People v. Hope

Defendant, Edgar Hope, Jr., was tried by a jury in the circuit court of Cook County and convicted of murder, attempted murder, and armed violence. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, pars. 8 — 4, 9 — 1(a)(1), 33A — 2.) The jury had no black members; defendant is black; and the two victims of his most serious crimes were white, both of them police officers. After a sentencing proceeding before the same jury, which determined that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude imposition of a death sentence, the court sentenced defendant to death on the murder conviction. No sentences were…