounds the restaurant, "that wants a peaceful life and has every reason to expect that their community should be free from people like [defendant]." He implored that people should be able to "walk down *** the street from their house and order something from the corner restaurant without the fear of being shot and killed." The prosecutor urged that a substantial sentence was necessary to deter others and send a message that gang violence such as this would not be tolerated.

¶ 14 The prosecutor further argued that, although defendant was 14 years old at the time of the offenses in question and therefore did not have much of an opportunity to establish a prior criminal record, he was on probation at the time he committed the murder and attempted murder offenses and, rather than take that opportunity to conform his actions to that of a law-abiding citizen, he continued with gang activity, which led to the commission of these more serious crimes. Citing defendant's attack on Bowman, the prosecutor maintained that defendant's actions continued to show a disregard for others. The prosecutor concluded that, even though defendant was of a tender age, he had left the court with no option other than to sentence him to a significant period of incarceration.

¶ 15 Defense counsel asked the court to impose a sentence that would allow defendant to rejoin society again with time to contribute to it. He argued that there was no evidence that tied the murder and attempted murder offenses to gang activity. But that violence in the streets and gang activity was "happening with many, many young children who are both victimized and victims because of a failing that has happened somewhere in our society." He argued that defendant was a young teenage boy whose choices reflected the intelligence and lack of judgment of a youth, which also resulted from society's failures and a broken family that included an alcoholic mother and a father who was repeatedly in jail and involved with drugs and alcohol. He noted that defendant was left so unsupervised he had to be relegated to the care of his grandmother. As to the prior juvenile robbery conviction, counsel maintained that defendant was not an experienced criminal and that the offense was simply the theft of a bicycle rather than a robbery.

¶ 16 Defense counsel also argued that defendant had improved himself since committing the instant offenses. He was now an eleventh-grade student, maintaining a B average, and doing well. As to the attack on Bowman, counsel stated that he did not have a reason why it happened but that it is "not unusual for these young men to have it out with each other." Finally, counsel asked the court to be merciful and allow defendant "a future in our society again when he continues to grow, as he continues to learn, as he continues to modify his behavior and as he pursues successes that can be obtained in the institution so he can join us in society again."

¶ 17 In pronouncing its sentence, the trial court noted that it had presided over the trial, was very familiar with the case, and had considered the nature and character of the offenses, defendant's character and history, the PSI, the evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, the parties’ arguments in aggravation and mitigation, and the statutory aggravating and mitigating factors.

¶ 18 Reviewing the statutory factors in aggravation and mitigation, the trial court stated as follows:

"[D]efendant's conduct threatened serious harm to others. Obviously, the charges to which the defendant has been convicted inherently recognize harm to certain individuals.

However, I do note that outside [the three victims], the defendant's conduct threatened serious harm to other individuals that were in that restaurant,

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