GLENDALE HEIGHTS, IL — A man who was convicted of murdering two people in Glendale Heights in 1995 was recently resentenced to natural life in prison.
Joseph Arieta, 49, was 17 years old when he was found guilty of murdering Anthony Moore and Edward Riola. Arieta had shot both men multiple times on March 15, 1995, at an apartment in Glendale Heights.
After he was found guilty in 1996, Arieta was initially sentenced to natural life in prison without parole, which was te mandate for double murders in Illinois at that time.
A first resentencing hearing was held for Arieta in 2017 after a 2012 Supreme Court case had ruled in another case that it was cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a minor to natural life in prison. In that resentencing hearing, Judge George Bakalis ruled, regarding Arieta's sentence, that the "petitioner's original sentence to natural life imprisonment was correct." An appellate court affirmed the sentence in 2021.
Arieta later asserted a due process rights violation was made during this sentencing, as "he was not admonished by the Court at his resentencing of his right to elect to be sentenced under the sentencing provisions in effect at the time of the offense or at the time of resentencing," a news release said.
He was granted a second resentencing hearing, which also resulted in a sentence of natural life in prison.
"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 Robert Berlin said in a statement.
He added, "With Judge Telander's sentence, the final chapter is now written, and Mr. Arrieta's initial sentence of natural life behind bars will stand. I thank Judge Telander for ensuring a fair sentencing hearing and for holding Mr. Arrieta fully accountable for the murder of Anthony Moore and Edward Riola."
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