People v. Fields

This appeal arises from defendant Johnny Fields’ conviction for delivery of a controlled substance, a Class 2 felony (720 ILCS 570/ 401(d) (West 2004)), for which he was sentenced as a Class X offender based on his prior convictions to an eight-year prison term. On appeal, defendant contends that the mandatory provisions of the Class 2 sentencing statute (730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—1(a)(5) (West 2004)) and the mandatory Class X sentencing provisions (730 ILCS 5/5 — 5—3(c)(8) (West 2004)) are in direct conflict and ambiguous and, therefore, the rule of lenity requires that he be sentenced under the…