People v. Clark

2023 IL App (1st) 231770, 240 N.E.3d 27
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided December 12, 2023·No. 1-23-1770·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

2023 IL App (1st) 231770 No. 1-23-1770B Opinion filed December 12, 2023

Sixth Division

___________________________________________________________________________

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ___________________________________________________________________________ ) THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Cook County. Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) No. 2023200138301 v. ) ) The Honorable CARLOS CLARK, ) Anthony Calabrese, ) Judge, presiding. Defendant-Appellant. )

JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justice C.A. Walker concurred in the judgement and opinion. Justice Tailor dissented, with opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Timing is everything in life and law. The State timed the filing of its petition to detain

Carlos Clark to coincide with the effective date of article 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

of 1963 (Code) (725 ILCS 5/art. 110 (West 2022)), as amended by Public Act 101-652 (eff. Jan.

1, 2023), commonly known as the Pretrial Fairness Act. But the Code strictly limits the timing of

these petitions, notably when the State already agreed that the trial court should set bail. No. 1-23-1770B

¶2 At the first appearance, the State secured an ex parte order permitting Clark’s possible

release by setting a bail amount. This earlier choice rendered its later petition to detain too late.

We reverse the trial court’s order detaining Clark and remand for the trial court to reinstate its prior

conditions of release. We express no opinion on a future ruling by the trial court if properly

presented under the Code on whether to detain Clark.

¶3 Background

¶4 At the State’s behest, about a month before the Pretrial Fairness Act became effective, the

trial court signed an order permitting Carlos Clark’s arrest and fixing his bail at $100,000 D. See

Rowe v. Raoul, 2023 IL 129248, ¶ 4 n.1 (noting neither “Safety, Accountability, Fairness and

Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act” nor “Pretrial Fairness Act” are “official” names but common

shorthand for the sequence of public acts). The trial court had acted in response to the State filing

a felony complaint that day charging Clark with aggravated vehicular hijacking (720 ILCS 5/18-

4(a)(1)) (West 2022).

¶5 The name of an assistant state’s attorney appears on the felony complaint, as does the

signature of the judge who found probable cause to arrest Clark. Although not legible, a

prosecutor’s signature also appears alongside the trial court’s signature on the order permitting

Clark’s arrest and setting bail. The felony minute sheet, filed the same day as the complaint and

trial court order, additionally laid out the alleged facts of three more possible offenses, unlawful

restraint, aggravated fleeing, and retail theft. (The dissent overlooks this portion of the record when

asserting “we do not know what evidence was presented” to the trial court. Infra ¶ 37.) The felony

minute sheet also noted Clark’s then-current custody in McHenry County.

-2- No. 1-23-1770B

¶6 About three weeks later, the State executed the Cook County arrest warrant. Two days after

that, on the Act’s effective date, the State petitioned to detain Clark. The trial court held a hearing

that day, with Clark appearing for the first time.

¶7 Clark objected to the hearing. In his view, the Code did not permit the State to petition to

detain him. He contended the Code permitted him, and only him, to seek review of the set

conditions of release and offered no grounds for the State to now petition for his detention. In

response, the State objected to having “no opportunity to file any conditions on this case[.]” The

State contended that the Code permitted it to move to detain Clark during Clark’s first appearance

before the trial judge, so its petition was proper.

¶8 The trial court, the second judge to preside over this case, found:

I don’t know what was or was not said to [the first judge] at the time of the issuance

of the warrant. A warrant was issued for defendant’s arrest in the amount of $100,000 D. I

can’t speak to what happened then. I believe that the issuance of the warrant is a mechanism

by which the defendant is compelled to appear before a court.

Typically, what happens is once those warrants are executed and defendants appear

in front of me, I then make a determination as to whether probable cause exists. I listen and

review the case in its entirety for purposes of setting a fair bond that includes setting any

conditions that might be relevant, any concern, and it includes an in-depth consideration of

all the factors from both sides, then I’ll be able to have an opportunity to make an

appropriate decision in this case.

-3- No. 1-23-1770B

Before today’s date no hearing has been held. This is the first time the defendant is

appearing. There is no opportunity for conditions to be filed and for an assessment to be

able to be made as to what is or isn’t an appropriate condition of release for the defendant.

I believe the State is well within their right given these unique circumstances on the

first appearance after the issuance of a warrant and appearance off that warrant to be able

to go forward with the [] Act and have a determination made as to whether or not the

defendant should be detained, so over the Defense’s objection, I am going to allow the

detention hearing.

¶9 The trial court held the detention hearing, denied pretrial release, and issued a written order.

¶ 10 Analysis

¶ 11 Clark contends the Code, as amended by the Pretrial Fairness Act, offers the State no

grounds for petitioning to detain those like him, whom the trial court ordered released at the start

of the prosecution and before the Act’s effective date. The State responds that the Code permitted

what it did: petition to detain Clark during his first appearance before trial court.

¶ 12 The parties’ dispute requires us to interpret a statute, presenting legal questions that we

review de novo. People v. Ramirez, 2023 IL 128123, ¶ 13. We read the statute in full, not

piecemeal. Ramirez, 2023 IL 128123, ¶ 13. We determine the statute’s meaning by discerning the

plain and ordinary meaning of its words. Id. And we do not add exceptions, limitations, or

conditions that would contradict the legislature’s intent. Id.

¶ 13 The parties agree their dispute turns, in part, on section 110-6.1(c), which controls the

timing for filing petitions to detain. 725 ILCS 5/110-6.1(c) (West 2022). The parties focus on the

meaning of the phrase “the first appearance before a judge,” as that phrase appears in subsection

-4- No. 1-23-1770B

110-6.1(c)(1) (West 2022). Clark contends that phrase includes ex parte hearings at which the

State initiates the prosecution and seeks bail. The State argues that phrase excludes hearings at

which only the State appears and thus requires the defendant to appear as well.

¶ 14 We begin with the full text of section 110-6.1(c), which contains two subsections, and

italicize its use of the word appearance. Under subsection (c)(1),

A petition may be filed without prior notice to the defendant at the first appearance before

a judge, or within the 21 calendar days, except as provided in Section 110-6, after arrest

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People v. Clark, 2023 IL App (1st) 231770, 240 N.E.3d 27 (Ill. Ct. App. 2023).

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