People v. Mescall

Defendant, Thomas R. Mescall, appeals from the dismissal of his petition pursuant to section 2 — 1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2 — 1401 (West 2002)), in which he sought relief from an allegedly void sentence. He contends that the trial court erred in dismissing his petition sua sponte and without notice to him. We agree, and thus we vacate the dismissal. Also, defendant asserts for the first time on appeal that his convictions of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child (720 ILCS 5/12 — 14.1(a)(1) (West 1996)) are void because that offense did not exist during…