People v. Rodriguez

── People v. Rodriguez ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: May 26, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 231386-U SECOND DIVISION May 26, 2026 No. 1-23-1386 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 ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County ) v. ) 08 CR 21347 ) ) SEBASTIAN RODRIGUEZ, ) Honorable ) Neera Lall Walsh Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding _____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE ELLIS delivered the judgment of the court. Justices McBride and D.B. Walker concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: Affirmed. Defendant’s sentence of 45 years is not unconstitutional. Sentencing court properly considered relevant mitigating factors. ¶2 A jury convicted Sebastian Rodriguez of first-degree murder for the October 2008 shooting death of Sameere Conn. At the time of the shooting, Rodriguez was 15 years old; his victim was 13. The trial court sentenced him to 50 years in prison. As the case law concerning juvenile sentencing rapidly evolved, his case bounced between this court and our supreme court until we finally remanded this matter for a new sentencing hearing, the one before us now. ¶3 The trial court sentenced Rodriguez to 45 years in prison. He appeals, arguing that his sentence is unconstitutional, as he was given a de facto life sentence without a finding that he is No. 1-23-1386 irredeemable. He also argues the court erred in its consideration of the mandatory factors applicable to juvenile sentencing. We disagree on both counts and affirm. ¶4 BACKGROUND ¶5 This is Rodriguez’s third visit to this court, as Rodriguez mounted sentencing challenges while the legal landscape on juvenile sentencing evolved. The details of his case are laid out in the first two appellate opinions. See People v. Rodriguez, 2017 IL App (1st) 141379, vacated by People v. Rodriguez, No. 122467 (Jan. 18, 2018)); People v. Rodriguez, 2018 IL App (1st) 141379-B, vacated by People v. Rodriguez, No. 123769 (March 25, 2020). We summarize only the facts necessary to address the issues in this appeal. ¶6 The State charged Rodriguez with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Sameere Conn on October 1, 2008. At the time of the shooting, Rodriguez was 15 years old, but due to the law at the time, he was automatically transferred to adult criminal court, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced. ¶7 In 2008, Rodriguez and Conn went to the same school together and had a dispute. A group of boys at the school had attacked Rodriguez once because of his Mexican heritage. Conn was a part of the group but did not participate in the attack. Before the shooting, one of their classmates, Kionte Lilly, spoke with the two of them in a three-way phone call, during which Rodriguez told Conn that he was on a “death list.” ¶8 Another one of Conn’s friends, Mario Martin