People v. Cross

406 N.E.2d 66, 84 Ill. App. 3d 868, 40 Ill. Dec. 365, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2981
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 15, 1980
Docket79-376
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 406 N.E.2d 66 (People v. Cross) 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. Cross, 406 N.E.2d 66, 84 Ill. App. 3d 868, 40 Ill. Dec. 365, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2981 (Ill. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE ROMITI

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, defendant, Charles Cross, was convicted of attempted murder, attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, pars. 8 — 4 and 12 — 4.) Defendant received concurrent sentences of 4 to 6 years for attempted murder and 2 to 6 years for each of the other offenses. On appeal defendant contends that the trial court’s misinformation concerning the applicability of present law to his case foreclosed him from making a proper election as to the law under which to be sentenced 1 and that multiple convictions and sentences for attempted murder and aggravated battery were improper.

The evidence of defendant’s culpability is not challenged, and it will be unnecessary to recite in detail the facts involved in the incident. It is sufficient to note that the 59-year-old victim testified that he admitted a young woman to his apartment late in the evening on the date of the occurrence. The victim did not lock the apartment door after her entry. A short time later defendant and another man entered. Defendant carried a lead pipe, and his accomplice had a gun. The victim knelt on the floor as he had been ordered by the gunman and defendant demanded money. The victim told them that his money was in his pants pocket, but defendant could not find any money after searching 3 pairs of trousers. Defendant then threw one pair of pants at the victim, ordered him to get the money and hit the victim on the head with the pipe. When one of the assailants then suggested that they kill the victim, he threw the pants at the gunman, who fired 4 shots hitting the victim twice. The assailants then fled with the woman. Defendant was arrested the following day and confessed to the crimes.

At the sentencing hearing the court asked defendant if his counsel had discussed the differences between the prior law and the Unified Code of Corrections as then in effect. Defendant responded affirmatively. The court then generally compared possible sentences under each statutory scheme. The court also specifically remarked that under current law if one of the offenses for which defendant was convicted was a Class X felony and serious bodily harm was inflicted upon the victim, then consecutive sentences could be imposed upon multiple convictions. (Ill. Rev. Stat., 1977 Supp., ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8—4(a).) Defense counsel replied that defendant had not been advised of this latter possibility because under counsel’s interpretation the aforesaid statute would not apply.

Defendant then unwaveringly elected to be sentenced under the law in effect at the time the offenses were committed. He received the enumerated indeterminate sentences.

Defendant initially questions whether he may knowingly and intelligently waive his right to elect to be sentenced under the existing statute when his waiver is based on the misinformation provided to him by the trial judge which could have materially affected his choice. Defendant bases his position on the trial court’s claimed misconstruction of section 5 — 8—4(a) of the Unified Code of Corrections, as amended, permitting imposition of consecutive sentences in certain situations. That statute provides in relevant part:

° “ The court shall not impose consecutive sentences for offenses which were committed as part of a single course of conduct during which there was no substantial change in the nature of the criminal objective, unless, one of the offenses for which defendant was convicted was a Class X or Class 1 felony and the defendant inflected severe bodily injury, in which event the court may enter sentences to run consecutively.” Ill. Rev. Stat., 1977 Supp., ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8—4(a).

Defendant maintains that neither attempt murder nor attempt armed robbery were strictly classified as Class X or Class 1 felonies, although a sentence for attempt murder “shall not exceed the sentence for a Class X felony” and a sentence for attempt armed robbery “shall not exceed the sentence for a Class 1 felony.” (Ill. Rev. Stat., 1977 Supp., ch. 38, pars. 8— 4(c)(1), 8 — 4(c)(2), and 18 — 2(b).) Thus, defendant asserts that he was forced to elect under which law to be sentenced while laboring under the court’s misapprehension of the availability of consecutive sentences under present law. Defendant now requests that a new sentencing hearing be conducted so that he might make a proper election.

The State argues that the inchoate crime of attempt should be treated exactly as the sentence applicable to the specified class of crimes which set the limits for the principal offense. The State relies on the recent enactment of Public Act 81-923, effective January 1,1980, which requires attempt murder to be treated as a Class X felony and attempt armed robbery as a Class 1 felony.

We reject the State’s position. In People v. Moore (1978), 69 Ill. 2d 520, 372 N.E.2d 666, our supreme court authoritatively construed section 8 — 4 of the Criminal Code, authorizing that a sentence for attempt murder “shall not exceed the sentence for a Class 1 felony.” The court concluded that the statutory language was not ambiguous and the literal meaning of the attempt statute should be given effect for sentencing purposes. The supreme court held that the statute in question was only intended to set a maximum sentence. Since the supreme court in Moore found no ambiguity in the attempt statute now at issue, resort to subsequent legislation as an aid to statutory construction is not proper. (Compare People v. Scott (1974), 57 Ill. 2d 353, 358, 312 N.E.2d 596, and Lubezny v. Ball (1945), 389 Ill. 263, 266, 59 N.E.2d 645.) We therefore conclude that the trial court incorrectly equated the classifications of attempt murder and attempt armed robbery as a Class X or Class 1 felony in advising defendant of the possibility of consecutive sentences in the present case.

We must consider, however, whether such error requires a remand to allow defendant to again elect under which law he should be sentenced. The responsibility for advising defendant concerning alternative sentencing dispositions from which he may elect is placed primarily upon defense counsel. (People v. Rich (1979), 77 Ill. App. 3d 902, 903, 396 N.E.2d 824.) Here, the record shows that defense counsel had fulfilled that responsibility. Further, it has been held that there need be no showing that defendant’s election of which statute to be sentenced under was knowing and intelligent, and the trial court’s mistaken explanation in regard to the differing sentences, which might be imposed, is not necessarily reversible error. See People v. Daily (1979), 79 Ill. App. 3d 928, 940-41, 398 N.E.2d 923.

In People v. Blackwell (1980), 80 Ill. App. 3d 302, 399 N.E.2d 696, 2

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Bluebook (online)
406 N.E.2d 66, 84 Ill. App. 3d 868, 40 Ill. Dec. 365, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cross-illappct-1980.