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People v. Normand

Case Date: 01/30/2004
Court: 2nd District Appellate
Docket No: 2-02-0857 Rel

No. 2--02--0857

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
ILLINOIS,

          Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

ERNEST J. NORMAND,

         Defendant-Appellant.

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)		 Appeal from the Circuit
Court of Ogle County.



No. 00--CF--123

Honorable
Stephen C. Pemberton,
Judge, Presiding.

 

JUSTICE GROMETER delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Ernest J. Normand, was convicted of six counts of child pornography (720 ILCS5/11--20.1 ( West 2000)) following a bench trial in the circuit court of Ogle County. Defendant nowappeals, raising two issues. First, he argues that three of the convictions cannot stand in light ofAshcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 152 L. Ed. 2d 403, 122 S. Ct. 1389 (2002). Second, he contends that he is entitled to a $5 credit against his fines for time spent in custody priorto sentencing (see 725 ILCS 5/110--14 (West 2000)). The State and defendant agree that this causemust be remanded so that the trial court can determine the amount of the credit to which defendantis entitled; accordingly, we need not address this argument further and remand for that purpose. Weotherwise affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Turning to defendant's main argument, he challenges three convictions that were based on hispossession of three images downloaded from the Internet. The images depict what are apparentlyminors in sexualized poses. The term "depict" is somewhat ambiguous. A depiction may be eithera photograph or an image created through some other means, such as painting, carving, or bycomputer. See Webster's Third New International Dictionary 605 (2002).

The distinction between a photograph and an image generated through some other means wasat issue in Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 152 L. Ed. 2d 403, 122 S. Ct. 1389. In that case,the United States Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of certain portions of the federalChild Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA) (18 U.S.C.