Find Legal Information

Docket No. 84049-Agenda 4-May 1999.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. DENNIS EMERSON, Appellant.

Opinion filed February 17, 2000.

JUSTICE McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

In 1985, defendant was convicted of the murder and armed robbery of Delinda Byrd, as well as the attempted murder and armed robbery of Robert Ray. A jury found defendant eligible for the death penalty based on Byrd's murder and found no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty. Pursuant to defendant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered that defendant receive a new sentencing hearing. United States ex rel. Emerson v. Gramley, 883 F. Supp. 225 (N.D. Ill. 1995). The federal appellate court affirmed the district court. Emerson v. Gramley, 91 F.3d 898 (7th Cir. 1996).

The circuit court of Cook County held a new sentencing hearing, at which a jury again found defendant eligible for the death penalty and found no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty. The propriety of that sentence is now before this court pursuant to defendant's direct appeal. Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI,