People v. King

Chief Justice Kilbride and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Garman, Burke, and Theis concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

I. BACKGROUND

In 2002, defendant, Ricky King, was charged with five counts of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9 — 1(a)(1), (a)(2) (West 2000)), in connection with the August 8, 2002, beating death of Robert Nash. Defendant was 15 years of age at the time of the incident. On June 19, 2003, the State filed an additional count of attempted first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/8 — 4(a), 9 — 1(a) (West 2000)) arising out of the same incident. That same day, defendant entered a…