MT. VERNON - A man convicted of a double murder committed when he was 15 and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole should have another chance at re-sentencing, an appeals court has ruled.
Terril Williams was sentenced by Madison County Circuit Court to natural life in 1997, and again after the appeals court previously sent the case back for re-sentencing.
in the present action, the Fifth District Appellate Court has ruled that the trial did not fully take account two landmark rulings, one by the U.S. Supreme Court, the other by the Illinois Supreme Court.
In a judgment authored by Justice Thomas Welch, with Justices David Overstreet and James Moore concurring, the appeals court cited Miller v. Alabama and People v. Holman when coming to its decision to send the case back for re-sentencing.
Both cases centered on the failure of trial courts to adequately consider other factors when handing down the harshest prison sentence to juveniles.
Williams was found guilty in the shooting deaths of Darryl Womack and James Patterson. He appealed his conviction and sentence, which was denied.
In 2013, the trial court denied another motion for post conviction sentencing relief, but the appeals court decided the sentence was invalid under Miller. It concluded that the sentence violated the Eighth Amendment because the trial court did not fully consider mitigating circumstances.
The new re-sentencing hearing heard testimony from David Hayes, the assistant chief of police in Alton. He told the court that Patterson had his hands in the air when he was shot and that Womack, who was 15 at the time of his death, was running away and was struck in the back of the head.
In its argument, the state argued that the Miller case did not introduce a total ban on natural life sentences for juveniles in cases where the crime is found to be of "irreparable corruption."
The two victims in this case were shot in cold blood, and the trial court, in re-sentencing once again to natural life, concluded that Williams was the "rare juvenile offender whose crime reflected irreparable corruption."
In reversing this decision and sending it back to the trial court, the appeals court cited the Holman case where the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a natural life sentence should be imposed only if the "conduct showed irretrievable depravity, permanent incorrigibility, or irreparable corruption beyond the possibility of rehabilitation."
Williams' defense team argued that he was young at the time of the murders, that he had little prior criminal history that would reveal irreparable corruption.
Welch, in his judgment, found that the trial court "failed to make an individualized inquiry into this particular juvenile’s immaturity, impetuosity, and whether he was unable to appreciate risks and consequences." Further, he has tried to better himself in prison and has a supportive family.
"In summary, we vacate the defendant’s sentence of life imprisonment and remand for a new sentencing hearing in compliance with Miller," Welch wrote.