People v. Shum
Case Date: 12/31/1969
Court: Supreme Court
Docket No: 84933 Rel
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Docket No. 84933-Agenda 2-September 2002. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. Opinion filed May 22, 2003. JUSTICE GARMAN delivered the opinion of the court: After a jury trial, defendant, Keith Shum,(1) was convicted ofmurder, feticide, attempted murder, and two counts of rape.Defendant waived a jury for the sentencing phase of trial, and hewas sentenced to death for murder and to concurrent sentences of60 years for feticide, 60 years for attempted murder, and 30 yearsfor each rape. His convictions and sentences were affirmed ondirect appeal. People v. Shum, 117 Ill. 2d 317 (1987). Defendantfiled a pro se postconviction petition in 1988; he filed an amendedpetition through counsel on September 24, 1997. After oralargument, the circuit court granted the State's motion to dismissthe postconviction petition. While that judgment was pending onappeal, we remanded the matter to the circuit court, whileretaining jurisdiction, for a fitness hearing pursuant to People v.Owens, 139 Ill. 2d 351 (1990). The circuit court found defendantfit to participate in postconviction proceedings. At the time defendant filed his appeal of the dismissal of hispostconviction petition, his death sentence triggered our exclusivejurisdiction pursuant to article VI, section 6, of the IllinoisConstitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, |