Kelly v. Wauconda Park District

"An adoptive confession avoids the confrontation problem because the words of the hearsay become the words of the defendant." | proportionality review of death sentence for contract murder included contract murder cases in which death penalty was not sought by prosecutor | photographs which depict the bodies of the murder victims in substantially the same condition in which the defendant left them are admissible in sentencing phase of capital trial | courts must not “rely too heavily on characterizations such as ‘disjunctive’ form versus ‘conjunctive’ form to resolve difficult issues of statutory construction,” but instead must “look at all parts of the statute” | courts must not "rely too heavily on characterizations such as 'disjunctive' form versus 'conjunctive' form to resolve difficult issues of statutory construction," but instead must "look at all parts of the statute" | wherein the Supreme Court held the jury may be permitted to see photographs in the penaltydetermination phase that depict the murder victim's body in substantially the same condition in which the defendant left it | unpublished order adopting Magistrate's recommendation denying plaintiff’s motion to remand