People v. Seymore

Summary

The Illinois Supreme Court held that a trial court’s order imposing a 30-day county-jail sanction for violating a condition of pretrial release was a final and appealable order, rather than an interlocutory order appealable under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 604(h). The court further held that the defendant was not entitled to apply good-behavior credit to the sanction because the sanction was not a sentence under the County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act. The court also applied the public-interest exception to mootness.

Holdings

1. A trial-court order imposing a 30-day imprisonment sanction under section 110-6(f)(2) for violating a pretrial-release condition is a final and appealable order because it finally resolves a distinct collateral matter and leaves only execution of the order.
2. The public-interest exception to mootness applied to permit review of whether a defendant is entitled to good-conduct credit against a 30-day imprisonment sanction under section 110-6(f)(2).
3. The State did not forfeit its argument that the Behavior Allowance Act does not apply to the imprisonment sanction by failing to raise that issue in the appellate court.
4. A defendant is not entitled to good-conduct credit against a 30-day imprisonment sanction imposed under section 110-6(f)(2) because the sanction is not a sentence under section 3 of the County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appellate court had jurisdiction over Seymore's appeal from the 30-day imprisonment sanction imposed for violating a pretrial-release condition.
2. Whether the otherwise moot appeal fell within the public-interest exception to the mootness doctrine.
3. Whether the State forfeited its argument concerning application of the County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act by failing to raise it in the appellate court.
4. Whether a 30-day imprisonment sanction under section 110-6(f)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a sentence eligible for good-conduct credit under section 3 of the County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act.

Disposition

reversed