People v. Lewis

592 N.E.2d 671, 228 Ill. App. 3d 654, 170 Ill. Dec. 235, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 745
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 14, 1992
Docket4-91-0466
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 592 N.E.2d 671 (People v. Lewis) 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. Lewis, 592 N.E.2d 671, 228 Ill. App. 3d 654, 170 Ill. Dec. 235, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 745 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE STEIGMANN

delivered the opinion of the court:

In December 1990, defendant, Reginald Lewis, entered a negotiated guilty plea to residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 19 — 3(a)), theft of property having a value in excess of $300 (theft over $300) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 16 — 1(a)(1)(A)), and criminal sexual abuse (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 12 — 15(a)(2)). In January 1991, defendant was sentenced to an extended term of 18 years in prison for residential burglary, an extended term of 8 years in prison for theft, and 125 days in jail for criminal sexual abuse. The court also ordered defendant to pay restitution and directed that all the sentences be served concurrently. Defendant later filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. In May and June 1991, the trial court conducted hearings on that motion and denied it. Defendant appeals, arguing that (1) the trial court erred by holding that defendant was not eligible for treatment as an alcoholic under section 10 — 101 of the Illinois Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependency Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 1111/2, par. 6360 — 1), (2) the trial court improperly imposed an extended term of imprisonment for theft, and (3) the order of restitution was defective. We affirm and remand with directions.

I. Background

On April 23, 1990, the State charged defendant with committing criminal sexual abuse and aggravated criminal sexual abuse (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 12 — 16(c)(2)) on April 20, 1990. On June 12, 1990, the State charged defendant with committing residential burglary and theft over $300 on June 12, 1990. Defendant posted a cash bond and was released on both of these charges, and on November 5, 1990, the State charged defendant with theft over $300 on or about November 3, 1990.

In December 1990, during the second day of defendant’s jury trial on the June residential burglary and theft charges, defendant entered a negotiated guilty plea to one count each of residential burglary, theft over $300, and criminal sexual abuse. All of the remaining charges were dismissed. Additionally, the State reduced the criminal sexual abuse charge from a Class 2 felony to a Class A misdemeanor. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 12 — 15(d).) The agreement left open the sentence to be imposed, and the State announced that it would seek concurrent, extended-term sentences on both the residential burglary and theft over $300 charges. The trial court ultimately sentenced defendant as earlier indicated, ordered him to pay restitution of $4,875, and directed him to pay the balance of the restitution, which was not covered by the cash bond he had earlier posted, within two years of his release from prison.

II. Defendant’s Eligibility For Treatment Under The Act

Defendant first contends on appeal that the trial court erred by failing to advise him at the sentencing hearing that, as an alternative to a prison sentence, he could elect to be treated as an alcoholic under the Act. The trial court considered this argument at the hearing on defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea and rejected it, finding that defendant was not eligible under the Act to elect treatment. We agree.

Defendant’s sentencing hearing arose from his pleas of guilty to residential burglary, theft over $300, and criminal sexual abuse. Section 10 — 101 of the Act, which outlines when a defendant is eligible to elect treatment, reads in pertinent part as follows:

“Election of treatment. An addict or alcoholic who is charged with or convicted of a crime may elect treatment under the supervision of a licensed program designated by the Department *** unless (a) the crime is a crime of violence; (b) the crime is a violation of Section 401, 402(a), 405 or 407 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, or Sections 4(d), 4(e), 5(d), 5(e), 7 or 9 of the Cannabis Control Act; (c) the person has a record of 2 or more convictions of a crime of violence; (d) other criminal proceedings alleging commission of a felony are pending against the person; *** (g) the person has been convicted of residential burglary and has a record of one or more felony convictions; (h) the crime is a violation of Section 11 — 501 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, as now or hereafter amended, or a similar provision of a local ordinance; or (i) the crime is a reckless homicide or a reckless homicide of an unborn child ***.” (Emphasis added.) Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 1111/2, par. 6360 — 1.

Before defendant pleaded guilty to these charges, he had not previously been convicted of residential burglary, although he had multiple prior felony convictions. Thus, the issue before this court then becomes whether defendant, upon the particular facts of this case, was eligible under section 10 — 101 of the Act to elect treatment under the Act.

This court had occasion to construe the above section 10 — 101 of the Act in People v. Williams (1990), 195 Ill. App. 3d 433, 437, 552 N.E.2d 389, 392, in which we held that a defendant who pleaded guilty to burglary was barred under section 10 — 101 from electing treatment because he had a previous conviction of residential bur-, glary. Defendant in the present case seeks to distinguish his situation from that in Williams by pointing out that at the time of his sentencing hearing, he had not yet been formally convicted of residential burglary because, he claims, a “conviction” occurs when the court enters its final judgment, which is the pronouncement of sentence. Therefore, defendant argues, he was not convicted of residential burglary for purposes of the Act at the time of his sentencing hearing.

We do not agree with defendant’s interpretation. First, we note that the Criminal Code of 1961 (Criminal Code) and the Unified Code of Corrections (Unified Code) contain identical definitions of the term “conviction,” and that definition does not support defendant’s claim that a conviction technically occurs only when sentence is imposed. Section 2 — 5 of the Criminal Code and section 5 — 1—5 of the Unified Code both read as follows:

“ ‘Conviction’ means a judgment of conviction or sentence entered upon a plea of guilty or upon a verdict or finding of guilty of an offense, rendered by a legally constituted jury or by a court of competent jurisdiction authorized to try the case without a jury.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, pars. 2-5, 1005-1-5.)

Thus, the term “conviction” in some circumstances may mean a judgment of conviction entered upon a plea of guilty. In the present case, after the trial court accepted defendant’s guilty pleas, it entered judgment thereon — the standard practice in this State whenever a trial court accepts a guilty plea. Consistent with the above definition, we hold that the trial court’s entry of judgment upon defendant’s guilty plea to residential burglary constituted a “conviction” of that offense for purposes of section 10 — 101 of the Act.

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Bluebook (online)
592 N.E.2d 671, 228 Ill. App. 3d 654, 170 Ill. Dec. 235, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lewis-illappct-1992.