Bonnie Liltz, the chronically ill Schaumburg mother sentenced to four years in prison for the death of her severely disabled daughter, has been released pending an appellate review of her sentencing.
Liltz's deteriorating health has been a cause of concern since she was placed behind bars earlier this year and her attorney, Tom Glasgow, cited that as the reason he asked that Liltz be released on bond during the review of her sentence.
In his motion, Glasgow wrote, "The court abused its discretion in sentencing Liltz to prison." He charged Thursday, "The Court’s comments strongly suggest that it never considered probation" though the statute allows for it.
The appellate court agreed to allow Liltz out on bond Thursday and she could walk free as early as Thursday evening, officials said.
"I'm just shocked," Liltz said as her attorney told her the news.
"I was absolutely pleased," Glasgow said Thursday. "In the twenty plus years that I’ve been practicing law I have never either seen as a prosecutor or as a defense attorney an appellate bond be granted. I was quite pleased.”
Liltz was transported to downstate Lincoln Correctional Center in June to serve her four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for killing her daughter during a botched murder-suicide. One day later, her lawyer was back in court filing a motion to free her.
In his filing, Glasgow argued Liltz's health had radically deteriorated while she was initially held at County Jail, noting that her weight had dropped to just 92 pounds. The Illinois prison system, he wrote, is not equipped to deal with her litany of medical issues stemming from ovarian cancer in her youth and radical gastric issues now.
From the beginning, this has been a most unusual case.
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Liltz, severely ill, thought she was dying one night in May of 2015. Fearing that her 28-year-old daughter Courtney, who she adopted at the age of 5, would be sent to a state institution, Liltz gave her a number of medications before taking several herself in hopes that they would both overdose. Courtney died, and Liltz survived.
Initially charged with first-degree murder, even the prosecution agreed the charge should be downgraded and that probation, not prison, was in order.
Defense attorney Glasgow at the time said, "I think the state looked at the facts in this case, ended up coming to a just result."
But Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joel Greenblatt strongly disagreed, sentencing Lilitz to four years in prison, saying, "The choice you made that night was not an act of love. It was a crime."
"She has lived a very challenging life," Glasgow said Thursday. "She has been dealt a very poor hand by God."
"I think it’s in the best interest of justice that she is released and she is able to get that care and the state did not object," he added.
