Court Opinion

ID: 9713926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:26:26.603372+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:21.882343
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE CRAVEN, concurring in part, dissenting in part: I agree with the majority opinion in all respects except that in my view the three convictions for reckless conduct should be vacated. The State’s reliance on People v. Butler (1976), 64 Ill. 2d 485, 356 N.E.2d 330, and People v. Thomas (1977), 67 Ill. 2d 388, 367 N.E.2d 1281, is misplaced. A careful reading of these cases indicates that the multiple convictions there were not carved from a single act. Rather, they were carved from a series of incidental or closely related acts. People v. King (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 551, 566, 363 N.E.2d 838, 844, mandates that for one act there can be only one conviction: “Prejudice results to the defendant only in those instances where more than one offense is carved from the same physical act.” Here, the State concedes that there is only one act involved. In King, the court was concerned with one act and one victim. I do not see that King is inapplicable if there is one act and multiple victims. Therefore, under King, the defendant’s convictions for reckless conduct must be vacated. Also, see People v. Holtz (1974), 19 Ill. App. 3d 781, 313 N.E.2d 234. Indeed the majority opinion concedes a conflict with the opinion in Holtz and with the opinion in People v. Potcher (1975), 26 Ill. App. 3d 540, 325 N.E.2d 753. Just last term, our supreme court reiterated the rule in King, and, in People ex rel. Carey v. Scotillo (1981), 84 Ill. 2d 170, 417 N.E.2d 1356, the court stated that in circumstances where a charge of attempted murder and of armed violence relating to the same incident and conviction of both, a judgment could be entered on no more than one of the charges. Accordingly, I would affirm the conviction of reckless homicide and vacate the conviction and concurrent terms for the reckless conduct charges, all of which arise, not only out of the same criminal incident, but specifically out of the same act.