People v. Ascencio

── People v. Ascencio ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: May 11, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 241534-U FIRST DIVISION May 11, 2026 No. 1-24-1534 NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) ) Appeal from the Respondent-Appellee, ) Circuit Court of ) Cook County. v. ) ) No. 08 CR 02058 01 JAVIER ASCENCIO, ) ) Honorable Petitioner-Appellant. ) Joanne F. Rosado, ) Judge Presiding. ) PRESIDING JUSTICE FITZGERALD SMITH delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Howse and Cobbs concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: The circuit court’s second-stage dismissal of the successive postconviction petition is affirmed where the petitioner failed to establish cause for not raising his youth- based proportionate penalties challenge to his mandatory natural life sentence in an earlier proceeding. ¶2 The petitioner, Javier Ascencio, appeals from the second-stage dismissal of his successive petition filed pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West No. 1-24-1534 2020)). On appeal, he contends that dismissal was improper because he made a substantial showing that his mandatory natural life sentence, imposed for a crime he committed when he was 18 years old, was unconstitutional, as applied to him, under the Illinois proportionate penalties clause (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 11). For the following reasons, we affirm. 1 ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 Because the procedural history of this case and the evidence adduced at the petitioner’s trial are fully articulated in our decisions addressing the petitioner’s direct appeal (People v. Ascencio, 2012 IL App (1st) 100378 (unpublished order pursuant to Rule 23) (Ascencio I)), and the dismissal of his initial postconviction petition (People v. Ascencio, 2015 IL App (1st) 131790- U (Ascencio II)), we set forth only those facts relevant to the resolution of the issues raised herein. ¶5 This cause of action stems from a shooting, which occurred on May 5, 2007, at a warehouse at 4615 West Huron in Chicago, and resulted in the deaths of two victims (Guillermo Ortega and Rigoberto Castaneda) and injuries to two others (Edgar Irenio and Denisse Del Real). The petitioner was charged with, inter alia, two counts of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery for his involvement in the shooting. ¶6 In December 2009, the petitioner proceeded with a jury trial at which the following summarized evidence was adduced. In the early morning hours of May 5, 2007, about 60 and 100 people, including members of several rival gangs, attended a party at the warehouse. After tensions escalated between the Gangster Disciples and the Latin Kings, the petitioner, then age 18, displayed a gang sign, shouted “King Love,” and fired his gun 5 to 10 times into the crowd, injuring