People v. Ballauer

320 N.E.2d 163, 23 Ill. App. 3d 711, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 1913
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 9, 1974
DocketNo. 59126
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 320 N.E.2d 163 (People v. Ballauer) 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. Ballauer, 320 N.E.2d 163, 23 Ill. App. 3d 711, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 1913 (Ill. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE BURMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Daniel Ballauer, was indicated on April 7, 1972, along with Arthur Peters and John Peters, for both the armed robbery and murder of Frank Posejpal. Arthur Peters was also indicted for the attempted murder of Leslie Russ and Andrew Bultas in connection with the same incident. On February 15, 1973, the defendant pled guilty to murder and armed robbery, and also to the attempted murder of Russ and Bultas. He was sentenced by the court to the penitentiary for a term of 14 to 20 years for the murder, 4 to 16 years for each of the attempted murders, and 14 to 20 years for the armed robbery, all the sentences to run concurrently.

It is initially pointed out by the defendant on appeal, that although he pled guilty to and was sentenced for the attempted murder of both Russ and Bultas, he was never charged by indictment with those offenses. We. agree with the defendant’s argument, which the State concedes in its brief, that this is manifest error. We accordingly reverse the defendant’s convictions for attempted murder.

The defendant also asserts on appeal (1) the non-compliance by the trial court with certain provisions of Supreme Court Rule 402 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1971, ch. 110A, par. 402), which imposes certain duties on the trial court in accepting a guilty plea, requires reversal of the murder and armed robbery pleas, and (2) that, the murder and the armed robbery arose from the same conduct.and that therefore the conviction for the lesser offense of armed robbery must be reversed.

It is argued first, in regard to Supreme Court Rule 402, that the trial court failed to explain the nature of the charge of both armed robbery and murder to which the defendant was pleading guilty, as required by 402(a)(1) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1971, ch. 110A, par. 402(a)(1))., We disagree.

The Rule provides:

“In hearings on pleas of guilty, there must be substantial compliance with the following:
(a) Admonitions to Defendant. The court shall not accept a plea of guilty without first, by addressing the defendant personally in open court, informing him of and determining that he understands the following:
(1) the nature of the charge."

The record shows that before the guilty plea was entered, defense counsel informed the court that the defendant wished to withdraw his previous plea of not guilty as a result of negotiations between the defense counsel, the assistant State’s Attorney, and the defendant. The defendant verified that statement to the court, and the following ensued:

“THE COURT: Understand by pleading guilty to these charges—
Can I have a copy of the indictment?
MR. WITKOWSKI: Yes, sir.
(Counsel handing document to Court.)
THE COURT: That you are pleading guilty and charged with murder and that you did on February 10, 1972, shoot one Frank Posejpal, and you did at the same time and place commit the offense of attempt, and that you did with the intent to commit the crime of murder, intentionally kill one Leslie Russ, by shooting Leslie Russ with a gun; and attempt also to kill one Andrew Bultas, by shooting at him in an armed robbery upon the same Frank Posejpal, at the same time and place.
Is that correct?
MR. HALPRIN [Defense counsel]: May I state for the record, the defendant would state to Your Honor that he did not fire a gun at anybody.
He understands that he is liable here as predicated upon the accountability theory, for acts of another, for whose conduct he is legally accountable, for what they have done.
Have I stated that correctly?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.”

The defendant, in urging that this exchange failed to satisfy the requirements of Rule 402(a)(1), cites People v. Ingeneri, 7 Ill.App.3d 809, 288 N.E.2d 550, and People v. Krantz, 12 Ill.App.3d 38, 297 N.E.2d 386. In Krantz the appellate court reversed a plea to forgery where the only inquiry of the defendant by the trial judge regarding the nature of the charge was “Mr. Krantz, do you understand what you’re charged with in these indictments, forgery?” to which the defendant responded affirmatively. In Ingeneri the court, while in dictum stating that merely furnishing a copy of an indictment to the defendant would not be sufficient compliance with Rule 402(a)(1), actually held that a mere reading of the details set forth in the armed robbery indictment to the defendant was sufficient to assure his understanding of the nature of the charge.

The defendant contends, based on these decisions, that the court violated 402(a)(1) by not articulating the legal definition of armed robbery to the defendant. In this regard we note that a confession given to the police by the defendant, detailing his involvement in the “holdup” of a man named Frank while armed with a loaded automatic weapon, was stipulated to at the hearing and read into the record. There was thus little practical consequence in describing the crime to the defendant as “armed robbery” rather than as “a taking of certain property from the person or presence of one Frank Posejpal with the use of force or threatening the imminent use of force and while armed with a deadly weapon,” when the defendant’s own confession, stipulated to at the hearing, admitted all of these latter elements. We therefore find that the procedure employed does not, under the circumstances, preclude a finding of substantial compliance with Rule 402 (a)(1), which is all that is required. See People v. Tennyson, 9 Ill.App.3d 329, 292 N.E.2d 223; People v. Wintersmith, 9 Ill.App.3d 327, 292 N.E.2d 220; cf. People v. Wright, 2 Ill.App.3d 304, 275 N.E.2d 735, involving the old Supreme Court Rule 401(b) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 110A, par. 401(b)) requirement that a defendant pleading guilty be admonished regarding the nature of the charge.

As to the murder charge, it appears affirmatively on the record that while the judge was explaining the nature of the charges to the defendant, the defense counsel interjected that his client understood his liability for the crimes to which he was about to plead guilty, and the defendant orally affirmed that statement. This is similar to People v. Trinka, 10 Ill.App.3d 183, 293 N.E.2d 179, where the defense counsel merely advised the court that he had, together with his client, gone over the Information charging the defendant with the offense (misdemeanor theft) for which a guilty plea was being entered. This was held to have constituted substantial compliance with Rule 402(a)(1).

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Bluebook (online)
320 N.E.2d 163, 23 Ill. App. 3d 711, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 1913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ballauer-illappct-1974.