Latest news with #IllinoisConstitution
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Dixon man seeking to have 67-year prison sentence reduced in child sex assault, abuse case
May 21—DIXON — A Dixon man sentenced to almost 70 years in prison three months ago for sex-related crimes against a victim younger than 13 said his sentence is excessive and is asking that it be reduced. Jason E. Johnson, 52, pleaded guilty in September to one count each of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Lee County Judge Theresa Friel-Draper sentenced Johnson on Feb. 6 to 60 years in prison for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and a consecutive seven-year prison sentence for aggravated criminal sexual abuse. It was the maximum sentence allowed under the law. A hearing has been set for 9 a.m. June 6 in Lee County Circuit Court on a motion to reconsider the sentence filed in February by Johnson's attorney, public defender Douglas Lathe. In that motion, Johnson said the sentences require that he must serve 85% of the 60-year sentence and 50% of the seven-year sentence, and that the sentence is excessive in light of the evidence presented to the court. According to the motion, the court did not fully consider an article of the Illinois Constitution that states "all penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship along with other authoritative considerations in mitigation." The motion also states that the court should take into consideration recommendations made in a psychological and psychosexual evaluation dated Nov. 17, 2022. [ Dixon man sentenced to 67 years in prison for sexually abusing child ] Johnson was arrested on the charges in May 2019, seven months after Dixon Police Department investigators learned of an allegation of sexual abuse against Johnson. During that investigation, officers learned from a child forensic interview conducted at the Shining Star Children's Advocacy Center in Dixon that Johnson had sexually abused and assaulted a girl who was between the ages of 11 and 12, and that he had done so multiple times, Lee County State's Attorney Charles Boonstra has said. Those charges all involve the same victim, and they were alleged to have occurred in 2013. Johnson was indicted in May 2019 on four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim younger than 13 and five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim younger than 13. Boonstra has said that as the case was being prosecuted, investigators became aware of reports of other possible victims, with allegations that each had been abused or assaulted by Johnson at ages varying from 4 to 17 years old. After further investigation, Lee County prosecutors charged Johnson on Sept. 29, 2020, with two more counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with a 2011 assault in which the victim was at least 13 years old but younger than 17, according to charging documents. He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in August 2022 and was sentenced in June 2024 to 180 days in the Lee County Jail, four years of probation and a $25,000 fine. The other charge was dismissed. Johnson then pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to two of the nine charges filed in 2019; the other seven were dismissed. Under that sentencing order, Johnson was given credit for 2,093 days served and ordered to register as a sex offender, according to court documents. Lee County Assistant State's Attorneys William Fawkes and Stephanie Sasscer are prosecutors in the case.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge urges state high court to read constitution as written
May 13—It's not often that someone at the lower end of the organization chart chastises those at the very top. But that's what happened recently when a state appeals court justice asked the Illinois Supreme Court to stop ignoring the Illinois Constitution's clear language that governs the legislative process. Fifth District Appellate Justice Mark Boie wrote that he could not ignore "the legislative and executive branches of our state government's continued disregard for the procedural rules and processes involved in passing laws in this state, then hiding behind and citing our supreme court precedent ... to justify their actions." That's fiery language by judicial standards. What's this about? It concerns the public's interest in having a thoughtful, deliberate legislative process that is required by the Illinois Constitution, but ignored by state supreme court justices. All Illinoisans have a dog in this fight because they have to live within the laws as written. The dispute concerns the Constitution's "three-readings rule" — Article 4, Section 8, Paragraph (d) — which requires that proposed legislation be read and discussed in both the state House and Senate on three separate days. As explained in a court decision, "the three-reading requirement ensures that the Legislature is fully aware" of a bill's contents while providing "the opportunity for the public" to read and comment on the bill "prior" to passage. It reflects one of those good-government promises proponents used to sell the 1970 Illinois Constitution to voters. But few things involving Illinois' pervasively corrupt government are what they seem because the governor, legislature and supreme court ignore the three-readings rule. Boie wrote his partially concurring opinion in a case involving a 2023 gun law. But there have been many other important laws passed in the same surprise-attack manner, most notably the controversial SAFE-T Act social-justice bill. In a process known as "gut and replace," proponents at the last minute strip an unrelated bill of its contents, put in new language and present the final product for a vote. Once passed, sometimes in a matter of hours, legislative leaders sign a statement asserting all rules were followed. Senate President Don Harmon wrote such an affirmation regarding the gun bill, a fib so bold that Boie, relying on the undisputed legislative history, charged "there is nothing further from the truth." The bottom line is that the legislative process can become a giant game of pretend. Legislators pretend to follow the rules. The high court for years has pretended to believe them. As a result, Boie charged that "foundations of the bedrock of democracy are decimated by failing to require the lawmakers to adhere to the constitutional principle." He noted appellate courts in the Fourth and Fifth districts, representing 89 of Illinois' 102 counties, have said "now is the time" for the high court to end this "continuing disregard for the proper constitutional rules and procedures required for passing laws." What will the high court's justices do in the face of such a clarion call? Probably nothing. They have, mostly, ignored the issue. They've occasionally warned legislators to change their behavior, the equivalent of an old man shaking his cane at misbehaving kids. But, just like they ignore the three-readings rule, legislators ignore the justices' warnings. All seven high court justices swore an oath to uphold federal and state constitutions. What they apparently meant was that they would if they felt like it, and wouldn't if they didn't.
