MT. VERNON –– A man serving 60 years in prison for first-degree murder will not receive a hearing to review his case, an appeals court has ruled.
In an Aug. 23 order, the Fifth District Appellate Court found Marion McCray's habeas corpus petition was "meritless." The appellate court affirmed Associate Judge Eugene Gross's earlier decision.
McCray submitted the petition himself.
The petitioner argued the courts used outdated legislation to convict him.
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McCray was charged with first-degree murder in 2002 and found guilty four years later.
McCray argued the courts used outdated legislation to convict him.
The appellate court disagreed.
"The court held that the defendant was properly charged with first-degree murder regardless of whether his indictment referred to the Illinois Revised Statutes or the Illinois Compiled Statutes, because these were merely organizational and numbering schemes, which did not change the underlying first-degree murder statute," Justice James Moore wrote.
Moore added McCray's petitiion did not contain "any set of facts that would support a finding of a jurisdictional error post-conviction event entitling him to release."
Justices Richard Goldenhersh and Melissa Chapman concurred.
Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court Case number 5-17-0252