People v. Beers

2021 IL App (5th) 200216-U
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 19, 2021·No. 5-20-0216·Unpublished·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

NOTICE

2021 IL App (5th) 200216-U NOTICE

Decision filed 07/19/21. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-20-0216 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to the filing of a Petition for not precedent except in the

Rehearing or the disposition of IN THE limited circumstances allowed the same. under Rule 23(e)(1).

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of

Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Franklin County.

)

v. ) No. 15-CF-35 )

MARVIN BEERS, ) Honorable ) Thomas J. Dinn III, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE BOIE delivered the judgment of the court.

Justices Moore and Cates concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: We vacate the trial court’s judgment resentencing the defendant where the record does not affirmably demonstrate that the defendant was eligible for an extended-term sentence.

¶2 The defendant, Marvin Beers, pled guilty on October 4, 2017, to one count of unlawful possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine in violation of section 60(a) of the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act (Act) (720 ILCS 646/60(a) (West 2014)). Pursuant to his plea agreement, the defendant was sentence to 30 months of probation.

¶3 The State filed a petition to revoke the defendant’s probation on April 29, 2019. On August 28, 2019, the defendant made an admission to the allegations in the State’s petition to revoke, and on August 30, 2019, the trial court entered a written order finding the defendant in violation of his probation. On November 21, 2019, the defendant was resentenced by the trial court to nine years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by a year of mandatory supervised release. The trial court entered its written judgment on November 25, 2019, indicating that the defendant was eligible for, and sentenced to, an extended-term sentence pursuant to section 5-8-2 of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code) (730 ILCS 5/5-8-2 (West 2014)).

¶4 The defendant now appeals the trial court’s resentencing judgment arguing that the record fails to affirmatively establish that the defendant was eligible for an extended-term sentence. The defendant also argues that the trial court was predisposed to impose a more severe sentence and improperly considered matters outside of the record in aggravation while failing to consider a relevant mitigating factor. For the following reasons, we vacate the trial court’s resentencing judgment.

¶5 BACKGROUND

¶6 On January 11, 2015, the defendant was arrested for driving on a suspended license, and pursuant to that arrest, a tow inventory was conducted on his vehicle. Inside the defendant’s vehicle, law enforcement recovered a metal spoon and a plastic bag containing a white powder that was later determined to be methamphetamine. On October 4, 2017, the defendant pled guilty to one count of unlawful possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine in violation of section 60(a) of the Act (720 ILCS 646/60(a) (West

2014)). Pursuant to his negotiated plea agreement, the defendant was sentenced to 30 months of probation on the same day. The defendant’s initial sentencing hearing was presided over by the Honorable Judge Eric J. Dirnbeck. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court asked the State if the defendant was eligible for an extended-term sentence. The State explained that:

“[Defendant] was convicted in Perry County Case No. 2001-CF-218, possession of controlled substance, and was sentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Therefore, I believe he is extended-term eligible, Your Honor. I believe that must have been a Class 3 felony.”

¶7 The trial court responded:

“Okay. Well, I will advise him then as if he were to be. I don’t know, you know, whether—you have the issue of timing, too. If that is a ‘1’ case and it is four years, when did he get out? When was this case—you know, how did that fit together with when this was alleged to have been committed? But it’s close, so I will advise him as if he is.

Anyway, so the possible sentencing if you were to be convicted of this offense and you did not have this agreement are as follows: two to five years in the Department of Corrections. The extended term is five to ten years, which you might be eligible for. You could be sentenced in the extended term at the discretion of the sentencing judge in this case later on or if you did not have his agreement.”

¶8 On April 29, 2019, the State filed a petition to revoke the defendant’s probation. According to the State’s petition to revoke, the defendant failed to report to his probation

officer on December 27, 2018, and January 18, 2019, in Williamson County, and failed to report in February, March, and April 2019 in Franklin County. The State’s petition to revoke also alleged that the defendant failed to appear at his review hearing on February 22, 2019. On August 28, 2019, the defendant appeared before the trial court, waived his right to a hearing, and admitted the allegations in the State’s petition to revoke his probation. The defendant also waived his right to be resentenced by Judge Eric J. Dirnbeck. The trial court entered a written order on August 30, 2019, finding the defendant in violation of his probation and ordering the probation officer to prepare a presentence investigation report (PSI).

¶9 The PSI was filed on October 22, 2019, and set forth the defendant’s history of delinquency and criminality, which included a 2004 federal conviction for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. 1 Although the PSI listed the class of the defendant’s convictions along with the sentences imposed, the PSI failed to indicate the sentencing dates or the dates that the defendant was in custody pursuant to each case.

¶ 10 On November 21, 2019, the trial court conducted a resentencing hearing presided over by the Honorable Judge Thomas Dinn. The State did not present any evidence regarding the defendant’s prior convictions at the resentencing hearing. Although the State

1 Case No. 03-CR-40051 was filed on July 15, 2003. The judgment of guilty was entered on April 19, 2004, and the defendant was sentenced to 121 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 60 months of supervised release. The PSI indicated that on August 8, 2011, defendant’s supervised release was revoked, and he was sentenced to 18 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

requested that the defendant be resentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, the trial court informed the defendant as follows:

“All right. The Court has considered arguments of the counsel, the defendant’s statement in allocution, the presentence investigation report, which also provides the Court with the information that to incarcerate you in the Department of Corrections would cost the taxpayers $26,000 a year. That was in 2016.

[Defendant], I have been involved as a prosecutor and a judge in this county for quite some time. You are not a stranger to me. I was aware of some of your criminal history, but I guess not the full extent of your criminal history. You have quite possibly one of the worst criminal histories I have seen. Just abysmal, absolutely horrible criminal history. Which you know full well, right? No secret to you.

***

You’re extended term eligible. You are looking at two to ten years on this Class 3 felony. You knew that when you pled guilty and got probation. You followed that up with two more convictions, it looks like.

You don’t report to probation. You don’t do anything that you are told. That would be—I think people would question my sanity if I were to put you on probation. I’m talking now, [defendant]. So that’s not going to happen. Just get that out of your mind. All right?

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People v. Beers, 2021 IL App (5th) 200216-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2021).

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