(The Center Square) – The Illinois Supreme Court is reviewing a case about what makes someone an armed habitual criminal.
Justices heard arguments Tuesday in the case Illinois v. Demetrius Gray where Gray argues past crimes should not count due to age.
When the defendant was 16, he pleaded guilty in juvenile court to criminal trespass to a vehicle and was sentenced to probation, which he later violated. Then in 2001, the defendant pleaded guilty in juvenile court to battery and was again sentenced to probation, which he again violated.
State law says that a person is considered to have committed the offense of armed habitual criminal if he or she receives, sells, possesses, or transfers any firearm after having been convicted two times or more of qualifying offenses in the past.
Gray’s attorneys argued that due to one of the convictions coming when the defendant was a minor, he should not be considered an armed habitual criminal.
Assistant Illinois Attorney General Michael Cebula said those do not matter due to his most recent convictions.
“Even if we assumed that the trial court agreed that this conviction at 17 could not serve as a previous qualifying offense, as I mentioned, he had multiple felony convictions in his 20s that cancel his qualifying defenses,” Cebula said.
The conviction was previously overturned by an appellate court, which Cebula said should have never happened.
“His sufficiency claim is meritless, so the appellate court decision has to be overturned on that basis,” Cebula said. “His ineffectiveness of counsel claim is also meritless, and also, this case needs to be remanded back to the appellate court for consideration.”
According to state law, a conviction for the armed habitual criminal offense is a Class X felony, which carries a mandatory sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison with additional fines and penalties.
Justices took the case under advisement.
