A recent Illinois Supreme Court decision has struck down as unconstitutional a portion of the state's law that criminalizes gun possession.
The court's unanimous ruling in People vs. Burns involves a gun possession case from Cook County. But the ruling raises questions about whether Champaign County prosecutors will be able to sustain on appeal an unlawful possession conviction against Matt Sinclair, a former University of Illinois football player and staff member.
Local lawyer Steve Beckett, who teaches at the UI College of Law, said that, while there are factual differences in the Burns and Sinclair cases, both were convicted under provisions of the law that made gun possession illegal.