Lawmakers to consider decisions presented by Illinois Supreme Court SPRINGFIELD — In its annual report to the General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court asked lawmakers to consider seven decisions it issued during 2020, including three in criminal cases. The three criminal law cases pertain to three separate areas of the state’s criminal code: stalking, regulations
Lawmakers to consider decisions presented by Illinois Supreme Court
SPRINGFIELD — In its annual report to the General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court asked lawmakers to consider seven decisions it issued during 2020, including three in criminal cases.
The three criminal law cases pertain to three separate areas of the state’s criminal code: stalking, regulations for sex offenders in public spaces and obstruction of justice by providing false information.
Chief Justice Anne Burke wrote in a letter prefacing the report that summaries of the decisions “are offered for the General Assembly’s consideration.”
“In offering these cases, the Court is mindful of the distinct roles of the General Assembly and the Court. While we intend no intrusion upon the prerogatives of the General Assembly in the exercise of its authority, we do respectfully offer these cases for your consideration and look forward to the General Assembly’s continued responsiveness and support,” Burke wrote.
Under the Illinois Constitution, the court is required through a “judicial conference” to submit an annual report to the Legislature providing an update on the work of the courts and suggesting “improvements in the administration of justice.”
The annual report includes the decisions for “consideration,” as well as an update on the court’s strategic plan and goals related to the strategic plan.
State Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, who was chair of the Senate Criminal Law committee in the previous General Assembly, said it’s important for lawmakers to recognize areas in the law where the court has identified the need for additional clarification.
“I think these cases that the court has identified, they are ones specifically that the court has said, ‘here are areas where we think we can improve state government, and additionally, how it plays into the strategic plan, and the strategic vision of the courts,’” said Sims, who is a lawyer at Foley and Lardner LLP in Chicago.
Sims said he’s interested in looking at ways to “clean up” some of the language in a section of the stalking statute that was at issue in People v. Marshall Ashley.
In that case, Marshall Ashley was charged with stalking after sending text messages to his ex-girlfriend telling her he could “can make (her) suffer if (he) want(ed) to,” he “got guns,” and a picture of a gun.
The statute defines stalking as two or more threats that the charged person knows or should know would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress.
Ashley’s defense argued this section of the stalking statute is too broad because it criminalizes lawful threats covered by the First Amendment.
The Illinois Supreme Court ultimately decided that the Legislature meant “threats” to mean “true threats” of unlawful violence that are not protected by the First Amendment and concluded the statute does not infringe on free speech rights.
The second criminal case referenced in the annual report is People v. Patrick Legoo.
In that case, Legoo, a registered sex offender, was convicted of violating the section of the statute that prohibits sex offenders from being in or near a public park because he was at the park to retrieve his son.
Legoo argued the criminal statute forbidding sex offenders from being present in public parks conflicts directly with another section in the statute that allows for sex offenders who are parents or guardians of children to be present at a public park with their child.
The Illinois Supreme Court upheld his conviction. The court ruled that the section that provides an exception for parents and guardians who are sex offenders should be read entirely separate from the section prohibiting sex offenders from public parks.
The final criminal case referenced in the Supreme Court’s report is People v. Rasheed Casler.
In that case, Rasheed Casler was convicted of obstructing justice for furnishing false information when he gave police officers a fake name. Casler appealed his conviction, arguing that providing a false name — or “furnishing false information” — did not qualify as obstruction of justice in his case under the statute because that action did not stop his arrest from moving forward, or “materially impede” his arrest.
The Illinois Supreme Court agreed with Casler and reversed his conviction. The court decided an obstruction of justice conviction for “furnishing false information” requires the court to find the false information must have “materially impeded” the arrest or investigation.
This new element of requiring a material impediment to offenses of obstructing justice for furnishing false information was essentially added by the Supreme Court, said Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield.
“And they added something that is not what, in my view, the Legislature intended when it was passed and signed into law,” McClure, a former State’s Attorney and previously a member of the Senate Criminal Law committee, said in an interview with Capitol News Illinois.
