People v. Brown

296 N.E.2d 599, 11 Ill. App. 3d 362, 1973 Ill. App. LEXIS 2432
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided May 16, 1973·No. Nos. 11916-11979 cons.·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE SIMKINS

delivered the opinion of the court:

On February 9, 1970, the defendant-appellant Lawrence Brown entered a plea of guilty to the crime of robbery in the Circuit Court of Champaign County in Cause 69-X-1951. This case is designated on appeal as our general number 11916. On February 27, 1970, he was admitted to probation for a period of three years.

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On September 28, 1971, in the same court, in Cause 71-X-1470 (which is designated on appeal as our general number 11979), the defendant was indicted for the offense of unlawful use of weapons in violation of chapter 38, section 24 — 1(a)(7), Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969. On October 27, 1971, following a hearing, the trial judge denied the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence (the firearm in question seized at the time of defendant’s arrest). On December 1, 1971, defendant entered a plea of guilty to the charge with the understanding that the State’s Attorney would recommend a sentence of 2 to 5 years in the penitentiary. Prior to accepting the plea, pursuant to the provisions of Supreme Court Rule 402, the trial judge advised the defendant that “* * # you understand that you are offering to enter a plea of guilty to the charge that on the 12th day of August, 1971, * * * you committed the offense of unlawful possession of firearms in that you did knowingly possess * * * a .410 gauge shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches in length * * * and that you had this unlawful possession on the 12th day of August, 1971. Do you understand that chargeF’ To which defendant responded in the affirmative. The judge also asked the defendant “And are you pleading guilty to this charge because you are in fact guilty of it?” Defendant responded “Yes Sir.” The judge then inquired about the factual basis for the plea and was advised by the State’s Attorney as follows: “Your Honor, if we had to prove this case the State would show that on the date in the indictment the defendant, Mr. Brown, was found in a house, I believe the address was 212 Maple Street, in Champaign. The police entered the house upon request of a Mrs. Frazier, and upon entering the house they found the defendant in one bedroom, and when he entered — when he exited the bedroom upon the police requests, they found in the bed he had just gotten out of a sawed-off .410 gauge shotgun, with a barrel less than eighteen inches in length.”

The court then inquired of defendant’s counsel whether he had anything to add to the State’s Attorney’s statement and received a negative response. Tire record establishes a careful thorough admonishment, by the trial judge, in compliance with Rule 402. He found that the plea was voluntary, that there had been no threats or misrepresentations and no recommendation or promise other than the recommendation of the State’s Attorney as to sentence and found that there was a factual basis for the plea, all of which is amply supported by the record. At the conclusion of the admonishment and after making the above findings the court again inquired of the defendant as to whether or not he still wanted to plead guilty and the defendant responded that he did. Whereupon the court accepted the plea and entered judgment thereon. The defendant then moved to postpone sentencing to the second week in January; the State’s Attorney interposed on objection and the cause was then continued to Wednesday, January 12, 1972, for hearing in aggravation and mitigation and imposition of sentence. Defendant had been represented since the inception of these proceedings by counsel of his own choice, and this representation commenced prior to the prehminary hearing being held.

On December 29, 1971, the defendant through his attorney filed a motion for leave to withdraw his plea of guilty stating that he “* * * does not believe that he is in fact guilty of the charge and that he and his attorney are in disagreement about the handling of the case. # On the same day defendant’s counsel filed a petition for leave to withdraw as counsel for the defendant. The motion recited that the plea of guilty had been entered as a result of plea bargaining, that within two or three days thereafter the defendant phoned counsel and “* * * indicated that he was dissatisfied with the plea and that he disagreed with the undersigned’s handling of the case * * and had requested that a motion be filed to withdraw the plea at which time counsel indicated to the defendant that he did not wish to participate in the motion to withdraw the plea and requested the defendant to obtain other counsel. On January 5, 1972, the court allowed the motion of counsel to withdraw and another attorney, of defendant’s own selection, then entered his appearance.

On January 12, 1972, the court heard defendant’s motion to withdraw his plea of guilty. The defendant testified in his own behalf and was the only witness called in the hearing on the motion and stated tire following in response to his attorney’s questions:

“Q. And do you feel you are innocent in this case after having discussed the law with me?
A. I am innocent.
# # #
Q. But as a matter of fact after discussing the law in regard to this case, and this charge, you feel you are not guilty, is that true?
A. That’s right.”
The court then inquired:
“THE COURT: Mr. Brown, was anything misrepresented to you by Mr. Harper, or by the State’s Attorney, or by the Court at the time you pleaded guilty?”

and the defendant responded in the negative. The defendant agreed that the recommendation of the State’s Attorney was the one which his original attorney had communicated to him. Defendant’s attorney then stated to the court that he was contending that the defendant was under a misapprehension “* * s I think as to the law, Judge.” He stated to the court that although the defendant had the weapon in question in bed with him that he wasn’t guilty if he did not know that the gun was in his possession. The defendant then testified that he did not know that the gun was in the bed the night he was arrested. The defendant also testified that the gun in question did not belong to him. The court then denied the motion for leave to withdraw the plea; the hearing in aggravation and mitigation was held and defendant was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 2 to 5 years in the penitentiary and this appeal ensued.

As a result of defendant’s conviction of the crime of unlawful use of weapons his probation on the robbery conviction was revoked on February 4, 1972, and the defendant was sentenced on the robbery charge to an indeterminate term of 2 to 5 years, the sentence to run concurrently with the sentence imposed on the unlawful-weapons charge.

The sole question presented by the appeal was whether the trial court committed reversible error in refusing to permit defendant to withdraw his plea of guilty. The appeal from the robbery conviction depends upon the resolution of this sole issue since defendant urges that if there was error in refusing to permit him to withdraw his plea of guilty then the robbery sentence cannot stand since his probation should not have been revoked. The cases were consolidated, for purposes of opinion, in this court.

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People v. Brown, 296 N.E.2d 599, 11 Ill. App. 3d 362, 1973 Ill. App. LEXIS 2432 (Ill. Ct. App. 1973).

296 N.E.2d 599 (People v. Brown) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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