Man gets life sentence, again, for 1995 double murder
A man has been sentenced again to life in prison for a 1995 double murder in Glendale Heights.
But this time he is eligible for parole, unlike when he was first sentenced.
Joseph Arrieta, 49, of Aurora, was sentenced for the second time on Tuesday by DuPage County Judge Brian Telander.
Arrieta was convicted in March 1996 of killing Anthony Moore and Edward Riola.
He was 17 at the time of the crime. Arrieta shot both men multiple times, at close range, while the three were drinking beer and playing cards in an apartment.
Moore made it to a bedroom after being shot. Arrieta discovered he was still alive and shot Moore again, as he lay on his back on the floor.
At the time, state law mandated a person be sentenced to natural life in prison, without the possibility of parole, in cases involving double murder.
But in 2012, the Supreme Court decided that a mandatory sentence of natural life for people under age 18 violated the Constitution’s 8th Amendment. That amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Judges still can impose life sentences on teenage defendants if the accused shows “irretrievable depravity, permanent incorrigibility, or irreparable corruption beyond the possibility of rehabilitation,” according to the Supreme Court. People were eligible to be sentenced again.
In October 2017, DuPage Judge George Bakalis ruled the original sentence was correct. That was affirmed by the state’s 2nd District Appellate Court in 2021.
But Arrieta asked for reconsideration because Bakalis did not tell him he had a right to choose whether to be resentenced under the original law or the law in effect at the time of resentencing.
“After an initial sentence of natural life behind bars, a resentencing hearing, an appellate court affirmation and now a second resentencing hearing, all of which resulted in a sentence of natural life, Mr. Arrieta has exhausted any and all claims he may have had to reduce his sentence for a vicious double murder,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said. “With Judge Telander’s sentence, the final chapter is now written, and Mr. Arrieta’s initial sentence of natural life behind bars will stand.”
ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com