People v. Flowers

The issue in this case is whether a criminal defendant who has pleaded guilty may challenge the validity of her sentence on appeal where she did not file the postjudgment motion required by Supreme Court Rule 604 (145 Ill. 2d R. 604) until after the circuit court’s subject matter jurisdiction had expired. For the reasons that follow, we hold that she may not.

The defendant, Eleanor Flowers, was indicted in Will County in November of 1998 on seven counts of forgery (720 ILCS 5/17 — 3(a)(2) (West 1998)). The indictments were issued in three separate cases, but the proceedings were subsequently…