{
  "id": 2504819,
  "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Charles W. Brown, Plaintiff in Error",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Brown",
  "decision_date": "1945-01-17",
  "docket_number": "No. 28284",
  "first_page": "202",
  "last_page": "204",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "389 Ill. 202"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill.",
    "id": 8772,
    "name": "Illinois Supreme Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "377 Ill. 241",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill.",
      "case_ids": [
        2546835
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ill/377/0241-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
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    "ocr_confidence": 0.799,
    "pagerank": {
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    "simhash": "1:29a454260c86e6ad",
    "word_count": 595
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:15:43.220958+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Charles W. Brown, Plaintiff in Error."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Stone\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nPlaintiff in error was found guilty of burglary and larceny in the circuit court of DeKalb county and was sentenced March 1, 1944, to the Illinois State Penitentiary for a term of one year to life. He brings the cause here contending that the court had no jurisdiction to impose such sentence but that it should have fixed in the sentence the minimum and maximum limits of his imprisonment.\nSection 36 of division I of the Criminal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. L943, chap. 38, par. 84,) declares that upon conviction of the crime with which plaintiff in error was charged, and of which he was found guilty, the penalty shall be imprisonment \u201cin the penitentiary for any term of years not less than one year or for life.\u201d The judgment entered in \u2022this case was on a plea of guilty and a finding by the court \u201cthat said defendant is guilty of Burglary and Larceny in manner and form as charged in the first count of said Indictment on said plea of guilty.\u201d He was sentenced \u201cto the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet, for a term of one year to life.\u201d This is the punishment as fixed by the statute.\nThe Parole Act, as amended in L943, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1943, chap. 38, par. 802,) provides that the trial court, upon conviction of an offense subject to an indeterminate sentence, shall fix a minimum and maximum limit of the duration of imprisonment. The language of the act here applicable is as follows: \u201cThe minimum limit fixed by the court may be greater but shall not be less than the minimum term provided by law for the offense and the maximum limit fixed by the court may be less but shall not be greater than the maximum term provided by law therefor. * * * It shall be deemed and taken as a part of every such sentence, as fully as though written therein, that the Division of Correction, by and with the approval of the Governor in the nature of a release or commutation of sentence or commitment, may terminate the term of such imprisonment or commitment earlier than the maximum fixed by the court, as provided in Section 9.\u201d Under this section, it will be seen that the court is not required, in sentencing the accused, to fix a minimum or maximum limit of duration of imprisonment different from the penalty imposed by law on conviction of the crime, though it may do so within the limitations provided in the act.\nThe penalty fixed by law is, in all cases of conviction, written into the judgment of the court. (People ex rel. Ewald v. Montgomery, 377 Ill. 241.) Under provisions of section 2 of the Parole Act, the Division of Correction was empowered to terminate the term of imprisonment earlier than the maximum fixed by the court upon compliance with conditions therein provided. The clear mean-\u2019 ing of the language of the judgment \u201cof one year to life\u201d is that the minmum limit of the duration of imprisonment should be one year and the maximum limit life. This was in accordance with the statute fixing the punishment for the crime. There is no error in the judgment and it is affirmed.\n, , Judgment affirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Stone"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Charles W. Brown, pro se.",
      "George F. Barrett, Attorney General, and Ross E. MiLLETT, State\u2019s Attorney, of Sycamore, for the People."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "(No. 28284.\nThe People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, vs. Charles W. Brown, Plaintiff in Error.\nOpinion filed January 17, 1945.\nCharles W. Brown, pro se.\nGeorge F. Barrett, Attorney General, and Ross E. MiLLETT, State\u2019s Attorney, of Sycamore, for the People."
  },
  "file_name": "0202-01",
  "first_page_order": 202,
  "last_page_order": 204
}