Officer’s lawyers: No resentencing needed in fatal shooting

Officer's lawyers: No resentencing needed in fatal shooting | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2019 file photo, former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke attends his sentencing hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago, for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. Illinois' attorney general is holding a news conference with the prosecutor who won a conviction against the white Chicago police officer who killed black teenager Laquan McDonald. Neither Attorney General Kwame Raoul nor Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon have said what Monday's news conference is about. It comes after Raoul's office signaled that it may ask the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene over what prosecutors see as a too lenient sentence for Jason Van Dyke. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)

CHICAGO – Lawyers for the white Chicago police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald say prosecutors have no right to challenge his nearly 7-year prison term.

Attorneys for Jason Van Dyke made the arguments in a filing Monday with the Illinois Supreme Court. They say the sentence is consistent with state law.

Illinois’ attorney general and the case’s special prosecutor have filed a petition to the high court, disputing the legal basis the judge used to sentence Van Dyke.

Van Dyke was convicted last year of second-degree murder and 16 aggravated battery counts. A judge sentenced him last month on just the second-degree murder conviction, ruling it was more serious.

Prosecutors want the 40-year-old sentenced on the aggravated battery counts, which could result in a longer prison term.

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