No Resentencing For Convict In Unborn Baby's Death
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Convicted murderer David Biro is not eligible for a new sentencing hearing in the death of the unborn child of the Winnetka couple he killed over two decades ago, a Cook County judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan said Thursday that Biro's "discretionary" life sentence for the intentional homicide of an unborn child was not covered by a 2014 state Supreme Court ruling granting new sentencing hearings to people sentenced to life in prison for murders committed when they were under 18.
The ruling by state's high court was based on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared mandatory life sentences "cruel and unusual" when issued to convicts who were children when they committed their crimes.
Biro was a 16-year-old junior at New Trier High School at the time of the 1990 crime and can be resentenced for the fatal shootings of Nancy and Richard Langert.
"The petitioner has failed to make a substantial showing of a constitutional violation involving his discretionary life sentence," Brosnahan said in her 18-page ruling.
Biro, now 42, was not in court Thursday.
Defense attorney Thomas Brandstrader said he was "disappointed" by Brosnahan's decision.
"The issue is currently before Illinois Supreme Court," Brandstrader said in an email. "We will be considering an appeal of today's ruling."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)