Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... Defendant, Jermaine Davis, was charged with aggravated battery, armed robbery and first degree murder. The first degree murder charge was brought under three different theories—intentional murder, knowing murder (also called strong probability murder), and felony murder. See 720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1), (a)(3) (West 2004). A jury in the circuit court of Cook County...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... Plaintiff-Appellant, the Attorney General, electronically transmitted an application for rehearing with the Illinois Commerce Commission after the close of business on the application's due date. The Commission accepted the application, but ultimately denied rehearing. The Attorney General then appealed to the Appellate Court, First District. The appellate court...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion... This case involves the application of section 5(b) of the Workers' Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/5(b) (West 2006)), which grants an employer a lien on an employee's recovery against a third-party tortfeasor, up to the amount of the workers' compensation benefits paid to the employee. The second paragraph of section 5(b) requires the employer to pay the employee's...  

Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... Defendant, William Robinson, was charged with six counts of first degree murder, but was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony unlawful use of a weapon in the circuit court of Cook County. Involuntary manslaughter is generally a Class 3 felony with a sentencing range of two to five years. 720 ILCS 5/9-3(d) (West 2000). However, where the victim is a "family or...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... The City of Chicago filed a complaint against the defendants, all operators of local cable television systems, in a dispute over cable franchise fees, seeking declaratory relief. Specifically, the City alleged the defendants violated their cable franchise renewal agreements by discontinuing payment of a portion of a 5% franchise fee required by the agreements. In a joint...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... Plaintiff, Marie Wackrow, filed a complaint for legal malpractice against defendant, Frederick C. Niemi. The circuit court of Cook County dismissed plaintiff's complaint as time-barred under section 13-214.3(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/13-214.3(d) (West 1994)). The appellate court affirmed the trial court's judgment. No. 1-06-1556 (unpublished order...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... The circuit court of Cook County denied Corey Conick, a prisoner in the Illinois Department of Corrections, leave to file a successive postconviction petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2006)). The court also assessed filing fees and court costs totaling $105 pursuant to section 22-105 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code)...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion... This case concerns whether the trial court's order terminating maintenance to Mary Gutman was final and appealable without a finding under Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (210 Ill. 2d R. 304(a)) when Mary's civil contempt petition against Daniel Gutman was still pending... The appellate court held that, although a civil contempt petition is part of the underlying action, it...  

Justices Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... Chief Justice Fitzgerald took no part in the decision... The circuit court of Cook County certified the following question of law for interlocutory appeal, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 308(a) (155 Ill. 2d R. 308(a)):... "Whether the nullity rule should be applied in a wrongful death action where the plaintiff is an attorney who has passed the bar and was on inactive status at the time of the...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion... At issue is whether minors may be charged with delivery of alcoholic liquor to a minor (235 ILCS 5/6-16(a)(iii) (West 2006)). We hold that they may... BACKGROUND... The State charged defendant, Jenna M. Christopherson, with unlawful delivery of alcoholic liquor to a minor (235 ILCS 5/6-16(a)(iii) (West 2006)). The information alleged that defendant provided a 30-pack of...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion... In the circuit court of Champaign County, Phyllis B.'s parental rights were terminated after her two children, E.B., age 6, and J.B., age 4, were adjudicated dependent under subsection (c) of section 2-4(1) of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 (Act) (705 ILCS 405/2-4(1)(c) (West 2006)), the so-called no-fault dependency provision. The appellate court, with one justice...  

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion... Justice Thomas specially concurred, with opinion... Justice Kilbride also specially concurred, with opinion... Eleven-year-old Rolandis G. (respondent) was adjudicated delinquent after a juvenile court judge, in the circuit court of Winnebago County, found him guilty of the aggravated criminal sexual assault (720 ILCS 5/12-14(b)(i) (West 2002)) of six-year-old Von J. The appellate court...  

Defendant, Russell Hobson, who was charged and convicted of first degree murder, appeals from the second-stage dismissal of his successive petition for relief under the PostC-onviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2000)). He contends that the circuit court erred in dismissing his petition without an evidentiary hearing, where he made a substantial showing of ineffective assistance of counsel because (1) counsel failed to adequately communicate with him and provide him with...  

Following an administrative hearing, defendants-appellees The Board of Trustees of the Municipal Employees', Officers', and Officials' Annuity and Benefit Fund (Fund), and its members Joseph Malatesta, Steven J. Lux, Stephanie D. Neely, Peter Brejnak and John K. Gibson, in their official capacities (collectively, Board) held that plaintiff-appellant Daniel Katalinic (plaintiff) forfeited his annuity and other benefits from his municipal employment due to his felony conviction. The trial court...  

After a jury trial, defendant, Derrick L. Rhodes, was convicted of one count of possession of a substance containing cannabis with the intent to deliver (720 ILCS 550/5(d) (West 2006)). The trial court sentenced defendant to five years' imprisonment and the payment of various fines and costs. After the court denied defendant's postjudgment motion, he appealed. On appeal, defendant argues that (1) his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a jury instruction on simple possession...  

Plaintiff, Cincinnati Insurance Company (Cincinnati), sought an order from the circuit court of Cook County declaring that it was not obligated to defend its insureds, American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) and its executive officers, Timothy Farrell and William P. Farrell (collectively, the executives), in an underlying litigation involving competing national hardware trade shows (the underlying action). By agreement, AHMA and the executives assigned... ... ... their rights under...  

Defendant, Timothy L. Walston, appeals the judgment of the circuit court of Winnebago County finding him guilty of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault (720 ILCS 5/12-14(a)(2) (West 2004)). On appeal, defendant argues that the trial court erred by failing to grant his motion to sever the charges and that the trial court should have allowed him to introduce a purportedly exculpatory statement he made to one of the victims. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision of the...  

Plaintiffs Walter Solon and Cynthia Zaletel, on behalf of themselves and a class of others similarly situated, brought this action against defendant Midwest Medical Records Association (MMRA) seeking, inter alia, damages incurred as a result of defendant's allegedly deceptive and illegal practice of overcharging patients for requested copies of medical records. Defendant moved to strike that portion of the complaint under section 2-615 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-615...  

Respondent Theodore Lafeber III, appeals from an order of the circuit court in favor of petitioner Francesca Suriano that terminated the parties' joint parenting agreement and placed custody of the parties' children with petitioner. On appeal, respondent contends that: (1) the court lacked jurisdiction to sua sponte terminate the parties' joint custody agreement without a pleading requesting such relief; (2) the court's order violated respondent's due process rights; (3) the court's order...  

Defendant, Shone Jones, was charged with a 13-count indictment. Defendant's attorney requested a hearing to determine defendant's fitness to stand trial. A jury found defendant fit, and defendant's case proceeded to trial. After all of the evidence had been presented at trial, defense counsel moved for a mistrial so that defendant could be examined for fitness. The trial court denied the motion. Defendant was found guilty of 11 of the charges against him and was sentenced to 25 years in prison....