People v. Bolanos

2022 IL App (1st) 200790, 215 N.E.3d 221, 465 Ill. Dec. 425
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 2, 2022
Docket1-20-0790
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2022 IL App (1st) 200790 (People v. Bolanos) 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. Bolanos, 2022 IL App (1st) 200790, 215 N.E.3d 221, 465 Ill. Dec. 425 (Ill. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

2022 IL App (1st) 200790

No. 1-20-0790

Opinion filed August 2, 2022.

Second Division

______________________________________________________________________________

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. 13 CR 12563 ) KIMBERLYNN BOLANOS, ) The Honorable ) Charles P. Burns, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE LAVIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Fitzgerald Smith and Justice Cobbs concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Defendant Kimberlynn Bolanos pled guilty but mentally ill to the first degree murder of

her five-month-old son, Isaac Bolanos. She then filed a petition under the Post-Conviction

Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2018)), which the trial court summarily

dismissed. On appeal, defendant asserts that the trial court erroneously dismissed her petition

because it stated the gist of a constitutional claim that she was unfit to plead guilty. We agree.

¶2 I. Background No. 1-20-0790

¶3 On May 30, 2013, defendant, then 21 years old, killed her son by stabbing him 44 times.

The State subsequently charged her with several counts of first degree murder and sought an

extended-term sentence. She initially pled not guilty to the charges and raised an insanity

defense. See 720 ILCS 5/6-2(a) (West 2012) (stating that “[a] person is not criminally

responsible for conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or mental

defect, he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct”). In addition,

several doctors examined defendant over the course of this case. The only report appearing in our

record, however, was made by defense expert Dr. Roni Seltzberg. Because this matter did not

culminate in a trial, it is unclear whether the other doctors’ reports were ever made part of the

trial court record. Accordingly, the following information is derived from Dr. Seltzberg’s report

and the representations made by the attorneys below.

¶4 As a young teenager, defendant was a good student, ranking fifteenth in her freshman

class. Unfortunately, serious problems began around the same time. Her parents divorced, her

grades plummeted, and she obsessed over germs and locks. She also began cutting herself, ran

away from home, attempted suicide, and was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric treatment.

In addition, she developed bulimia, body dysmorphia, and a recreational drug habit. She may

have been a victim of sexual assault as well. Furthermore, defendant believed that other people

could hear her thoughts and that Puerto Ricans were tracking her on public transportation. She

believed that God compelled her to write books that would be printed to help African countries.

She screamed at airplanes. On one occasion, she jumped out of a car to scream at people at a bus

stop because she thought she was being followed.

¶5 After graduating from high school, defendant held a few jobs and entered into a marriage

of convenience with a man who lacked citizenship. She moved into her father’s basement when

-2- No. 1-20-0790

that relationship dissolved. Around this time, she received a driving under the influence charge

and, according to her, engaged in prostitution. At age 20, she attempted suicide by injecting wasp

poison into her heart. She believed that if she died, “everybody would stop getting tortured.” Her

death would “prove I’m not a spy for the wrong people.” Defendant also believed that the

government followed her and that she was capable of shutting down satellites. According to her

mother, her family had a history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, depression, suicidal

thoughts, and postpartum depression.

¶6 According to defendant, in July 2012, defendant went to the hospital after injecting

heroin and learned she was four months pregnant by her boyfriend. While hospital records from

that time indicated that defendant had already known she was pregnant, defendant apparently

disputed the accuracy of those records. Additionally, defendant claimed she had believed that her

lack of menstruation had something to do with lions in Africa. Upon learning of her pregnancy,

she was happy, stopped using alcohol or controlled substances, and obtained prenatal care. Still,

defendant thought she was killing bad people with her mind and that her baby would be the heir

to her mission.

¶7 Isaac was born on December 12, 2012. No drugs were found in defendant’s system. In

addition, hospital personnel initially separated her from Isaac due to the heroin incident, causing

her to fear that Isaac was being tortured, but they returned him to her. She was happy. Yet, a

psychiatric consultation was requested due to certain comments defendant had made. This did

not result in medication or treatment. Defendant stated that she did not tell hospital personnel

that she was “a pawn” or that she was being followed because they would have thought she was

“crazy.”

-3- No. 1-20-0790

¶8 Defendant and Isaac lived in her father’s basement. According to family members, she

was a good mother but did not let others take care of Isaac. She brought him into the shower

rather than allow her father to watch him. Defendant’s mother, who had watched Isaac only

twice, was concerned that something was wrong but found nothing amiss when checking his

body. Defendant stated that Isaac was her best friend and her joy, and she never thought she

would be better off without him.

¶9 Meanwhile, defendant continued checking locks and engaged in excessive handwashing.

She worked on a cure for cancer. She believed that family members were being tortured by

“People at the Top,” and she heard people walking around upstairs and screaming in the night.

One day, a man whom defendant mistakenly believed to be a detective came to the house. She

thought he was “looking for her because they thought she was a prostitute and used crack.” She

also feared that Isaac would be raped and tortured “to get stronger” and thought that “they” were

coming to take him. As a result, defendant moved herself and Isaac into a motel. She continued

to hear screaming at night and slept with a knife. According to defendant, “buff” people at the

top knew she was thinking of killing herself and wanted to torture her for answers first. They

intended to torture Isaac as well.

¶ 10 On May 29, 2013, defendant purchased knives and razors from the Dollar Tree. Jerry

Brooks, Isaac’s father, arrived at the hotel later that night to find defendant pacing with knives on

each hip. She said she was not going to let anyone rape and torture her and told Brooks to try to

kill her and Isaac if someone came. Upon Brooks’s request, defendant gave him the knives, but

they reappeared next to her in the morning. Brooks believed she had not slept, and according to

defendant, she had smoked marijuana at some point.

-4- No. 1-20-0790

¶ 11 Defendant reported that Brooks’s phone began ringing at about 5 a.m., leading her to

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2022 IL App (1st) 200790, 215 N.E.3d 221, 465 Ill. Dec. 425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bolanos-illappct-2022.