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People v. Pruitt
Citations: 359 N.E.2d 1051; 45 Ill. App. 3d 399; 4 Ill. Dec. 99; 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 4057Docket: 13400
Court: Appellate Court of Illinois; February 25, 1977; Illinois; State Appellate Court
Defendant Marty Pruitt appeals his conviction for escape from the Vermilion County jail, arguing a fatal variance between the charge and the proof, as he had not yet been sentenced for armed robbery at the time of his escape. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to two to six years in prison. The indictment stated that he escaped on March 9, 1975, after being convicted of armed robbery on March 7, 1975. The court clarified that while a conviction is not final for appeal purposes until sentencing, this does not pertain to the definition of a conviction under the relevant statutes. According to the Criminal Code, a conviction occurs when a judgment is rendered upon a jury verdict. The court emphasized that the statute's use of "or" indicates that a conviction had occurred with the jury's verdict, regardless of the pending sentence. Therefore, the evidence supported the escape charge. In a supplemental opinion regarding the denial of rehearing, the court noted that Pruitt's sentence for escape was originally ordered to run consecutively to a separate sentence for armed robbery, which was later reversed. As there was no longer a valid sentence for armed robbery, the court affirmed the escape conviction and remanded the case for the trial court to issue an amended mittimus indicating that the escape sentence is not consecutive to any lawful sentence. The judgment of conviction and the sentence were affirmed, and the cause was remanded with directions.