People v. Lee

Following a bench trial, the circuit court of Kankakee County convicted defendant, Eric Lee, of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9 — 1(a)(1), (a)(2) (West 1996)) of a police officer and aggravated vehicular hijacking (720 ILCS 5/18 — 4(a)(3) (West 1996)). At a subsequent death penalty hearing, a jury found defendant eligible for the death penalty and concluded that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of a death sentence. The trial court sentenced defendant to death for the murder and to 30 years’ imprisonment for the aggravated vehicular hijacking.…