Court Opinion

ID: 9519748
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:24:09.943336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:40:48.437026
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WARD, dissenting: I must disagree with the majority’s view of the responsibilities imposed under the statute. The trial court’s merely noting that the defendant had earlier been gainfully employed and that he was at the time receiving unemployment compensation fell far short of satisfying the statute’s requirement that the trial court consider the financial resources and the future ability of the offender to pay the fine. The court in People v. Morrison (1983), 111 Ill. App. 3d 997, examined the statute in a case with circumstances similar to those here. In holding that the trial court did not sufficiently consider the defendant’s financial resources and future ability to pay the fine, the appellate court observed that though the defendant was receiving unemployment compensation there was no indication of the amount of the benefits and no information as to the expenses of the defendant. The defendant’s wife in Morrison was employed, but it was not shown what her income was and whether she contributed to the maintenance of the household. The court commented, too, that the trial court did not inform itself about the defendant’s background, including education and skills for employment. I would add that the appellate court could have noted the failure to ascertain the extent, if any, of the defendant’s indebtedness. I am not suggesting that there should be a formal catechism of inquiry to be used by the trial court, but certainly something more should be required than was done here. The majority says that the defendant’s ability to pay a fine at the time of his sentencing was, on the record here, irrelevant because the statute permits the court, in the event of a default in payment, to allow the offender additional time or to reduce the fine or revoke it. To me the plain language of the statute shows that the legislature’s intention was that the trial court, in fixing the fine, should determine and consider the offender’s available resources and also his future ability to pay. That intendment is not fulfilled by holding that the defendant’s ability to pay at the time of sentencing is irrelevant because the court may later reduce or revoke a fine that may have been arbitrarily imposed.