“Writing legislation that’s clear and not ambiguous is our job and the fact that the court has to clarify that is unfortunate. But it’s also unfortunate when, in my opinion, the court then decides to also clarify something that didn’t need to be clarified and add an element, which was totally, in my view, against what the plain language of the statute says…The fact that it was ambiguous is unfortunate, and I think it’s something the Legislature needs to address.”
McClure said he plans to draft a bill to clarify the obstruction of justice statute in the upcoming session.
The 24 most unique town names in Illinois
Unusual town names in Illinois
We’ve got nothing but love for odd town names, because we are the home of Normal, after all. Some of these names are silly, others are simple, and all of them have pun potential.
Goofy Ridge
Let’s start with the town that actually has humor in its name. According to Wikipedia, the area was originally called “The Ridge,” a camp near the river bank. After some serious drinking one night, a local game warden said he wasn’t too drunk to shoot a walnut off the head of a volunteer. Naturally, someone was drunk enough to volunteer. The game warden placed the tiny target on the volunteer’s head, aimed his .22 rifle, and shot the nut right off. This caper was called by a witness “one damned goofy thing to do,” and the camp was ever after known as Goofy Ridge. (Wikipedia)
Normal
Normal was laid out with the name North Bloomington on June 7, 1854 by Joseph Parkinson. The town was renamed to Normal in February 1865 and officially incorporated on February 25, 1867. The name was taken from Illinois State Normal University—called a “normal school,” as it was a teacher-training institution. It has since been renamed Illinois State University after becoming a general four-year university. (Wikipedia)
Birds
Birds is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County. According to Wikipedia, a Birds resident named Bob Rose became the “most distinguished Reggie Redbird mascot at Illinois State University in 1978.” Rose is quoted as saying, “As a boy growing up in Birds, I always dreamed of being the most famous of all Illinois birds, the Redbird. I remember feeling very homesick when I arrived at Illinois State. But, the first time I became Reggie, I felt I could take my Birds nest anywhere and feel at home. I thank Birds for inspiring me to take on the challenge of being Reggie and for allowing me to spread my wings and fly.” (Wikipedia)
Oblong
Oblong is a village in Crawford County. Incorporated in 1883, the village was originally a crossroads; when the village decided to incorporate, it was named after a rectangular prairie on the outskirts of the community. (Wikipedia)
Beardstown
Beardstown is a city in Cass County. The population was 6,123 at the 2010 census.
Beardstown was first settled by Thomas Beard in 1819; he erected a log cabin at the edge of the Illinois River, from which he traded with the local Native Americans and ran a ferry. The town was laid out in 1827 and was incorporated as a city in 1896.
The town is also the site of famous Lincoln/Douglas debate at the Beardstown Courthouse. A Lincoln Museum is on the second floor of the courthouse along with many Native American relics. (Wikipedia)
Muddy
Muddy is a small incorporated village located in the Harrisburg Township in Saline County. It was built as a coal mining village to house miners working in O’gara #12 mine located on the north bank of the Saline River. Until 2002, it held the smallest post office in the United States. (Wikipedia)
Sandwich
Sandwich is a city in DeKalb, Kendall, and LaSalle counties. Politician “Long John” Wentworth named it after his home of Sandwich, New Hampshire.
Sandwich is the home of the Sandwich Fair, which first started as an annual livestock show in DeKalb County. Held yearly, the Wednesday–Sunday after Labor Day since 1888, it is one of the oldest continuing county fairs in the state of Illinois, drawing daily crowds of more than 100,000, with the top attendance days reaching more than 200,000 fair-goers. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns with unique nouns for names: Bath, Diamond, Energy, Equality, Flora, Justice, Liberty, Magnolia, and Pearl.
Ransom
Ransom is a village in LaSalle County. It was a planned community; ads were placed in the Streator Monitor as early as 1876 calling for shopkeepers, craftsmen, and tradesmen to locate and set up shop in the area. In 1885, the village of Ransom was officially incorporated. The village was named for American Civil War General Thomas E.G. Ransom, who was born in Vermont but lived as a young man in Illinois. (Wikipedia)
Standard
Standard is a village in Putnam County. The population was 220 at the 2010 census.
