CHICAGO — Cook County prosecutors will soon begin arguing in court that certain longtime inmates deserve more lenient sentences, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office said Friday.
Three men are slated for possible resentencing next week, the first to potentially benefit from a new state law allowing prosecutors to petition for shorter sentences ”if the original sentence no longer advances the interests of justice.”
“The impact of injustice on these individuals, by actors including prosecutors, deserves to be remedied,” Foxx said in a statement. “Through the Resentencing Initiative, prosecutors can begin addressing the fact that many Black and brown people are still incarcerated today under failed policies of the past, even though they have been rehabilitated and pose little threat to public safety.”
While a state law that took effect in January allows prosecutors to proactively request that people be resentenced, the ultimate decision is still up to a judge. Three other states also give prosecutors the power to petition for resentencing, according to Foxx’s office.
Foxx’s office announced Friday that they would be working with Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, a Back of the Yards-based community organization, as well as nonprofit For the People, which advocates for “prosecutor-initiated resentencing” initiatives. Lawyers with powerhouse private firm Winston and Strawn will work pro bono to assist the defendants identified for resentencing.
The office is first reviewing cases of people who have served at least 10 years for a drug, theft, robbery or burglary conviction; people 65 or older who have served at least 20 years for a case not related to a sex crime or homicide; and people who have served at least 15 years for a case other than a sex crime or homicide and who were younger than 21 when they committed the offense.
Victims in each case will be notified “at different steps of the resentencing process,” and will have a chance to submit statements to the judge to consider at sentencing, the office stated.
Foxx did not offer an estimate of how many cases may be eligible for resentencing under those criteria. But prosecutors are scheduled to present their first three resentencing requests in court next week, according to Foxx’s office.
All three men are slated for release from custody by the end of next year, records show.
One is a man in his 60s who was sentenced to 60 years for a 1995 burglary and home invasion; at trial, the victim testified that he came into her apartment, grabbed her gun, and threatened to kill her, court records show. The victim was not physically harmed, but the defendant was shot in the chest during a struggle over the weapon, according to records.
The defendant was given an extended sentence because the victim was older than 60, records show. He is currently scheduled to be released from prison in November 2023.
Another, a 58-year-old man, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery in 2010 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison; he is scheduled to be released in May.
The third person up for possible resentencing next week is serving time for two burglary cases. In 2010, he was convicted of taking employees’ belongings from the Tavern on Rush; in the other case, dating to 2011, he came in through the bedroom window of a Near North apartment while the resident and her daughter were in another room. His attorney at the time noted that he struggled with severe drug addiction, and his life took a “downward spiral” after his father died, records show.
He was sentenced to 12 years in the 2011 case and 13 years in the 2010 case; he is projected for release in May 2023, records show.
Prosecutors filed petitions on behalf of the men arguing that they have taken “substantial steps toward rehabilitation” and noting that the purpose of resentencing is “to advance public safety through punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative justice.”
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