US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Held: While an uncounseled misdemeanor conviction is constitutionally valid if the offender is not incarcerated, such a conviction may not be used under an enhanced penalty statute to convert a subsequent misdemeanor into a felony with a prison term. Thus, petitioner's uncounseled misdemeanor-theft conviction, even though it resulted only in a fine, cannot be used upon his later conviction for another misdemeanor theft to support a 1-to-3-year prison sentence under an Illinois statute authorizing such a sentence for a second misdemeanor-theft conviction.

52 Ill.App.3d 305, 367 N.E.2d 459, reversed and remanded.