CHICAGO — In 1998, Israel Ruiz admitted he shot the “wrong guy” when he killed a man who was holding a child on a Chicago street corner. A jury convicted Ruiz, and a judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
Under Illinois law, murder sentences are not eligible for “good behavior” reductions or other credits. The time must be 100% served. Ruiz will remain in prison until November 3, 2038, unless he dies before that.
However, Ruiz believes he should be released sooner because a 2019 law called the “Youthful Parole Law” gives people convicted of crimes committed before they turned 21 a chance to get out of prison. Ruiz was 18 when he murdered Nathaniel Walls, 29, and narrowly missed 3-year-old Malik Walls, who was in his father’s arms.
The shooting
Walls was standing on the corner of 90th and Brandon, waiting for Malik’s mom to join them on a trip to the grocery store in November 1998. The intersection was a border between Latin Counts and Gangster Disciples gang turf.
Ruiz fired from one side of the intersection toward rivals on the other. He missed his intended targets, instead striking Nathaniel Walls in the head as he held Malik. Walls collapsed upon being shot and fell on top of his son, injuring him, according to a summary included in a 2003 appellate court decision upholding Ruiz’s conviction and sentence.
Cops quickly located the Ford Expedition from which Ruiz fired. As it sped away from the police, someone threw a gun out of the car. Investigators recovered the firearm and determined it was the murder weapon.
Ultimately, Ruiz admitted to police that he shot the “wrong guy” when he killed Walls, the appellate court ruling said.
Youthful parole
The 2019 “Youthful Parole Law” passed with many supporters pointing to a 2013 study that found that human brains do not fully develop until a person is about 25 years old. While supporters often spoke about “children” being handed long sentences for heinous crimes committed as youths, the law applies to convicts who were as old as 20 at the time of the crime.
Ruiz filed a federal lawsuit against state officials in 2022, claiming that a two-tiered justice system—one for people convicted during the “Youthful parole” era and another for people like him—is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge John Blakely dismissed the case last April. Blakely’s opinion cited another court’s finding: “The Eighth Amendment ‘is not a ratchet that makes a harsher system of penalties unconstitutional the moment a more lenient one is adopted, a theory that would have the perverse effect of discouraging lawmakers from ever lowering criminal sentences.'”
Ruiz took the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments last week. Its decision is expected later this year.
Courthouse News Service was the first to report on Ruiz’s appeal.
