Double Murder Convict Resentenced To Life In Prison For 1995 Slaying Of Glendale Heights Men

GLEN ELLYN, IL — More than two decades his conviction for double murder, a former Aurora man has been re-sentenced to natural life in prison without parole. Joseph Arrieta, 40, was just 17 when he was charged in the 1995 murders of Anthony Moore and Edward Riola, both of Glendale Heights. Arrieta was convicted the following year and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Sentencing hearings were not necessary at that time by Illinois law, but a Arrieta's sentence was brought into question when a 2012 Supreme Court ruled automatic life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional.

Arrieta had been living with Riola and Moore when he claimed he killed them in self-defense, according to a Chicago Tribune article from 1996. Evidence showed, however, that one of the victims had been shot six times and that Moore went back into the room to shoot Moore again to "make sure he was dead," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a recent statement.

Glendale Heights Police then received an emergency call from Riola as he lay dying. He told them, "Joe" had done it.

After an investigation, police took Arrieta into custody and charged him in the double murder. Following Arrieta's 1996 conviction, former DuPage County State's Attorney called it "a cold-blooded, intentional double murder."

Arrieta then received a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

The 2012 Supreme Court decision Miller v. Alabama deemed mandatory life sentences for juveniles to be unconstitutional and brought Arrieta's case back into the public eye again. After Arrieta's resentencing, Berlin clarified that this does not mean juveniles can't be sentenced to life in prison, but rather that the sentencing cannot be automatic.

He added that, "[Arrieta] earned his natural life sentence on March 15, 1995 – the day he murdered two innocent men."

>>Image via Illinois Department of Corrections