Opinion ID: 3135205
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Post-Wisslead/Pre-Davis

Text: For the next 13 years after Wisslead , this court rejected almost all of the cross-comparison proportionate penalties arguments brought before the court. See People v. Steppan , 105 Ill. 2d 310 (1985); People v. Bryant , 128 Ill. 2d 448 (1989); People v. Wade , 131 Ill. 2d 370 (1989); People v. Simmons , 145 Ill. 2d 264 (1991); People v. Johns , 153 Ill. 2d 436 (1992); People v. Hickman , 163 Ill. 2d 250 (1994); People v. Lee , 167 Ill. 2d 140 (1995); People v. Bailey , 167 Ill. 2d 210 (1995); People v. Miller , 171 Ill. 2d 330 (1996). In most of these cases, the defendant made his argument under both the due process clause and the proportionate penalties clause. See Steppan , 105 Ill. 2d at 318-19; Bryant , 128 Ill. 2d at 454; Wade , 131 Ill. 2d at 376; Hickman , 163 Ill. 2d at 258; Lee , 167 Ill. 2d at 144; Miller , 171 Ill. 2d at 333-34. Another hallmark of these cases was that the court, although allowing a cross-comparison challenge, was still evaluating the constitutionality of the penalty under the “cruel or degrading” standard. See Steppan , 105 Ill. 2d at 320; Simmons , 145 Ill. 2d at 270; Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 449; Hickman , 163 Ill. 2d at 259-60; Bailey , 167 Ill. 2d at 236; Lee , 167 Ill. 2d at 145; Miller , 171 Ill. 2d at 334. Further, this court seemed to adopt the position taken by the dissenters in Wagner that this court is not in a position to second-guess the legislature on which of two offenses is more serious, because we do not know what factors the legislature took into consideration in setting the penalties. See Steppan , 105 Ill. 2d at 320 (not proper to equate seriousness of the offense with value of property taken; legislature could have taken other factors into account in determining seriousness of offense); Simmons , 145 Ill. 2d at 271 (it is legislature’s job to say which of several offenses is most serious); Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 448-49 (error to equate seriousness with value of property taken; legislature may have taken other factors into account, such as a need to halt increase in commission of a particular crime). A representative case from this period is Johns . In that case, the defendants were charged with possession of certificates of vehicle title without complete assignment, in violation of section 4–104(a)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 4–104(a)(2)). The penalty for this offense was a Class 4 felony. The defendants challenged the penalty under both the due process and proportionate penalties clauses. The court first rejected the due process challenge, finding that the penalty was rationally related to the evil the legislature was trying to prevent. Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 446. Next, the court rejected the defendants’ proportionate penalties challenge. The defendants compared the penalty for their offense with other offenses in the Vehicle Code that they contended were more serious. This court stated that it would violate the proportionate penalties clause if conduct that created a less serious threat to the public health and safety was punished more harshly than conduct that created a more serious threat. Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 447. Despite this statement, however, the court still maintained that it would invalidate the greater penalty only if it was so disproportionate to the offense that it shocked the moral sense of the community or was cruel and degrading. Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 449. Moreover, this court pointed out that the flaw in the defendants’ argument was that they were equating seriousness of the offense solely with the value of the property involved. This court pointed out that the deficiency in such an argument was that the legislature may have had other reasons for finding the other offense more serious, including wanting to halt the increase in the commission of that particular crime. Johns , 153 Ill. 2d at 449. Only two penalties were invalidated in cross-comparison cases between 1984 and 1996. In People v. Morris , 136 Ill. 2d 157 (1990), the defendant was charged with possessing an altered temporary registration permit (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 4–104(a)(3)). The defendant altered the temporary registration permit (license-applied-for sticker) on his vehicle by changing the expiration date from February 12, 1988, to August 12, 1988. The Illinois Vehicle Code made it a Class 2 felony to possess “any manufacturers statement of origin, salvage certificate, junking certificate, display certificate or certificate of title, temporary registration permit, registration card, license plate or registration sticker knowing it to have been stolen, converted, altered, forged or counterfeited.