Illinois Courts

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the convictions and death sentence of John Wayne Gacy in the sex-related killings of 33 young men and boys. The court set a Jan. 11, 1989, execution date, but that is almost certain to be delayed by further appeals. The ruling was the second time the court has turned down an appeal by Gacy, 46, who was convicted on March 12, 1980.

The Illinois Supreme Court today issued a stay of the appellate court order knocking Rahm Emanuel off the ballot and ordered Chicago election officials not to print any ballots without his name. "The Board of Elections is directed that if any ballots are printed while this Court is considering this case, the ballots should include the name of petitioner Rahm Emanuel as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Chicago. " The high court said it was still considering whether to grant Emanuel's request that it hear his appeal on an expedited basis.

Thirteen-year-old Jean-Pierre Bosze died of leukemia here Monday, two months after losing a bitter, landmark legal battle over whether relatives could be forced to undergo medical procedures which might have helped save his life.

Although Erla Feinberg's final act might have disappointed most of her grandchildren, it carried out her late husband's dying wish in a way that held up in court. In a unanimous decision, the Illinois Supreme Court this week ruled that Max Feinberg and his wife could legally disinherit any grandchildren who married outside the Jewish faith as long as the method of doing so did not encourage divorce. "Although those plans might be offensive to individual family members or to outside observers, Max and Erla were free to distribute their bounty as they saw fit and to favor grandchildren of whose life choices they approved," Justice Rita Garman wrote.

The Illinois state Supreme Court on Friday declared unconstitutional a part of a state law that made sweeping reforms in Chicago's public schools. The court ruled that the process for electing the local school councils at the heart of the plan violates the constitutional principle of "one person, one vote" by giving parents more power than other voters.

The Illinois Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon has thrown out a $16.28-million verdict against Monsanto Co. over a chemical spill that contained less than a teaspoonful of dioxin. A jury in 1987, in awarding the punitive damages, ruled that Monsanto failed to warn residents of Sturgeon, Mo., of the potential health risks. However, the appellate court held that the jury found no damage was done in the case, and, therefore, there was no fault and no basis for awards. It did not order a new trial.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Friday that 3-year-old twins cannot be forced to undergo tests to determine whether they are suitable bone marrow donors for their dying 12-year-old half-brother. The high court upheld a lower court ruling that said forcing James and Allison Curran to undergo compatibility testing would be an unacceptable invasion of their privacy. The decision came in the case of Jean-Pierre Bosze, who is dying from a rare form of leukemia.

The Supreme Court on Friday dropped a much-watched Illinois abortion dispute from its schedule of cases to be argued next week because of an out-of-court settlement in the case. The settlement was announced in Chicago last week, eliminating the case that had been viewed as the high court's most likely opportunity to alter its 1973 decision legalizing abortion. As anticipated, the justices granted a request from both sides that Supreme Court arguments be deferred pending a formal settlement.

Hundreds of lawyers whose names have surfaced in the Operation Greylord court corruption probe are being investigated by an arm of the Illinois Supreme Court and could face discipline including disbarment, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. About 200 of the 352 lawyers being investigated were linked to the case of Chancery Court Judge Reginald J. Holzer, who was convicted of shaking down lawyers and others in his courtroom.

Rolando Cruz was convicted twice and spent more than seven years on Death Row for a rape and murder another man admitted committing. His case became a cause; law school deans rallied to his side and a prosecutor resigned rather than "help execute an innocent man." The tangled case took a new turn Thursday when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a decision it made less than two years ago and granted Cruz a third trial.

Just days after his prospective colleagues in Washington turned him back from the Capitol, Democrat Roland Burris seized on an Illinois high court decision filed Friday to assert he should be accepted as President-elect Barack Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate. Armed with the Illinois Supreme Court ruling, Burris' lawyers vowed to return to Washington on Monday and file suit in federal court unless top Senate Democrats reverse their rejection of impeached Democratic Gov. Rod R.

Philip Morris USA won a resounding legal victory Thursday when a divided Illinois Supreme Court overturned a $10.1-billion verdict over claims that the company deceptively marketed "light" cigarettes. In reversing the class-action award, the court did not absolve Philip Morris of the central allegation against it: that Philip Morris had consciously deterred smokers from quitting by falsely promoting "light," or low-tar, cigarettes as safer than regular brands.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a $1-billion fraud and breach-of-contract verdict against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., ruling that an 8-year-old case challenging use of generic parts in collision repairs should not have been tried as a class action.

Philip Morris USA was handed a major victory Tuesday when the Illinois Supreme Court slashed almost in half a $12-billion bond required from the company pending an appeal of a critical verdict. The state high court also reversed its own earlier ruling and agreed to bypass the state appellate court and hear the appeal of a judge's $10.1-billion verdict against Philip Morris, which he found to have tricked smokers into thinking "light" cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes.

H&R Block Inc. said an Illinois judge rejected a $25-million settlement the tax preparer had negotiated to resolve claims over high-interest-rate loans issued to its customers in advance of tax refunds. The proposed Illinois settlement would have resolved all U.S. claims against the firm's refund-anticipation loan program. Shares of Block, which said it would not meet its goal for tax customers this year because of a slow tax season, dropped $3.64 to $37.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Rolando Cruz was convicted twice and spent more than seven years on Death Row for a rape and murder another man admitted committing. His case became a cause; law school deans rallied to his side and a prosecutor resigned rather than "help execute an innocent man." The tangled case took a new turn Thursday when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a decision it made less than two years ago and granted Cruz a third trial.

The state Supreme Court on Friday ordered the appointment of guardians to represent three children involved in a bitter bone marrow transplant case, enabling the children to have a say in the matter. The court's order sent the case back to Circuit Judge Monica Reynolds with orders to have attorneys present arguments on behalf of the 3-year-old twins and their dying, 12-year-old half brother.

Three former executives were wrongly convicted of murder and other charges in the death of an employee who suffered cyanide poisoning on the job, an Illinois appellate court ruled Friday. The 1985 case, believed to be the first in which corporate officers were convicted of murder in a job-related death, was sent back to Cook County Circuit Court. Mayor Richard M.

The U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed an eleventh-hour effort Monday by lawyers for John Wayne Gacy to halt his execution, more than a decade after the gruesome discovery of a makeshift graveyard under his home led to his conviction for murdering 33 young men and boys. Gacy, 52, was scheduled to die by injection shortly after 12:01 a.m. today at the maximum-security Stateville Correctional Center, 35 miles southwest of Chicago.

The state's highest court rejected an attempt Thursday to end abortions at Cook County Hospital, which serves many of Chicago's poorest residents. The court criticized the four hospital board members who sued to block resumption of elective abortions, saying they had "abdicated their legislative obligations" by asking the courts to settle the matter. Board President Richard Phelan issued an order in 1992 lifting a 12-year ban on elective abortions at the public hospital.