Could La Salle County man’s FOID case go to Illinois Supreme Court?

Although an appeals court seemed to rule at least partially in Steven Shelly’s favor this month, his four-year sentence for shooting at two men won’t be reduced – and certainly not before he’s paroled in August.

But La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro said he thinks the 3rd District Appellate Court made an incorrect ruling in Shelly’s appeal. Navarro said he is worried that a bad precedent will be set.

Navarro said Tuesday he plans to appeal Shelly’s case to the Illinois Supreme Court.

It has nothing to do with Shelly’s 2022 conviction for aggravated discharge of a firearm, which was upheld. Shelly fired multiple shots outside his home Feb. 5, 2021, but claimed self-defense.

The jury in his case didn’t buy self-defense, and neither did the appeals court.

Navarro disagreed with the appeals court’s reversal of Shelly’s lesser conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card.

Shelly argued that prosecutors needed to show he was aware his FOID card was revoked. The appeals court agreed.

At the time Shelly was convicted, it was only necessary for prosecutors to show that the Kernan man possessed the gun and that his FOID card was revoked.

Prosecutors were not required to show whether Shelly knew his FOID card was revoked.

That has changed. While Shelly’s appeal was pending, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a couple of rulings governing gun cases. Shelly’s ruling now requires prosecutors to show knowledge of revocation.

“Criminalizing the possession of a firearm without proving the defendant had knowledge his FOID card was invalid would penalize otherwise innocent conduct and would run afoul of the Second Amendment,” Justice William Holdrige wrote in a unanimous ruling. “We therefore hold that the status of the defendant’s FOID card is an element of the offense.”

Why is that a problem?

“It’s next to impossible to prove what’s in someone’s mind,” Navarro said.

Navarro said the ruling could have a spillover effect in many other cases. He said he hopes the Illinois Supreme Court agrees to take the Shelly case – the top court does not have to – and then reverses the “knowledge” requirement currently on the books.