SB 2260

Abstract

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a person is not legally accountable for the conduct of another, unless the statute defining the offense provides otherwise, if he or she was subjected to specified and credible coercion, compulsion, or duress related to domestic abuse as defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986. Provides that a person is not guilty of an offense (deletes other than an offense punishable by death) by reason of conduct that he or she performs under the compulsion of threat or menace of the imminent infliction of death or great bodily harm, if he or she reasonably believes death or great bodily harm will be inflicted upon him or her, or upon his or her spouse or child, if he or she does not perform that conduct. Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Includes in the relief from judgment provisions if the allegations in the petition establish each of the following by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the movant was convicted of a forcible felony; (2) the movant's participation in the offense was related to experiencing or the effects of gender-based violence; (3) no substantial evidence or incomplete evidence of gender-based violence against the movant was presented at the movant's sentencing hearing; and (4) the evidence of gender-based violence against the movant is material and noncumulative to other evidence offered at the sentencing hearing, or previous hearing filed on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act, and is of such a conclusive character that it would likely change the sentence imposed by the original trial court. Defines "gender-based violence". Senate Committee Amendment No. 2 Deletes reference to: 720 ILCS 5/5-2 720 ILCS 5/7-11 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill but deletes the amendatory changes to the Criminal Code of 2012. Also, provides that the movant's participation in the offense was related to him or her previously having been a victim of domestic violence or gender-based violence (rather than related to experiencing or the effects of domestic violence or gender-based violence). House Committee Amendment No. 1 Replaces everything after the enacting clause with the provisions of the engrossed bill, and makes the following changes: Provides that a movant may present a meritorious claim if the allegations in the petition establish by a preponderance of the evidence that there is substantial evidence of domestic violence or gender-based violence against the movant that was not presented at the movant's sentencing hearing (rather than that no substantial evidence or incomplete evidence of domestic violence or gender-based violence against the movant was presented at the movant's sentencing hearing). Changes the definition of "gender-based violence". Defines "substantial evidence".