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 4–104(a)(3), (b)(2). The defendant argued that the Class 2 felony penalty violated the due process and proportionate penalty clauses when applied to someone who alters the temporary registration permit on his own vehicle. This court agreed with the defendant that the penalty violated both clauses when applied to someone in his situation. The court found that the penalty violated the due process clause because it was not reasonably designed to remedy the evils that the legislature had determined to be a threat. Section 4–104 of the Vehicle Code was in a section entitled “ANTI-THEFT LAWS,” and this court had stated that the purpose of such laws was “ ‘to protect automobile owners against theft and to protect the general public against the commission of crimes involving stolen automobiles’ ” ( Morris , 136 Ill. 2d at 162, quoting People v. One 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix Automobile , 89 Ill. 2d 506, 510 (1982)). A three- to seven-year prison term for someone who alters the temporary registration permit of his own vehicle in order to extend the expiration date would do nothing to protect the public from automobile theft. Morris , 136 Ill. 2d at 162. The court also held that the penalty violated the proportionate penalties clause. The defendant compared the penalty for the offense he committed with that for unauthorized possession of a certificate of title (Class 4 felony) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 4–104(a)(1), (b)(1)), and display of an unauthorized registration sticker (Class A misdemeanor) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 4–104(a)(4), (b)(3)); theft under $300 (the value of the defendant’s car) (Class A misdemeanor) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 16–1(e)(1)); and possession of a stolen motor vehicle (Class 2 felony) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 4–103(a)(1), (b)). Nevertheless, although the court agreed with the defendant that the penalty violated the proportionate penalties clause, the court did not base its conclusion on the defendant’s comparison with these other offenses. Rather, the court applied the “cruel or degrading” standard and concluded that the legislature’s steep penalty for the relevant offense was intended to be an antitheft measure and that applying this penalty to one who altered the permit on his own vehicle was disproportionate to the seriousness of the offense. Morris , 136 Ill. 2d at 167-68. Thus, although the defendant brought the appeal as a cross-comparison proportionate penalties challenge, this court did not invalidate the penalty on that basis. The one case in which this court did invalidate a penalty using a cross-comparison analysis during this period was People v. Hamm , 149 Ill. 2d 201 (1992). In Hamm , the defendants were charged with several felony violations of the Fish Code of 1971. Section 2.4(a) of the Fish Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56, par. 2.4(a)) elevated knowing violations of the Fish Code from misdemeanors to Class 3 felonies if the fishing was commercial and involved over $300 worth of fish. The defendants raised numerous constitutional challenges. This court agreed with two of the defendants’ arguments. First, we agreed with the defendants that it violated the due process clause to elevate certain minor Fish Code misdemeanors to Class 3 felonies. This court held that it would violate the due process clause to make violations of section 5.11 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56, par. 5.11) and 5.20 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56, par. 5.20) of the Fish Code Class 3 felonies. Section 5.11 required that a tag be displayed on certain fishing devices, such as seines, to provide evidence that the device is licensed. Section 5.20 required that any person fishing have in his possession his fishing license for immediate inspection. The court noted that the purpose of section 2.4(a) was to prevent the illegal widespread destruction of natural resources. The court held that having a tag on a fishing net or having a license in one’s immediate possession did not assist the State in eliminating the widespread destruction of natural resources. Hamm , 149 Ill. 2d at 218. Thus, the court held that making these offense Class 3 felonies when committed by commercial fishermen taking over $300 worth of fish violated the due process clause because such a penalty was not rationally related to the evil the legislature was addressing. The court rejected such an argument for other violations of the Fish Code, such as fishing in private waters without the owner’s permission, using commercial fishing devices in restricted waters, and using a seine of illegal length and mesh size. Hamm , 149 Ill. 2d at 218. The Hamm court held additionally that the Class 3 felony penalty for the same two offenses violated the proportionate penalties clause. First, the court stated that it is reluctant to overturn penalties set by the legislature and that it would do so only when the penalty was cruel, degrading, or so wholly disproportionate to the offense so as to shock the moral sense of the community. Hamm , 149 Ill. 2d at 219. Then, the court compared the Fish Code penalties with similar penalties in the Illinois Vehicle Code. The court noted that the Vehicle Code requires that a person operating motor vehicle must have his driver’s license in his possession. However, a person will not be convicted of violating his provision if he produces the license in court and the license was valid at the time of the offense. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 6–112. Similarly, the court noted that the Vehicle Code provides that a person who fails to display evidence of automobile insurance when requested by a law enforcement officer shall be deemed to be operating an uninsured vehicle. However, the Code also allowed that same person to avoid conviction by producing in court evidence that the vehicle was insured at the time of the arrest. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, pars. 3–707, 7–602. By contrast, the court noted that similar violations of the Fish Code resulted in a Class 3 felony when committed by a commercial fisherman taking over $300 worth of fish. Hamm was the first post- Wisslead case to invalidate a penalty using a Wisslead -type analysis.