People v. Williams

Defendant was found guilty of escape for failing to comply with a condition of his electronic home monitoring (EHM) and sentenced to an extended term of 10 years in prison. At issue on appeal was how the terms of the Cook County Sheriff’s Department’s pretrial EHM applied to detainees who reside in multi-unit buildings. The appellate court reversed, finding that because the term “residence” is not defined and the term was ambiguous because it was not clear whether it referred solely to the detainee’s apartment or if it included other spaces within the apartment building the court and, as a result, that the defendant could not have knowingly committed the offense of escape. (MIKVA and ODEN JOHNSON, concurring)