People v. Nowells

Defendant was convicted of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and sentenced to Class 2 sentence. Court was not required to give him notice, per Section 111-3(c) of Code of Criminal Procedure, that it was charging him with a Class 2 felony, because State did not seek to enhance Defendant's sentence. Notice is not necessary when prior conviction is a required element of the offense, such that only one class of felony conviction is possible for that offense as alleged in charging instrument. Record did provide information about class of prior offense, and a Class 2 sentence was the only possible sentence classification he could have received. (HOWSE and LAVIN, concurring.)