People v. Hobbs

Defendant, Cecil Leon Hobbs, was convicted in a Champaign County circuit court jury trial of theft with a prior theft conviction, a Class 4 felony (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 16 — 1(e)). His appeal to the appellate court resulted in an affirmance of the conviction, but a reversal of the extended-term sentence of 6 years which that court held to constitute an abuse of the sentencing judge’s discretion. (90 Ill. App. 3d 587.) We allowed the State’s petition for leave to appeal.

The property stolen was five bottles of whiskey which defendant and another took from an Eisner food store on…