Normal is another Illinois town with a rather average name.
Cairo
Cairo is the southernmost city in Illinois. Generally pronounced care-o by natives and kay-ro by others, it’s located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers—this part of Illinois is known as Little Egypt. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns with international names include Athens, Belgium, Canton, Columbia, Crete, Havana, Palestine, Panama, Paris, Peru, Rome, and Venice.
And there are plenty of other U.S. towns named Cairo—they’re located in Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and West Virginia.
Wyoming
Wyoming is a city in Stark County. It was founded on May 3, 1836 by General Samuel Thomas, a veteran of the War of 1812. He and many of the other early settlers came from the state of Pennsylvania. It is for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania that the city is named. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns that share names with U.S. states include Kansas, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia.
Golf
Golf is a village in Cook County. The community is primarily residential, and has a dedicated police department, post office, and Metra train stop; it has a total area of 0.45 square miles. (Wikipedia)
Aside from Golf, there is also a town named Polo in Illinois—that makes two towns that share names with sports. Golf and Polo are also Volkswagen vehicle models. Two other Illinois towns that share names with auto makers are Plymouth and Pontiac.
Boody
Boody is an unincorporated census-designated place in Macon County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 276.
Mechanicsburg
Mechanicsburg is a village in Sangamon County. The population was 456 at the 2000 census. (Wikipedia)
There are a few other Illinois towns that share their names with occupations, including Farmer City, Mason City, Piper City, Prophetstown, and Carpentersville.
Hometown
Hometown is a city in Cook County. It was developed after World War II, targeting former GIs and their families. It borders the city of Chicago along 87th Street between Cicero Avenue and Pulaski Road.
Time
Time is a village in Pike County. The population was 29 at the 2000 census.
Royal
Royal is a village in Champaign County. The population was 293 at the 2010 census.
Benld
Benld is a city in Macoupin County. Founded in 1903, the name derives from founder Benjamin L. Dorsey. Dorsey was responsible for gaining the land on which the town was built and coal mining rights. When it came time to name the village, he took the combination of his first name and his middle and last initial.
On September 29, 1938, a meteorite landed in Benld, marking only the third meteorite landing in Illinois since records were kept. The meteorite was also one of the few known meteorites to strike a man-made object, punching a hole in the roof of a man’s garage and embedding itself in the seat of his 1928 Pontiac Coupe. A neighbor was standing about 50 feet from the impact and may be the individual who came closest to being struck by a meteorite in history up to that time. The meteorite and portions of the car are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. (Wikipedia)
Bone Gap
Bone Gap is a village in Edwards County. French trappers knew this area before it was permanently settled. They referred to it as “Bon Pas,” which translates to “good step.” Kentuckians modified the name to “Bone Pass,” as though it were a “pass” through a mountain range. This was then changed to “Bone Gap.”
An alternative story about the origin of Bone Gap’s name involves a small band of Piankashaw Indians who established a village in a gap in the trees a short distance east of present day Bone Gap. Several years later early American settlers found a pile of bones discarded by the Indians near their encampment-hence the name Bone Gap as given to the white man’s village established about the 1830s. (Wikipedia)
Equality
Equality is a village in Gallatin County. The population was 721 at the 2000 census.
Industry
Industry is a village in McDonough County. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 540.
Joy
Joy is a village in Mercer County. The population was 373 at the 2000 census.
Mineral
Mineral is a village in Bureau County. The population was 237 at the 2010 census, down from 272 people in 2000.
The area in which Mineral is located was first settled in the early 1830s. The land just south of the current village was found to be ripe with coal, hence the town’s name. (Wikipedia)
Lost Nation
Lost Nation is an unincorporated census-designated place in Ogle County. It’s located south of the city of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, its population was 708.
There is another Lost Nation located in Iowa, 95 miles due west.
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