People v. Barragan

2024 IL App (1st) 221756-U
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided November 12, 2024·No. 1-22-1756·Unpublished

Opinion

2024 IL App (1st) 221756-U No. 1-22-1756 November 12, 2024 Second Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. 98 CR 16925 ) POLICARPIO BARRAGAN, ) Honorable ) Angela M. Petrone, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE HOWSE delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Van Tine and Justice Ellis concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: Denial of defendant’s section 2-1401 petition for relief from judgment reversed and case remanded with directions where defendant raised a meritorious claim that his plea counsel was ineffective when counsel erroneously advised him that there would be no adverse consequences to pleading guilty and defendant is now subject to deportation based on his guilty plea.

¶2 Defendant Policarpio Barragan appeals from an order of the circuit court of Cook County

denying his petition for relief from judgment filed under section 2-1401(c-5) of the Code of Civil

Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-1401(c-5) (West 2022)). On appeal, defendant contends the trial No. 1-22-1756

court erred when it denied his petition because he raised a meritorious claim that his plea counsel

was ineffective when counsel advised him during his 1999 guilty plea that the plea would have no

adverse consequences on his future, and defendant is now subject to deportation. For the following

reasons, we reverse the circuit court’s denial of defendant’s section 2-1401 petition and remand

this case with directions.

¶3 In February 1998, defendant was charged with one count of possession of a controlled

substance for possessing less than one gram of cocaine, a Class 4 felony (720 ILCS 570/402(c)

(West 1998)). The circuit court’s case summary shows that in August 1998 and again in February

1999, defendant filed a motion to quash arrest and a separate motion to suppress evidence. The

record does not indicate that those motions were ever heard or ruled upon.

¶4 On April 28, 1999, defendant entered a fully negotiated guilty plea to the drug charge in

exchange for a sentence of 24 months of first offender “410” probation, which included 30 hours

of community service, a $50 lab fee, a $10 monthly probation fee, and random drug testing (720

ILCS 570/410 (West 1998)). At the plea hearing, defense counsel stated that defendant was

employed full-time and that he had children he was supporting. The trial court advised defendant

that the possible sentence he faced ranged from probation to a term of one to three years’

imprisonment. The court further advised defendant that by pleading guilty, he was waiving his

right to a jury trial. Defendant, through a Spanish interpreter, confirmed that he understood the

sentencing range and that he was waiving his rights. He further confirmed that he was pleading

guilty voluntarily.

¶5 The parties stipulated that the evidence at trial would show that on February 20, 1998, a

Chicago police officer observed defendant sitting on a vehicle with the engine running, drinking a

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can of beer. As the officer approached the vehicle, defendant tossed a dollar bill inside the vehicle.

The officer recovered the dollar bill and found that it contained cocaine. Defendant could not

produce a valid driver’s license and was arrested. A forensic chemist determined that the dollar

bill contained less than 0.1 gram of cocaine.

¶6 The trial court found that the factual basis supported the guilty plea and that defendant’s

plea was voluntary. The court sentenced defendant to the 410 probation and advised him of his

appeal rights, including the need to file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea before he could appeal.

The court then advised defendant as follows:

“You were able to be placed on this kind of probation because you have a clean

background, a clean criminal background, as you stand here. There were no convictions in

your background so that qualifies you for this special kind of sentence.

If you complete all of the conditions of this special probation, you will continue to

have that clean background. And for someone as young as yourself with young children to

not have a felony conviction in your background is a very, very big deal.”

¶7 Defendant never moved to withdraw his guilty plea, nor did he attempt to otherwise appeal

or challenge the judgment.

¶8 On April 25, 2001, the trial court satisfactorily terminated defendant’s probation.

¶9 Twenty years later, on December 6, 2021, defendant, through counsel, filed the instant

motion to vacate judgment under section 2-1401 of the Code, the Post-Conviction Hearing Act

(Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2020)), Illinois Supreme Court Rules 604(d) (eff. July 1,

2006) and 402(a) (eff. July 1, 1997), and the United States Constitution, asking the court to vacate

his 1999 conviction. Defendant alleged his plea counsel rendered ineffective assistance because

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counsel “never advised him” that his guilty plea would subject him to deportation. Nor did the trial

court advise him that his guilty plea subjected him to “certain deportation” or “other adverse

consequences.” Thus, defendant claimed his guilty plea was not knowingly, intelligently, and

voluntarily made.

¶ 10 Defendant acknowledged that his motion to vacate was untimely. He asserted, however,

that he was the “victim” of ineffective assistance of counsel, which was exacerbated by inadequate

admonishments by the trial court, which caused him to suffer “extreme prejudice” by certain loss

of his permanent resident status and deportation. Defendant claimed he thereby alleged “sufficient

constitutional intrusions” that warranted relief.

¶ 11 Defendant stated that he had been a lawful permanent resident of the United States for over

28 years, was employed, and was the sole supporter for his family, including his 12-year-old son.

He further stated that he had no encounters with the police since 1998. Defendant asserted that his

plea counsel gave him “bad advice,” and had he known that his guilty plea would subject him to

deportation, he would have rejected the plea offer and proceeded with a jury trial, or attempted to

negotiate an alternative plea.

¶ 12 Relying on Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), defendant argued that his attorney’s

failure to advise him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea constituted ineffective

assistance. Defendant also pointed out that in People v. Correa, 108 Ill. 2d 541 (1985), the Illinois

Supreme Court held that defense counsel is ineffective when counsel gives a defendant “erroneous

advice” regarding a collateral consequence of a guilty plea. Defendant noted that Correa made a

distinction between counsel passively failing to give advice about a collateral consequence of a

guilty plea and actively giving wrong advice. See Correa, 108 Ill. 2d at 551-53.

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