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People ex rel Birkett v. Jorgensen9/22/2005
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.
CONCLUSION
Because respondent gave Leon the minimum possible sentence of 180 days of jail time, any good-behavior credit would reduce his time served to less than the mandatory minimum sentence. Accordingly, respondent had no discretion, but was required to order that Leon was ineligible for any good-behavior credit. Therefore, we enter a writ of mandamus to require respondent to amend Leon's sentencing order so as to reflect that Leon is ineligible for good-behavior credit.
Writ awarded.
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