Sentenced to 36 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an employee of the treatment facility where he lived as a 15-year-old ward of the state, Ronald Patterson challenged the constitutionality of the statute that automatically transferred his case from juvenile to criminal court. Patterson argued “the mandatory transfer of certain minors from juvenile court to adult criminal court under the relevant portion of Section 5-130 of the Juvenile Court Act” violated “the Eighth …