People v. Jamison

              Supreme Court Summaries
Opinions filed May 22, 2008
No. 104852 People v. Jamison
Appellate citation: 373 Ill. App. 3d 902.
JUSTICE KARMEIER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Chief Justice Thomas and Justices Freeman, Fitzgerald, Kilbride, Garman, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.
This Cook County appeal involves the correct assessment of fines in connection with the defendant’s conviction for a 2003 burglary. The merits of the underlying conviction are not at issue. In 2007, after Jamison had sought leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, his cause was remanded to the appellate court for reconsideration in light of a supreme court decision concerning fines which had been issued in 2006. On that remand, the appellate court again reached the same result, upholding a $20 penalty imposed under the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Act. Jamison complained that the wording of the provision under which he was assessed $20 states that it is applicable when “no other fine is imposed.” He had already been penalized $4 which is payable, pursuant to statute, to the Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund. In People v. Jones, 223 Ill. 2d 569 (2006), the Illinois Supreme Court had held this $4 criminal conviction surcharge should properly be characterized as a fine for purposes of determining whether it was a charge against which the offender in that case was entitled to credit for presentence incarceration.
In this decision, the supreme court followed its 2006 decision holding the $4 surcharge to be a fine, and, consequently, held that Jamison could not be assessed $20 for the violent crime victims’ fund.
However, the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Act has another fine provision which is applicable. It is not excluded when other fines have been imposed. It calls for “an additional penalty of $4 for each $40, or fraction thereof, of fine imposed.” In this decision, the supreme court explained how the amount of this fine is determined. It is not calculated as a percent, but as $4 for each $40 of fine.