Questions remain as resentencing initiative championed by Kim Foxx is slow out of the gate in Cook County
Cook County prosecutors’ new effort to reduce sentences for some longtime inmates — hailed by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and other reform advocates as a way to right the wrongs of the tough-on-crime era — will have an uphill climb before some judges, if its first week in court is any indication.
Associate Judge Stanley Sacks sat on the bench with a scowl Thursday as prosecutors presented their request to resentence Charles Miles, who was given a total of 25 years in two burglary cases.
“I’ve been doing this for 30-plus years. I make up my own mind, not Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker, not Kimberly Foxx, either,” he said.
Miles is one of three people initially identified by prosecutors as a candidate for resentencing under a new state law allowing prosecutors to proactively request more lenient sentences for people, though the ultimate decision is still up to a judge.
On the bench Thursday, Sacks insisted that he had not yet made any decisions about whether Miles deserved a new sentence and said he would not weigh in on the statute’s constitutionality.
But he could not disguise his contempt for the idea in general. He repeatedly questioned why Miles had a pro bono attorney in the courtroom if prosecutors were also advocating for his release, and wondered openly if he had jurisdiction to determine a new sentence.
“It’s constitutional? Takes away the governor’s only right? What he does is resentence people through clemency,” Sacks said. “… Isn’t that something for the governor to
