People v. Merritt

916 N.E.2d 631, 334 Ill. Dec. 216, 395 Ill. App. 3d 169, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 1012
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 15, 2009
Docket4-08-0775
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 916 N.E.2d 631 (People v. Merritt) 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. Merritt, 916 N.E.2d 631, 334 Ill. Dec. 216, 395 Ill. App. 3d 169, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 1012 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JUSTICE APPLETON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, David Lee Merritt, appeals from the summary dismissal of his petition for postconviction relief. He argues that the addition of mandatory supervised release to his sentences of imprisonment resulted in a punishment more onerous than the maximum punishment to which he agreed in his guilty-plea hearing. He argues this was a unilateral modification of the plea agreement and a violation of his right to due process.

The parties agreed the sentence would be capped at 25 years’ imprisonment. The trial court sentenced defendant to concurrent prison terms of 23 years and 5 years. Statutory law added a three-year term of mandatory supervised release. Defendant has failed to establish that 23 years’ imprisonment plus 3 years of mandatory supervised release is a more onerous punishment than 25 years’ imprisonment. Mandatory supervised release simply is not comparable to imprisonment. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 10, 2004, a grand jury returned an indictment charging defendant with four offenses, all arising from his physical abuse of Nevada Perez on October 31, 2004. Count I charged him with home invasion (720 ILCS 5/12 — 11(a)(2) (West 2004)). Count II charged him with domestic battery (720 ILCS 5/12 — 3.2(a)(1) (West 2004)) in that he hit Perez. This offense was a Class 4 felony because previously, in McLean County case No. 95 — CF—1075, he was convicted of attempt to commit first-degree murder. See 720 ILCS 5/8 — 4(a), 12 — -3.2(b) (West 2004). Count III charged him with violating an order of protection (720 ILCS 5/12 — 30(a)(1) (West 2004)). Count IV charged him with felony domestic battery (720 ILCS 5/12— 3.2(a)(2) (West 2004)) in that he put his hands around Perez’s neck and threatened to kill her. Again, because of his previous conviction of attempt to commit first-degree murder, this offense was a felony.

On June 3, 2005, the parties appeared before the trial court for a guilty-plea hearing. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 402(b) (177 Ill. 2d R. 402(b)) required the court to “confirm the terms of the plea agreement” “by questioning the defendant personally in open court.” Therefore, the court recited the terms of the plea agreement. Defendant would plead guilty to counts I and II of the indictment. In return, the State would dismiss the remaining two counts, and defendant would receive a sentence of imprisonment no greater than 25 years. He would reserve the right to receive imprisonment for less than 25 years, but, by statutory law, the sentence had to be at least 6 years’ imprisonment. See 720 ILCS 5/12 — 11(c) (West 2004); 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—1(a)(3) (West 2004). The court asked defendant: “Is that your general understanding of what will take place on today’s date?” He answered yes.

At this point in the guilty-plea hearing, when confirming the terms of the plea agreement, the trial court said nothing about mandatory supervised release. Unless the sentence was life imprisonment, section 5 — 8—1(d) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code) (730 ILCS 5/5— 8 — 1(d) (West 2004)) added a term of mandatory supervised release (formerly called “parole”) to every sentence of imprisonment “as though written therein.” The higher the class of felony, the longer was the term of mandatory supervised release. See 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8— 1(d)(1) through (d)(3) (West 2004). Because home invasion in violation of section 12 — 11(a)(2) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/12— 11(a)(2) (West 2004)) was a Class X felony (720 ILCS 5/12 — 11(c) (West 2004)), section 5 — 8—1(d)(1) of the Code (730 ILCS 5/5 — 8— 1(d)(1) (West 2004)) would add three years of mandatory supervised release to whatever sentence the court imposed on count I, if defendant were adjudged guilty of that count.

Before accepting defendant’s guilty pleas, the trial court had to give him the following admonitions and, by addressing him personally in open court, make sure he understood the admonitions:

“(1) the nature of the charge;
(2) the minimum and maximum sentence prescribed by law, including, when applicable, the penalty to which the defendant may be subjected because of prior convictions or consecutive sentences;
(3) that the defendant has the right to plead not guilty, or to persist in that plea if it has already been made, or to plead guilty; and
(4) that if he pleads guilty[,] there will not be a trial of any kind, so that by pleading guilty[,] he waives the right to a trial by jury and the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him; or that by stipulating the evidence is sufficient to convict, he waives the right to a trial by jury and the right to be confronted with any witnesses against him who have not testified.” 177 Ill. 2d R. 402(a).

After reciting to defendant the allegations in counts I and II and making sure he understood those allegations and that he wished to plead guilty to them, the trial court proceeded to the second admonition in Rule 402(a), namely, the minimum and maximum penalties he could incur for counts I and II. According to the transcript of the hearing, this is what the court told defendant with respect to count I:

“THE COURT: The first offense, home invasion, is a Class X felony!,] and what that means is that carries with it certain penalties that the court will be able to consider under the statute and then!,] as further refined or honed down as a result of the plea agreement that was being submitted to me on today’s date, under the statutory penalties which could be imposed as to this case, it would carry with it a minimum term in the Department of Corrections of not less than [6] years nor more than 30 years in the Department of Corrections. In the event you’re eligible for an extended[-]term sentence in this case, it would appear that you would!,] based upon my reading of just the allegation in [c]ount [II], potentially you could be looking at a term of up to 60 years in the Department of Corrections. You could also be find [sic] up to $25,000 or both.
Were you sentenced to the Department of Corrections, and so there’s no stone unturned here, which is a mandatory sentence, no matter what happens here, it will involve a sentence to the Department of Corrections [sic] that would be for a term of three years.
In this case, once again, Mr. Merritt, the [S]tate has agreed to bind itself to request not more than 25 years in the Department of Corrections.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
916 N.E.2d 631, 334 Ill. Dec. 216, 395 Ill. App. 3d 169, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 1012, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-merritt-illappct-2009.