Attorney general's office 'reviewing' ex-Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke's sentence
CHICAGO _ In a highly unorthodox move, the Illinois Attorney General's office is "reviewing" former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke's relatively lenient prison sentence, a spokeswoman for the office said Thursday.
"We are going to do a careful review of the record and the law and make a determination based on our review," spokeswoman Maura Possley said in an email.
Possley declined to elaborate on what exactly the office is examining, but legal experts told the Tribune the attorney general may try to persuade a higher court to force a re-sentencing or have state lawmakers reconsider the state's somewhat confusing sentencing laws.
Last week, former Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul was sworn in as attorney general just days before Van Dyke was sentenced to less than seven years in prison for shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Last fall, a Cook County jury found Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery, making him the first Chicago police officer in half a century to be convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting.
Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke under the less stringent second-degree murder statute, not for the aggravated batteries that could have led to a potentially much longer prison sentence.
_Chicago Tribune
