Taylor v. Cowan

PRESIDING JUSTICE HOPKINS

delivered the opinion of the court:

On December 18, 2000, Robert Taylor (the petitioner) filed in the circuit court a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking his release from the Illinois Department of Corrections. In his petition, the petitioner alleged that his sentence of natural-life imprisonment was unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), that he had served his prison term under the sentencing statute in place at the time of his conviction, and that he was entitled to his immediate release…