People v. Sevilla

The defendant, Leota L. Sevilla, was indicted by a grand jury in Cook County for knowingly failing to file a retailers’ occupation tax return for January 1985 where the amount due was $300 or more, and for knowingly failing to remit the concomitant tax payment. Each charge was brought pursuant to section 13 of the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 120, par. 452). The indictment charged the defendant with knowingly failing to act, even though the statute did not indicate that the offense included a mental state element.

At trial, the defendant sought to raise a…