People Ex Rel. Carey v. Scotillo

417 N.E.2d 1356, 84 Ill. 2d 170, 49 Ill. Dec. 342, 1981 Ill. LEXIS 242
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 20, 1981
Docket53351
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 417 N.E.2d 1356 (People Ex Rel. Carey v. Scotillo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People Ex Rel. Carey v. Scotillo, 417 N.E.2d 1356, 84 Ill. 2d 170, 49 Ill. Dec. 342, 1981 Ill. LEXIS 242 (Ill. 1981).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE WARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Respondents Gabriel Rodriquez and Armondo Corzo (referred to hereafter as the defendants) were indicted for several offenses in connection with the shooting of David Pozdoll and Isaac Munoz on May 22, 1979. After a trial in the circuit court of Cook County they were found guilty of aggravated battery, attempted murder, and armed violence as to each victim in violation of sections 12 — 4, 8 — 4, and 33A — 2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, pars. 12 — 4, 8 — 4, 33A — 2). On January 17, 1980, respondent Anthony Scotillo, the judge who presided at the trial, entered judgments of guilty against the defendants only on the charges of attempted murder. Defendant Rodriquez was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 18 months’ imprisonment; defendant Corzo was given two concurrent terms of 9 months’ imprisonment. The petitioner moved orally on March 17 that judgment and sentence also be entered against each defendant on the two charges of armed violence, or, in the alternative, that defendant Corzo be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of at least one year on his conviction for attempted murder. That motion was denied, and we allowed a motion by the petitioner under Rule 381(a) (73 Ill. 2d R. 381(a)), for leave to file a petition for a writ of mandamus, directing the respondent judge to enter the judgments and sentences sought by the petitioner’s motion.

The indictment and a transcript of the report of proceedings on March 24, 1980, when the petitioner’s motion was argued and denied, copies of which were attached as an exhibit to the petition, constitute the entire record filed in this court. The indictment is in 15 counts. Six of these charged the defendants jointly with the commission of aggravated battery, attempted murder, and armed violence upon Pozdoll. Six other counts charged them with the same offenses with respect to the other victim, Munoz. The three remaining counts were directed to Rodriquez alone, and charged that on the day after the shooting of Pozdoll and Munoz he committed certain offenses against Ramona Principato, apparently a potential witness at the trial. These latter charges are not involved in the present proceeding. The petition asserts that the shootings of Pozdoll and Munoz took place in a single criminal incident. That assertion is not supported by any matter in the record before us, but it is not denied by the defendants, and we will assume it to be correct for the purpose of our decision.

In order to understand the petitioner’s argument, a consideration of the sentences applicable to the various offenses involved is necessary. Aggravated battery is a Class 3 felony, and the penalty is a determinate sentence of not less than 2 and not more than 5 years (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, pars. 12-4(e), 1005-8-1). The offense of attempt is not classified under the Unified Code of Corrections as either a felony or a misdemeanor, and at the time the offenses involved here took place no minimum term of imprisonment was specified in section 8 — 4 of the Criminal Code of 1961, which defines the offense of attempt (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, pars. 8 — 4, 1005 — 5—2). Section 8 — 4(c)(1) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat., 1978 Supp., ch. 38, par. 8 — 4(c)(1)) specified only the maximum sentence, providing, “[T] he sentence for attempt to commit murder shall not exceed the sentence for a Class X felony.” The penalty for a Class X felony was a determinate sentence of not less than 6 years and not more than 30 years. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8—1.) The offense of armed violence, if the defendant is armed with a gun, is a Class X felony, and the sentence is again a determinate sentence of not less than 6 and not more than 30 years (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 1005-8-1(3)).

The petitioner focuses upon the disparity between the sentences of 9 to 18 months which were given to the defendants and the minimum sentence of 6 years which would be required upon conviction of armed violence. The basis of the petitioner’s challenge is not that there was an abuse of discretion by the trial judge, but that he disregarded a statutory mandate. It is the petitioner’s contention that judgment and sentence should have been entered on the offense of armed violence, since the latter is a more serious offense than attempted murder, if seriousness is measured, as the petitioner says it must be, by a comparison between the minimum sentences which the statute imposes for the two offenses.

The count relating to the commission of armed violence against PozdoII charged that the defendants “while armed with a dangerous weapon, to wit: a firearm intentionally and knowingly without legal justification caused bodily harm to David Pozdoll by shooting him in the right cheek and left leg with said firearm, in violation of Chapter 38, section 12 — 4(b)(1)/33A—2 of the Illinois Revised Statutes 1977 as amended.” The count charging armed violence against Munoz is in the same words except for the differences in the name of the victim and the part of the body where he was shot.

As the trial court noted, the underlying felony on which this charge of armed violence was predicated was aggravated battery. Since the charge does not allege that the battery was committed with the intent to kill the victim, it does not charge attempted murder. (People v. Trinkle (1977), 68 Ill. 2d 198, 201; cf. People v. Harris (1978), 72 Ill. 2d 16, 27; People v. Jones (1979), 81 Ill. 2d 1, 8-9.) A judgment of conviction for armed violence predicated on an underlying felony of attempted murder would therefore be improper.

There are certain difficulties in the petitioner’s argument, but we need not consider them since there are other considerations which make issuance of a writ of mandamus improper. We have ascertained that on April 22 defendant Rodriquez filed a notice of appeal from his conviction of attempted murder. The trial record was subsequently filed in the appellate court, and on August 19 that court granted a motion by Rodriquez to stay further proceedings until the disposition of this mandamus action. The State’s motion for leave to file a petition for mandamus was filed with this court on May 6 and was allowed on May 29. The case was argued on November 12. Somewhat inexplicably neither the petitioner nor the defendants mentioned the pendency of the appeal in their briefs or on oral argument.

A writ of mandamus does not issue out of this court under Rule 381(a) (73 Ill. 2d R. 381(a)) as a matter of right, and an action for mandamus is heard only pursuant to the court’s allowance, in the exercise of its discretion, of leave to file a petition for the writ. Where matters that might lead the court to deny leave to file do not come to the court’s attention until after the motion has been allowed, they may properly be considered in determining whether the petition will be granted.

Where the writ would compel the performance of a judicial act by a lower court in pending litigation this court must necessarily consider not only whether the petitioner has shown a clear violation by the judge of a duty imposed by law but also whether issuance of the writ will be effective. We find that the present petition does not meet those requirements.

We note initially that with the filing of the notice of appeal the circuit court lost all jurisdiction to proceed further in the case. (People ex rel. Carey v.

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Bluebook (online)
417 N.E.2d 1356, 84 Ill. 2d 170, 49 Ill. Dec. 342, 1981 Ill. LEXIS 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-carey-v-scotillo-ill-1981.