People v. Adams

969 N.E.2d 553, 360 Ill. Dec. 743
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 7, 2012
Docket5-10-0088
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 969 N.E.2d 553 (People v. Adams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Adams, 969 N.E.2d 553, 360 Ill. Dec. 743 (Ill. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

969 N.E.2d 553 (2012)
360 Ill. Dec. 743

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Devin M. ADAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 5-10-0088.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District.

May 7, 2012.

*554 Michael J. Pelletier, State Appellate Defender, Johannah B. Weber, Deputy Defender, Michelle A. Zalisko, Assistant Appellate Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Mt. Vernon, for appellant.

Michael Henshaw, State's Attorney, Harrisburg (Eva Walker, Assistant State's Attorney, and Patrick Delfino, Director, Stephen E. Norris, Deputy Director, and Neha Shama, Staff Attorney, Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

Presiding Justice DONOVAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Saline County, the defendant, Devin M. Adams, was convicted of four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The defendant was sentenced to four concurrent terms of natural life in prison. On appeal, the defendant contends that the circuit court should have granted his pretrial motion to dismiss the criminal informations filed in Saline County, Illinois, because he was deprived of his right to due process when prison officials in Kentucky, the state where he was imprisoned, failed to notify him that he had a right to request a final disposition of charges underlying a detainer issued by the State's Attorney in Saline County, Illinois, as required in article III(c) of the interstate agreement on detainers (Agreement) (730 ILCS 5/3-8-9, art. III(c) (West 2008)). We affirm.

¶ 2 On November 4, 2005, the State's Attorney in Saline County, Illinois, filed eight separate informations, each charging the defendant with one count of criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony. The charges were brought after the defendant's girlfriend reported that she found evidence that the defendant had engaged in sexual activity with her daughter, T.A., and their daughter, M.A. Both girls were under 13 years of age at the time of the assaults. An arrest warrant was issued, but it was not immediately served.

¶ 3 The defendant was eventually located in October 2007, in a county jail in Kentucky. He was awaiting a transfer to Roederer Correctional Assessment Center (Roederer), where he would be classified and assigned to a state prison facility. The defendant had entered a plea of guilty to second-degree sodomy in Union circuit court, Kentucky, in July 2007, and he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison. The defendant arrived at Roederer on January 15, 2008. On January 23, 2008, the Saline County State's Attorney lodged a detainer against the defendant with the prison officials at Roederer. On January 28, 2008, the defendant signed a receipt indicating that he had been given a copy of the detainer. His caseworker witnessed the defendant's signature.

¶ 4 An extradition hearing was held in the circuit court of Oldham County, Kentucky, on June 9, 2008. The defendant appeared with his Kentucky public defender. He elected to waive extradition.

¶ 5 The defendant arrived in Illinois on July 22, 2008. He made his first appearance in the circuit court of Saline County on July 25, 2008. Discovery ensued. Trial dates were set and then continued without objection by the defendant and sometimes at his request. On March 27, 2009, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the Illinois charges. The defendant claimed *555 that he was deprived of due process because Kentucky prison officials never advised him that under article III of the Agreement, he had a right to request a final disposition of the Illinois charges. On August 18, 2009, the trial court in Saline County held an evidentiary hearing on the defendant's motion to dismiss.

¶ 6 Tandy Wells, an offender information supervisor employed at Roederer, was called as a State witness. Wells testified that at the time of the defendant's confinement, Roederer had a policy which required the officials to provide an interstate detainer information packet to all inmates who were served with interstate detainers. Under the policy, the inmate is given the information packet when he signs the receipt for his detainer. Wells said that the policy has been in place at Roederer for 18 years. Wells testified that the interstate detainer information packet contains a memorandum and printed forms. She produced and identified a sample information packet, which was admitted into evidence. The memorandum informs the inmate that there are forms enclosed and that the inmate should read and sign form I and form II if he agrees to be brought to trial on the untried, out-of-state charges. The memorandum invites the inmate to contact legal aid at his institution to help him fill out the forms. Form I is entitled "Notice of Untried Indictment, Information, or Complaint and Right to Request Disposition." It advises the inmate that he has untried charges pending against him in another jurisdiction and that he has the right to request a final disposition of the charges. Form I-A provides supplemental information as to rights and procedures under the Agreement. Form II is the "Inmate's Notice of Place of Imprisonment and Request for Disposition of Indictments, Information or Complaints." Wells testified that she reviewed all of the defendant's records and that she did not find any record to indicate that the defendant completed and submitted forms requesting a final disposition of the Illinois charges.

¶ 7 The defendant testified during the hearing. The defendant acknowledged that he had signed a certificate stating that he received a copy of the Illinois detainer. The defendant's testimony regarding whether and when he received information regarding his right to request a final disposition of the Illinois charges is a bit murky. The defendant testified that he was not provided a copy of the information packet or forms I, I-A, and II while at Roederer. The defendant stated that he went over the documents with his Kentucky public defender during the week prior to his June 9, 2008, extradition hearing and that he was housed at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex at that time. The defendant then stated that the form he reviewed with his public defender was not one of those included in the interstate detainer information packet. The defendant also stated that his Kentucky public defender never advised him that he had a right to request a final disposition of the Illinois charges.

¶ 8 In a docket order entered on September 30, 2009, the trial court found that on January 28, 2008, the defendant was given a copy of the Illinois detainer and signed an acknowledgment of receipt of the detainer, that the defendant was not notified of his right to request a final disposition of the Illinois charges until he met with his Kentucky public defender on or before June 9, 2008, that a period of 133 days had passed between January 15, 2008, and June 9, 2008, and that the defendant did not request a final disposition after being advised of his right to do so. The court denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the charges. Following a bench trial, the defendant was convicted of four *556 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, and he was sentenced to four terms of natural life to run concurrent to one another and consecutive to the prison term in Kentucky.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
969 N.E.2d 553, 360 Ill. Dec. 743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-adams-illappct-2012.