Court Opinion

ID: 9525437
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:03:39.048664+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:14:47.348255
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE CRAVEN, dissenting: Under the compulsion of the supreme court decision in People v. Witzkowski (1972), 53 Ill. 2d 216, 290 N.E.2d 236, we must hold that the statute under consideration is not facially unconstitutional. We are not precluded, however, from an in-depth inquiry into the issue of the application of the statute and the sufficiency of the evidence in this record to establish that the defendant violated the statute. This statute, like all penal statutes, must be strictly construed. A violation of the statute can be found only when it is- established that the defendant without authority from the institution, through force or violence, actual or threatened, knowingly occupies or remains in any building after due notice to depart. All that is established by this record is that the defendant was given notice to depart and almost instantaneously thereafter was arrested. There is no evidence whatsoever to establish any semblance of force or violence. All the record establishes is that she was there. I would reverse.