People v. La Pointe

The defendant, Phillip E. La Pointe, entered an unnegotiated plea of guilty in the circuit court of Du Page County to the murder of Peter Moreno, Jr., and was subsequently sentenced to natural life imprisonment without parole. The appellate court reduced that sentence to 60 years’ imprisonment. (85 Ill. App. 3d 215.) We granted the State’s petition for leave to appeal, and now consider as the principal issue: Did the trial judge abuse his discretion in imposing the natural life sentence, for, unless he did, its reduction was error.

A number of witnesses testified at the 18-year-old defendant’s…