Opinion ID: 3135213
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: Neither Leon nor respondent has filed any responsive brief. Nevertheless, as the factual record is brief and straightforward, and the single issue can easily be resolved without any additional briefing, we will decide the case on the merits. See People ex rel. Director of Corrections v. Booth , 215 Ill. 2d 416, 421-22 (2005); In re Marriage of Rogers , 213 Ill. 2d 129, 135 (2004). This court has discretionary original jurisdiction in mandamus actions. Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, §4(a). Mandamus is “an extraordinary remedy appropriate to enforce as a matter of public right the performance of official duties by a public officer where no exercise of discretion on his part is involved.” Madden v. Cronson , 114 Ill. 2d 504, 514 (1986). Although mandamus will not lie to correct all alleged errors by lower courts, it is “quite settled ‘that the sentencing provisions of the Unified Code of Corrections [citation] are mandatory and mandamus will lie to compel compliance with them.’ ” People ex rel. Baker v. Cowlin , 154 Ill. 2d 193, 196 (1992), quoting People ex rel. Daley v. Limperis , 86 Ill. 2d 459, 466 (1981). Moreover, even before the Unified Code of Corrections was enacted in 1973, this court utilized the writ of mandamus to correct lower courts’ departures from mandatory sentencing schemes. See, e.g. , People ex rel. Hanrahan v. Wilson , 48 Ill. 2d 30 (1971) ( mandamus issued to direct trial judge to correct his error in sentencing defendant to probation in contravention of sentencing statute); People ex rel. Ward v. Salter , 28 Ill. 2d 612 (1963) (issuing writ of mandamus directing trial judge to enter a fine which complied with a mandatory statutory schedule). Although the Good Behavior Act is not part of the Unified Code of Corrections, it still is a mandatory sentencing provision, and therefore mandamus is an appropriate vehicle to compel compliance with its provisions. This case involves a pure question of statutory construction. Accordingly, our review of the issues is de novo . Hall v. Henn , 208 Ill. 2d 325, 330 (2003). Our highest priority is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature’s intent, of which the best indicator is the statutory language, given its plain and ordinary meaning. Illinois Graphics Co. v. Nickum , 159 Ill. 2d 469, 479 (1994). When the language is clear and unambiguous, we need not resort to further aids of statutory construction, although we do always presume that the legislature did not intend an absurd, inconvenient, or unjust result. Hall , 208 Ill. 2d at 330. We do construe penal statutes so as to afford lenity to the accused, but this rule applies only when the statute is ambiguous. People v. Roberts , 214 Ill. 2d 106, 118 (2005). Examination of the plain language of the statutes at issue leads to but one conclusion. The Good Behavior Act provides that persons jailed for offenses “for which the law provides a mandatory minimum sentence” cannot be given any good-behavior allowance which “would reduce the sentence below the mandatory minimum.” 730 ILCS 130/3 (West 2002). The Vehicle Code states that any defendant convicted for a fourth time of driving while his license is revoked or suspended “must serve a minimum term of imprisonment of 180 days.” 625 ILCS 5/6–303(d–3) (West 2002). The only question is whether the requirement that a defendant serve a minimum term of imprisonment constitutes a “mandatory minimum sentence.” We believe the answer is yes. The Vehicle Code requires that a defendant must be incarcerated for at least a certain specified period of time. This is, by any ordinary meaning one might ascribe to the phrase, a “mandatory minimum sentence.” In reaching the opposite result, respondent drew the distinction that the Vehicle Code puts the onus on a defendant to serve a minimum term of imprisonment, as opposed to explicitly directing the circuit court to impose a particular minimum sentence. We find this reasoning unconvincing. First, assuming arguendo that the above distinction is valid, it does not answer the ultimate question of whether a statute which requires a defendant to serve a minimum term of imprisonment imposes a “mandatory minimum sentence.” We see no reason that both categories of statute between which respondent sought to distinguish could not be considered “mandatory minimum sentences.” Certainly, both would appear to fall within the plain and ordinary meaning of that phrase. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of any understanding of that phrase which would exclude section 603(d–3) of the Vehicle Code. Moreover, the distinction between a statute which mandates that a defendant serve a minimum term of imprisonment and one which requires the circuit court to impose a particular minimum sentence is flawed, because the latter is implicit in the former. That is, a statute which requires that a defendant must serve at least 180 days of imprisonment unquestionably also requires that the circuit court must sentence that defendant to at least 180 days of imprisonment. The requirement that a defendant serve 180 days would be meaningless, after all, if the court retained the discretion to sentence him to probation, or 30 days of imprisonment, or even 179 days of imprisonment. A requirement that a defendant serve a particular term of imprisonment necessarily also requires the circuit court to impose a sentence of at least that same term of imprisonment. Although we find the statute unambiguous, we note that our construction is supported by the legislative history of the Good Behavior Act. In debates on the bill which became the Good Behavior Act, Representative Countryman specifically noted the then-existing offenses to which the limitation on good behavior credit would apply: “DUI is one, and driving on a revoked or suspended license is the other .” See 85th Ill. Gen. Assem., House Proceedings, May 18, 1987, at 85 (statements of Representative Countryman). There is no doubt that the General Assembly was aware and intended that the Good Behavior Act’s limitation on good-behavior credit would apply to the mandatory minimum sentence imposed for driving on a suspended license. Accordingly, section 603(d–3) of the Vehicle Code does impose a mandatory minimum sentence, including specifically for purposes of the Good Behavior Act.