People v. Hill

2023 IL App (1st) 221062, 240 N.E.3d 36
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in People v. Hill. Read the opinion of the Court — 2022 IL App (1st) 171739-B
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided December 14, 2023·No. 1-22-1062·Published

Opinion

2023 IL App (1st) 221062

FOURTH DIVISION Order filed: December 14, 2023

Nos. 1-22-1062 & 1-23-0220 (cons.)

______________________________________________________________________________

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. 00 CR 9505 ) EDDIE HILL, ) Honorable ) William G. Gamboney, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.

JUSTICE HOFFMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Rochford and Justice Martin concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 The defendant, Eddie Hill, appeals two circuit court orders, one granting his petition for

postconviction relief filed under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq.

(West 2004)) and one resentencing him to thirty-seven years in prison for two counts of attempted

first-degree murder. The defendant contends that resentencing was an insufficient remedy for his

postconviction claim that trial counsel’s misadvice caused him to reject a favorable plea offer and

that the sentence imposed following resentencing violated his right to due process and was Nos. 1-22-1062 & 1-23-0220 (cons.)

excessive. We agree with his second argument and reverse his sentence and remand with

instructions.

¶2 In 2005, following a bench trial, the defendant was convicted of multiple counts of

attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and aggravated battery, all

stemming from the shooting of Cornelius Grant and Antonio Ingram in February 2000. At trial,

the victims testified that, while in the stairwell of their apartment building, the defendant

approached them with a revolver and asked them about joining the Gangster Disciples gang. When

the victims expressed no interest, the defendant fired the revolver at the floor. The victims testified

that they began running down the stairs, and the defendant fired shots at them, striking Grant in

his index finger. The victims proceeded to a fourth-floor apartment, and the defendant pursued

them, eventually shooting Grant in his chest and Ingram in his leg. According to the victims, they

identified the defendant as the shooter from a photo array shown to them by the police shortly after

the incident. At trial, Grant testified that, as a result of his gunshot wound, he was confined to a

wheelchair, and Ingram testified that his femur had required a pin to repair the fracture he

sustained. After finding the defendant guilty on many of the charges, including two counts of

attempted first-degree murder, the court sentenced him to concurrent and consecutive prison terms

totaling seventy-five years. On direct appeal, this court held that the defendant’s aggravated battery

convictions violated the one-act one-crime rule and, therefore, vacated those convictions and

remanded for the defendant's mittimus to be amended to reflect two convictions for attempted first-

degree murder with corresponding consecutive sentences of forty-five- and thirty-years’

imprisonment. See People v. Hill, No. 1-06-0041 (unpublished order pursuant to Supreme Court

Rule 23).

-2- Nos. 1-22-1062 & 1-23-0220 (cons.)

¶3 In 2009, the defendant, acting pro se, filed the instant petition for postconviction relief

under the Act, raising, among others, a claim that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance

by misadvising him regarding the maximum potential sentence, which caused him to reject a

favorable plea offer. Specifically, the defendant alleged that, during a plea conference held

pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 402 (eff. July 1, 1997), the State offered the defendant twenty

years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea to the attempted-murder charges and that defense

counsel advised him that he should reject the offer because the State's case was “purely

circumstantial,” he would likely win at trial, and if he was found guilty his sentences would run

concurrently.

¶4 After the petition was dismissed at the second stage and that dismissal was reversed on

appeal (see People v. Hill, 2014 IL App (1st) 131625-U (unpublished order pursuant to Supreme

Court Rule 23)), the defendant, this time through new counsel, filed a supplemental petition further

alleging that trial counsel had misinformed him that he was facing a sentencing range of six to

thirty years in prison, when in reality the true maximum was much higher. The State moved to

dismiss the supplemental petition. In a March 12, 2019, order, the court granted in part and denied

in part the State’s motion. In doing so, the court dismissed other claims that are not at issue in this

appeal but allowed the defendant’s claim regarding counsel’s misadvice to proceed to a third-stage

evidentiary hearing.

¶5 At that third-stage proceeding, the defendant testified that trial counsel advised him that he

was facing six to thirty years in prison, with thirty years being the maximum. According to the

defendant, counsel further informed him that the State had offered twenty years “for both the

attempt murders.” The defendant recalled that counsel advised him to reject the offer because the

-3- Nos. 1-22-1062 & 1-23-0220 (cons.)

State’s case was beatable, and he rejected the offer based on that advice. When he heard that he

was sentenced to a total of seventy-five years in prison his “heart stopped” because he believed he

was facing a maximum of thirty years and did not understand what was going on. On cross-

examination, the defendant further explained that he believed that the twenty-year offer came from

the State and that he did not understand the difference between an offer from the State and a Rule

402 offer from the court.

¶6 Several other witnesses testified on the defendant’s behalf and largely corroborated the

defendant’s account, with the defendant’s sister, the mother of the defendant’s child, and the

defendant’s girlfriend each testifying that the defendant’s trial counsel had told them that the

defendant was facing six to thirty years in prison. The defendant’s trial counsel testified that he no

longer possessed the file from the defendant’s case, but he recalled that the sentencing range was

six to thirty years and that the court had made an offer of twenty years during a Rule 402

conference. Following the conclusion of testimony, the defendant’s counsel argued that the

defendant had shown deficient performance and prejudice and requested that the court “vacate the

conviction and remand it for a new trial.”

¶7 In a written order entered on October 28, 2020, the court found that the defendant had

indeed proven that trial counsel performed deficiently by “fail[ing] to fully inform [the defendant]

of his exposure to extended and consecutive sentencing and the maximum term that could result,”

and that the defendant was prejudiced by counsel’s errors because counsel’s misadvice caused the

defendant to reject a favorable plea offer. However, the court did not agree with the defendant’s

requested remedy of a new trial. The court reasoned that “nothing about [the defendant’s] claim or

its supporting facts affects the propriety of the trial. To be sure, [the defendant] was proven guilty

-4- Nos. 1-22-1062 & 1-23-0220 (cons.)

of the crimes for which he was convicted.

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People v. Hill, 2023 IL App (1st) 221062, 240 N.E.3d 36 (Ill. Ct. App. 2023).

2023 IL App (1st) 221062 (People v. Hill) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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