People v. Artis

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

The issues in this appeal are whether this court should abandon the one-act, one-crime doctrine of People v. King, 66 Ill. 2d 551 (1977), and if not, whether the State should be allowed to exercise its prosecutorial discretion on appeal to choose which conviction should survive and which should be vacated, where both offenses are of the same legislative classification.

BACKGROUND

In September 2003, defendant, Maurice A. Artis, entered a plea of guilty in the circuit…