People v. Byrnes

Mr. JUSTICE THOMAS J. MORAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The State appeals questioning the trial court’s authority to dismiss, on its own motion, a Class 1 felony indictment against the defendant, who, found mentally incompetent to stand trial, had spent five years in State mental institutions.

On June 2, 1969, the defendant (mentally retarded in the moderate to severe range) was indicted on one count of indecent liberties with a child, a Class 1 felony, and one count of contributing to the sexual delinquency of a child, a misdemeanor. In July of that year, a jury found him mentally…