Amyn Kapadia v. Rodney L. Tally

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

Amyn Kapadia was convicted in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois of burglary and arson of a Jewish community center. The trial court judge meted out the harshest sentence possible under state law, a fourteen year term of imprisonment, after a courtroom deputy testified that Ka-padia uttered a number of anti-Semitic slurs on his way out of court after being convicted. Kapadia complains that enhancing his sentence because he professes vile beliefs violates his First Amendment rights. However, the trial court enhanced Kapadia’s sentence because of his…