Castleberry: The good, the bad, the ugly and how it relates to fines

Lawyers' Forum

By Joe Cook and Michael Morthland

Joe Cook is a 2015 graduate of The John Marshall Law School. He is currently working as a research staff attorney for the 4th District Appellate Court. Michael Morthland is a 2015 graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale School of Law. He is currently employed as a research staff attorney for the 4th District Appellate Court.

Posted May 3, 2016 2:44 PM

(T)he void sentence rule was founded on the theory that an order that does not conform to [a] statute is entirely void, i.e., “from its inception a complete nullity and without legal effect.” The idea that a long-settled sentence may become not just erroneous, but entirely void, creates intolerable paradoxes in the law. — Kristopher Classen & Jack O’Malley, “Filling the Void: The Case for Repudiating and Replacing Illinois’ Void Sentence Rule,” 42 LOY. U. CHI. L.J. 427, 440 …

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