Cook County Public Defenders Blog

In a unanimous decision by JUSTICE BURKE our Supreme Court has ruled that for purpose of the UUW statute [24-1.6(c)(iii)] there is no requirement that a “case” must be specific to a firearm or be portable. (The trial judge’s had denied a defense jury instruction based on the language of the statute and denied the defense the right to argue in closing that the console of a car where the gun was found should be considered a case, while allowing the State to argue to the contrary. Then, during deliberations, when the jury asked if the console could be considered a case, the trial court told them it was not a case!) Read the case, People v Diggins, No. 106367, 10/8/2009.