People v. Oetgen

647 N.E.2d 1083, 207 Ill. Dec. 590, 269 Ill. App. 3d 1000, 1995 Ill. App. LEXIS 144
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 16, 1995
Docket3-93-0199
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 647 N.E.2d 1083 (People v. Oetgen) 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. Oetgen, 647 N.E.2d 1083, 207 Ill. Dec. 590, 269 Ill. App. 3d 1000, 1995 Ill. App. LEXIS 144 (Ill. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

JUSTICE SLATER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The respondent, Bruce Oetgen, appeals from a decision of the circuit court revoking his conditional release and recommitting him to the Department of Corrections (DOC) as a sexually dangerous person. We reverse and remand.

The respondent was originally adjudicated a sexually dangerous person pursuant to the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act (the Act) (725 ILCS 205/0.01 et seq. (West 1992)) in 1981. The respondent was conditionally released in August 1985. That conditional release was revoked in 1987 when respondent admitted a violation, and he was recommitted to the DOC. In March 1990, respondent was again conditionally released. Release was conditional upon, inter alia, respondent’s living in a half-way house; receiving out-patient therapy; working; being tested for drugs; and obeying all laws, rules and regulations.

On September 25, 1992, the State filed a petition to revoke conditional release. The petition alleged that the respondent had violated the conditions of his release by committing an act of public indecency in Cook County on September 23, 1992. The petition was later amended in February 1993 to allege that respondent had pled guilty to the indecency charge in Cook County proceedings on December 1, 1992.

The respondent then filed an answer and a motion to dismiss the State’s amended petition. The respondent alleged that he was entitled to release since he had been in custody from September 23, 1992, forward. He also noted that he had pled guilty to the charge of public indecency and contended that this act barred the State from using the incident as the basis for revocation of his conditional release.

At a hearing on the motion to dismiss, the respondent testified concerning his arrest, his guilty plea, his receiving a sentence for "time served” and his being held on a Fulton County "hold” placed upon him.The court denied the motion to dismiss. The court ruled that the speedy-trial question was resolved by reference to the probation provisions of section 5 — 6—4 of the Unified Code of Corrections (730 ILCS 5/5 — 6—4 (West 1992)) and that, as a result, the 120-day period began to run on the date of the disposition of the Cook County charges. The court also found that People v. Patch (1973), 9 Ill. App. 3d 134, 293 N.E.2d 661, the case cited by respondent for his "bar to revocation” argument, was no longer good law.

On March 5,1993, the State moved for summary judgment in the cause. The State argued that the respondent had admitted his guilty plea and that, as a result, he admitted the basis for the recommitment. The respondent opposed the State’s motion and argued for a full hearing. Finding no procedural bar to the grant of summary judgment and ruling that there was no material issue in the case, the court granted the State’s motion. The court then revoked respondent’s conditional release and recommitted him to the DOC.

The respondent first argues on appeal that the court should have dismissed the petition to revoke conditional release because the State could not move to revoke release on the basis of conduct which it had already formally prosecuted in a criminal case. The respondent’s argument is based on the Second District Appellate Court’s decisión in Patch. In that case, the court, relying on People v. Redlich (1949), 402 Ill. 270, 83 N.E.2d 736, held that a person cannot be com- i mitted as sexually dangerous, or recommitted after a conditional ' release, on the basis of conduct for which he has already been prosecuted and convicted in a criminal proceeding. The only reason given by the Patch court for its decision was Redlich.

The second district later admitted it erred in Patch by relying on Redlich. In People v. Cooper (1988), 177 Ill. App. 3d 942, 950, 532 N.E.2d 1022, 1026-27, the court stated the following:

"Defendant relies on People v. Patch (1972), 9 Ill. App. 3d 134, 138, where this court, citing People v. Redlich (1949), 402 Ill. 270, held that a defendant could not be recommitted under the Act after the prosecutor had obtained a conviction for the criminal offense. The State correctly argues that this court erroneously applied Redlich in Patch. As pointed out by the State, Redlich concerned a statute much different from the Act. The statute in Redlich provided for the commitment of criminal sexual psychopaths until they recovered so that they could stand trial. (Redlich, 402 Ill. at 276.) Thus, Redlich stated that when a defendant had already been convicted for the crime, there was no need for a determination of defendant’s mental condition. The purpose of the statute was defeated. Redlich, 402 Ill. at 276.”

On appeal, our supreme court agreed with the second district that the rationale of Redlich did not apply to the current statute, which has as its purposes treatment of the person and protection of the public. (See People v. Cooper (1989), 132 Ill. 2d 347, 547 N.E.2d 449.) Neither the second district nor the supreme court explicitly overruled Patch, nevertheless, because the issue in Cooper was whether the State could revoke a sexually dangerous person’s conditional release based on conduct for which he was prosecuted in a different State.

Although the supreme court did not explicitly overrule Patch in Cooper, it did use the following language:

"The Act unequivocally states that if a person violates a condition of his release 'the court shall revoke such conditional release and recommit the person.’ [Citation.] Nowhere does the Act qualify this statement by saying 'all violations except those for which the person is convicted and incarcerated.’ Clearly, the language of the Act requires a trial court to recommit a person who violates a condition, and the court has no discretion not to recommit. Furthermore, recommitment of a person for the same act for which he was convicted does not thwart the Act’s two purposes of treatment and protection of the public; instead, recommitment advances them.” (Cooper, 132 Ill. 2d at 361, 547 N.E.2d at 456.)

Thus, it is not difficult to discern the supreme court’s view of the result reached in Patch. Further, as previously stated, the only rationale for the result in Patch was Redlich, and both the second district and the supreme court have held that it is error to apply Redlich to the current statute.

Therefore, if we were to follow Patch, we would need some rationale other than that relied on by the Patch court. The respondent appears to use a double jeopardy analysis, but we reject this argument for two reasons. First, it has been held that double jeopardy does not apply to proceedings under the Act because those proceedings are civil rather than criminal. (People v. McDonald (1989), 186 Ill. App. 3d 1096, 542 N.E.2d 1266

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Bluebook (online)
647 N.E.2d 1083, 207 Ill. Dec. 590, 269 Ill. App. 3d 1000, 1995 Ill. App. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-oetgen-illappct-1995.