In this case, the defendant originally plead guilty to Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon in trade for the State dismissing a number of other counts. As it turned out, the count for which the defendant plead was unconstitutional in light of the Illinois Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in People v. Aguilar so the defendant filed a motion to vacate the conviction under 2-1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The State responded by making a motion to reinstate the counts that were previously Motion State Nolle Pros. The defendant objected because those counts were all tolled by the statute of limitations. The trial court agreed and the defendant appealed.
The appellate court declined to reach the merits of the State’s argument, deciding it had no jurisdiction. The State took it up to the Illinois Supreme Court, and they decided 1. A provision of the Illinois Constitution gave the appellate court jurisdiction; and 2. deciding to reach the merits rather than remand back to the appellate court, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the trial court was correct and declined to hold that there was a perpetual hold on the statute of limitations under these circumstances.
The case is People v. Cornelius Shinaul
http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2017/120162.pdf