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Docket No. 86104-Agenda 9-November 1998.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. VERONICA FULLER, Appellee.

Opinion filed July 1, 1999.

JUSTICE MILLER delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Veronica Fuller, was charged in the circuit court of Kane County with filing a false report of a vehicle theft,a violation of section 4-103(a)(6) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/4-103(a)(6) (West 1996)). Before trial,defendant moved to dismiss the charge, arguing that the potential penalty for that offense, a Class 2 felony (625 ILCS5/4-103(b) (West 1996)), was "unconstitutional as applied to the defendant under the facts of this case." The trial judgeagreed with the defendant and dismissed the charge. The State appealed that ruling to the appellate court (145 Ill. 2d R.604(a)(1)), which, on its own motion, later transferred the cause to this court pursuant to Supreme Court Rules 365 and 603(155 Ill. 2d R. 365; 134 Ill. 2d R. 603). We now reverse the judgment of the circuit court and remand the cause to that courtfor further proceedings.

The following facts are not in dispute here. On June 12, 1996, at approximately 3:20 a.m., defendant called theCarpentersville police to report that her former husband, Edward Fuller, had stolen her car. Edward was soon apprehendedwith the car and was arrested. At 5:30 that morning, defendant gave a written statement to the police in which she describedthe events surrounding the theft of her car. According to the statement, Edward came to defendant's home at approximately3:15 a.m., entering through the front door. An order of protection had been issued against Edward, and defendant told himto leave before she called the police. Instead of leaving, however, Edward asked defendant whether he could use her car.Defendant said that he could not. Edward then requested money from the defendant, who replied that she had no money togive him. According to defendant's statement, Edward then took some money from defendant's purse, grabbed the car keys,and left, saying that he would return the car in 45 minutes. After Edward drove away, defendant called the police.Defendant concluded her statement by noting that after she called the police, an officer came to her home and had defendantsign a complaint against Edward.

Charges were eventually brought against Edward, and an investigator for the public defender's office, which wasrepresenting Edward, later interviewed the defendant about the preceding events. In a report dated April 8, 1997, theinvestigator said that, during the interview, the defendant told him that she had lied to the police about Edward's stealingher car. According to the investigator's report, the defendant "stated that she has gone to the police station on numerousoccasions to make complaints about Edward that were not true. [Defendant] stated that the reason she would report thisfalse information was because she would get mad at Edward for various reasons and file false complaints against him to getback at him." The investigator's report further explained that the defendant reviewed her statement to the police from June12, 1996, and told the investigator that "what was written in the statement was not true and that Edward never came to herapartment without permission and that Edward never took her car without permission." According to the investigator'sreport, the defendant now "simply wanted to tell the truth because it is not fair for Edward to be in jail for something that hedid not do."

In June 1997, defendant was charged by indictment with filing a false report of a vehicle theft, a violation of section4-103(a)(6) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/4-103(a)(6) (West 1996)). Section 4-103(a)(6) provides that it isunlawful for "[a] person to knowingly make a false report of the theft or conversion of a vehicle to any police officer of theState." The offense is a Class 2 felony (625 ILCS 5/4-103(b) (West 1996)), punishable by three to seven years'imprisonment (730 ILCS 5/5-8-1(a)(5) (West 1996)) and, at the time relevant here, by a fine of $10,000 (730 ILCS5/5-9-1(a)(1) (West 1996)). As an alternative to incarceration, a period of probation may be imposed for the offense. 730ILCS 5/5-5-3(c)(2) (West 1996).

The defendant later moved to dismiss the charge. In her motion, the defendant noted that under the disorderly conductstatute, section 26-1(a)(4) of the Criminal Code of 1961, it is a crime to knowingly make a false report to a police officerthat "an offense has been committed." 720 ILCS 5/26-1(a)(4) (West 1996). At that time, a violation of section 26-1(a)(4)was a Class B misdemeanor (720 ILCS 5/26-1(b) (West 1996)), punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to six months(730 ILCS 5/5-8-3(a)(2) (West 1996)). We note that the penalty for the offense has since been elevated, and it is now aClass 4 felony. See Pub. Act 90-456, eff. January 1, 1998, codified at 720 ILCS 5/26-1(a)(4) (West 1997 Supp.). In themotion to dismiss, the defendant asserted that "a person who makes a false report of a murder, rape, or of an armed hostagesituation commits a Class B misdemeanor, while an angry wife who claims that her husband took her car without herpermission faces the penalty of a Class 2 felony." The defendant argued that subjecting her to the penalty of a Class 2felony, under the circumstances shown here, would violate her rights to due process and equal protection and, in addition,would violate the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I,