Chicago Tribune
11-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Court upholds legality of Waukegan tax on gaming machines; city due $11M
After more than four years of defending a lawsuit against video gaming operators and their trade association, the city of Waukegan will receive more than $11.3 million after repelling an onslaught of allegations over several iterations before the court. Throughout the history of the lawsuit, the city kept asking the Lake County Court to dismiss the eight-count complaint filed by the Illinois Gaming Machine Operators Association (IMOGA) and its members in Waukegan. Quickly dismissing some of the counts claimed by IMOGA and its Waukegan-based members, the court let them rewrite other portions of the complaint as the case remained in the court system for more than four years. Eventually, the court either dismissed parts of the complaint completely or entered a summary judgment in favor of the city of Waukegan on the rest, ruling if everything the plaintiffs said in their complaint was true, they would lose. Not done, IMOGA appealed. The Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District ruled in favor of the city on March 4 in Elgin entitling the city to receive tax money gaming operators withheld because they argued a tax the city properly imposed was illegal. Stweart Weiss, an attorney with Waukegan corporation counsel Elrod Fridman, said in an email Monday the city's 'penny push tax' approved by the City Council in August of 2020 was legal. It provided the city with a penny for every play on a video game, according to court documents. 'The City's taxing authority was clearly granted by the Illinois legislature, and it has been validated by every court that has reviewed it,' Weiss said in the email. ' All that remains now is for terminal operators to collect the tax from players and remit it to the citizens of Waukegan.' Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said in an email Tuesday the city's finance department estimates more than $11.3 million is due from the penny punch tax for the past three years ending on Dec 31, 2024. It comes from 336 terminals in 58 spots. Approximately $2.5 million is anticipated in future years. Though it took more than four years of litigation to finally be in a position to collect the penny push tax, Taylor said it 'will go a long way' to help with the operating costs necessary to meet residents' needs. 'The revenue to be raised by the collection of the Push-Tax will go a long way in addressing the increasing operating costs of providing services to the citizens of Waukegan,' Taylor said in the email. 'The Push-Tax will be a welcomed source of relief for our community.' The City Council approved an ordinance requiring a penny push tax on April 9, 2020. It requires any person playing on a video gaming device to pay a tax of one cent per play, according to the court's opinion. Less than two weeks after Waukegan approved the tax, IMOGA and seven of its members sued the city alleging the law not only violated the Illinois Constitution, but changing the gaming terminals to calculate the tax was 'complicated and cost prohibitive,' according to the opinion. Passing the law, Waukegan intended to both collect revenue to provide for residents' needs and, 'provide adequate funds to offset the adverse effects of gambling that occur within the municipality,' according to the opinion. 'The city's position is not that it seeks to eliminate gambling; rather its position acknowledges a negative effect of the activity and the action it took to combat it,' Judge Ann B. Jorgenson said in the opinion.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jim Dey: Law can take a beating when power, partisanship mix
Feb. 4—When a political party does nothing but lose, it's got nothing left to lose. That's why Illinois House Republicans last week filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Democrat-drawn House district boundary lines that prevent the GOP from competing on a level playing field. Citing the Illinois Constitution's redistricting requirements, the lawsuit asks the seven-member Illinois Supreme Court to throw out the current map and draw a new one. This David-vs.-Goliath face-off reeks of desperation by superminority Republicans who have been — unofficially — rendered non-entities by supermajority Democrats. The lawsuit faces two hurdles — the law and partisan politics, as viewed through the prism of power. Citing the Illinois Constitution, Republicans argue the state's 118 House districts are drawn so strangely and with such partisan zeal that they run afoul of the Article IV, Section 3 mandate that they be "compact" and "contiguous." An eyeball test confirms GOP claims. The legal test remains undetermined. Second, there are five Democrats on the high court — three who are plugged into the Cook County Democratic machine and two others elected in 2022 from Districts 2 and 3, which were gerrymandered to ensure their elections. Are those Democratic justices willing to enrage legislative Democrats by throwing out their gerrymandered House and Senate maps? Many would say, "Fuggedaboutit." "I wouldn't expect that you would be able to find two Democrats to join the two Republicans," said retired University of Illinois-Springfield political science professor Kent Redfield, referring to the four votes required for a court majority. The Republican assertion of Democratic gerrymandering to win elections is also inarguable. "If I were the Republicans, I would be screaming bloody murder, too," said Redfield, who called the Democrats' 2021 maps a "brutal partisan gerrymander." Noting the GOP won about 50 percent of House votes statewide in 2022 and 2024, the lawsuit charged that unconstitutional gerrymandering allowed Democrats to win a supermajority of the 118 House seats. They currently hold 80. The legal question — if the case ever gets that far — is just how "compact" districts must be to survive scrutiny. Federal and state legislative maps are redrawn every 10 years following the census to ensure they are of equal population. The redraw allows experts to study voting patterns and, using computers, identify boundaries that will generate predetermined results. That's why the GOP lawsuit described Illinois House races as "rigged." The result is that Republicans are irrelevant, especially so since Democratic House Speaker Chris Welch decreed that legislation must have the support of 60 members of his 80-member House caucus to warrant passage. There's a good chance the high court won't care. Although the constitution mandates "compact" districts, the court is not averse to ignoring clear and unambiguous constitutional language. For example, it has refused to enforce the state constitution's "one subject" rule that limits legislation to a single subject. Because the justices ignore the one-subject rule, legislators pass bills addressing multiple issues with tenuous links. House Democrats expect — not unreasonably — the same deference regarding the "compact" mandate. The GOP lawsuit is replete with legal arguments and includes multiple examples of strangely drawn districts that could never be described as "compact." Republicans hope that counts for something, but they'd be foolish to count on it.
