People v. Kelleher

452 N.E.2d 143, 116 Ill. App. 3d 186, 72 Ill. Dec. 211, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2028
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 21, 1983
Docket4—82—0644, 4—82—0689 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 452 N.E.2d 143 (People v. Kelleher) 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. Kelleher, 452 N.E.2d 143, 116 Ill. App. 3d 186, 72 Ill. Dec. 211, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2028 (Ill. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

On September 29, 1982, following a bench trial in the circuit court of Livingston County, defendant, Patrick A. Kelleher, was acquitted of two charges of forgery. On October 4, 1982, following a hearing on the State’s petition to recover attorney fees, the court ordered defendant to pay $440 to reimburse the county for his appointed counsel’s services. A portion of the cash bail bond posted by defendant was to be retained to pay those fees. Defendant then made a disparaging remark to the court, and the court found him to be in direct criminal contempt. He was sentenced to and served one day in jail. Defendant appeals the recoupment order, the contempt finding, and the sentence. We affirm all orders appealed.

Under scrutiny is section 113—3.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 113—3.1). It authorizes the trial court to require defendants in criminal proceedings, who have been appointed counsel in the trial court or a court of review because of their indigency, to pay “a reasonable sum” to reimburse the county for some or all of costs incurred in furnishing the counsel. Defendant maintains that section 113—3.1 violates due process, because (1) it applies to those acquitted as well as those convicted, and (2) it permits the court to require that money deposited for bail be applied to reimburse the county even though no warning is given to a defendant making bail that this may occur. Defendant also asserts that the court abused its discretion in this case by requiring that defendant’s bail deposit be used to reimburse Livingston County.

We consider first defendant’s claim that the application of the statute to acquitted as well as convicted defendants works a deprecation of due process. Statutes requiring reimbursement to the State from defendants who have been furnished counsel by the State without charge have been before the United States Supreme Court in Fuller v. Oregon (1974), 417 U.S. 40, 40 L. Ed. 2d 642, 94 S. Ct. 2116, and James v. Strange (1972), 407 U.S. 128, 32 L. Ed. 2d 600, 92 S. Ct. 2027. Neither is directly on point here.

In Fuller, the court upheld a State statute permitting recoupment against convicted, but not acquitted, defendants and allowing the recoupment to be a condition of probation. The legislation granted those defendants required to make reimbursement all of the exemptions applicable to other debtors and conditioned any requirement for reimbursement upon a defendant’s ability to pay. The court examined the statute on equal protection and right-to-counsel grounds. The court concluded that there was a rational basis for applying recoupment to those convicted but not to those acquitted. It also decided that because of the exemptions provided and the requirement that defendants be able to pay, there was no improper discrimination between rich and poor. A contention raised below that there was improper discrimination because an indigent may be imprisoned for his failure to pay attorney’s expense while a nonindigent who failed to pay his attorney would not, was not preserved for review by the United States Supreme Court. That court also held that the statute did not “chill” a defendant’s exercise of his right to appointed counsel if indigent, because the statute required him to pay only that which he could pay.

In James, the court overturned a Kansas recoupment statute which was applicable to indigents regardless of whether they were convicted or acquitted. It permitted entry of judgment for expense of counsel without a hearing and allowed no exemptions except homestead. The court reasoned that equal protection was denied, stating:

“If acquitted, the indigent finds himself obligated to repay the State for a service the need for which resulted from the State’s prosecution. It is difficult to see why such a defendant, adjudged to be innocent of the State’s charge, should be denied basic exemptions accorded all other judgment debtors.” 407 U.S. 128, 139, 32 L. Ed. 2d 600, 609, 92 S. Ct. 2027, 2033.

Subsequent to James and Fuller in Olson v. James (10th Cir. 1979), 603 F.2d 150, a slightly altered form of the Kansas recoupment statute was considered. The statute granted normal exemptions to defendants but continued to provide for the entry of an automatic judgment against the defendant regardless of indigency. In holding the statute to be still violative of the fourteenth amendment, the Olson court concluded that recoupment of expenses of counsel from those acquitted was one reason for the statute’s infirmity. The court stated that James had held that there “was no rational basis for recouping attorney’s fees where the defendant was acquitted since the state had brought on the prosecution.” 603 F.2d 150,154.

We do not agree with the Olson court’s interpretation of James. The only language in that opinion which the Olson court could have been relying on was that which we previously cited. In the context of the two quoted sentences, it is apparent that the court was saying that, at least in those cases where an indigent was prosecuted by the State but acquitted, the indigent should be entitled to the same exemptions as other debtors.

Section 113—3.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 requires that reimbursement must be in a reasonable sum and recognizes that reason may require that only partial recoupment be ordered. By its terms, it is geared to the defendant’s ability to pay. As with the Oregon statute in Fuller, it is “tailored to impose an obligation only upon those with a foreseeable ability to meet it, and to enforce that obligation only against those who actually become able to meet it without hardship.” (Fuller v. Oregon (1974), 417 U.S. 40, 54, 40 L. Ed. 2d 642, 655, 94 S. Ct. 2116, 2125.) As in Fuller, it does not tend to unduly deter an indigent defendant in the proper exercise of his right to court appointed counsel if indigent.

While Fuller finds a rational basis for distinguishing between those- convicted and those acquitted, the rational basis does not require the distinction. A nonindigent, although acquitted, is ordinarily required, without reimbursement by the State, to pay for counsel. To require an indigent, although acquitted, to reimburse the county, to the extent he is able, for the expense of furnished counsel, tends to put indigents and nonindigents who are acquitted, on the same basis and is consistent with due process.

Defendant also argues that since costs in the trial court can only be assessed against a convicted defendant (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 180—3), section 113—3.1 should be similarly limited. However, in Schilb v. Kuebel (1971), 404 U.S. 357, 30 L. Ed. 2d 502, 92 S. Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
452 N.E.2d 143, 116 Ill. App. 3d 186, 72 Ill. Dec. 211, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2028, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kelleher-illappct-1983.