{
  "id": 2696977,
  "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Val Jean Wall, Plaintiff in Error",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Wall",
  "decision_date": "1954-05-24",
  "docket_number": "No. 33075",
  "first_page": "11",
  "last_page": "13",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "3 Ill. 2d 11"
    }
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  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill.",
    "id": 8772,
    "name": "Illinois Supreme Court"
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  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
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      "cite": "396 Ill. 11",
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    {
      "cite": "303 Ill. 546",
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      "reporter": "Ill.",
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      "case_paths": [
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    {
      "cite": "392 Ill. 474",
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    {
      "cite": "394 Ill. 173",
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    {
      "cite": "389 Ill. 202",
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      "case_paths": [
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    {
      "cite": "405 Ill. 407",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill.",
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        2626864
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T14:50:14.785774+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Val Jean Wall, Plaintiff in Error."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Maxwell\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nOn February 21, 1941, plaintiff in error, Val Jean Wall, was convicted by a jury in the circuit court of Williamson County of the crime of robbery with a gun. The court sentenced him to the penitentiary \u201cfor a term of years not less than One (1) year or life unless sooner released by due process of law.\u201d\nPlaintiff in error presents his case here on the common-law record, assigning as error that this sentence of the court, reading \u201cnot less than One (1) year or life\u201d is not an indeterminate sentence as is required by the statutes, but constitutes two alternative determinate sentences, one a sentence of one year and another a sentence for life.\nThe penalty fixed by law for the crime of robbery while armed, at the time of this offense, was imprisonment in the penitentiary \u201cfor any term of years not less than one year or for life.\u201d (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 38, par. 501.) It appears therefore that the sentence imposed by the court was in the language of the statute save for the omission of the word \u201cfor\u201d immediately preceding the word \u201clife.\u201d\nPlaintiff in error\u2019s contention is that this omission makes the sentence imposed upon him two alternative determinate sentences. Such a contention is untenable.\nWe have repeatedly held that the penalty imposed by law for the specific crime must be read into every sentence imposed by the courts. (People v. Butler, 405 Ill. 407; People v. Brown, 389 Ill. 202; People v. Green, 394 Ill. 173; People v. Dee, 392 Ill. 474.) The verdict determines the character of the crime and the penalty is provided by law. (People v. Secco, 303 Ill. 546; People v. Ross, 396 Ill. 11.) A sentence for the crime of armed robbery must be an indeterminate sentence under section 2 of the Sentence and Parole Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 38, par. 802.) It is apparent, therefore, that the court was wholly without jurisdiction or authority to impose any sentence other than the indeterminate sentence provided for in the statutes.\nPlaintiff in error concedes that a sentence reading \u201cone year or for life\u201d would be a proper indeterminate sentence. We see no grammatical difference in that from \u201cone year or life.\u201d The distinction is without a difference.\nThe plaintiff in error having been properly sentenced for an indeterminate sentence of not less than one year and not more than life as provided by statute for the crime of which he was convicted, the judgment of the circuit court of Williamson County is affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Maxwell"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Val Jean Wall, pro se.",
      "Latham Castle, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Carl D. Sneed, State\u2019s Attorney, of Marion, (Fred G. Leach, George W. Schwaner, Jr., and Robert L. Butler, of counsel,) for the People."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "(No. 33075.\nThe People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Val Jean Wall, Plaintiff in Error.\nOpinion filed May 24, 1954.\nVal Jean Wall, pro se.\nLatham Castle, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Carl D. Sneed, State\u2019s Attorney, of Marion, (Fred G. Leach, George W. Schwaner, Jr., and Robert L. Butler, of counsel,) for the People."
  },
  "file_name": "0011-01",
  "first_page_order": 11,
  "last_page_order": 13
}