People v. Lewis

Defendant, Weldon Wade Lewis III, was charged in the circuit court of Jefferson County with having murdered his wife, Diane Lewis. Following a bench trial on December 31, 1986, defendant was found guilty but mentally ill. At his sentencing hearing a victim impact statement written by the victim’s sister, Judy Chamblis, and also signed by her parents, Charles and Hazel Prince, was filed pursuant to section 6 of the Bill of Rights for Victims and Witnesses of Violent Crime Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 1406). The court sentenced defendant to 25 years’ imprisonment. No direct…