People v. Otten

591 N.E.2d 907, 228 Ill. App. 3d 305, 169 Ill. Dec. 403, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 630
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 23, 1992
DocketNo. 4—91—0726
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 591 N.E.2d 907 (People v. Otten) 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. Otten, 591 N.E.2d 907, 228 Ill. App. 3d 305, 169 Ill. Dec. 403, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 630 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE STEIGMANN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The trial court revoked the burglary probation of defendant, Kyle Dean Otten, and sentenced him to four years in prison. The court also ordered defendant to pay restitution. Prior to defendant’s sentencing hearing, the court found him in contempt and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. Defendant appeals his sentence, arguing that (1) the trial court erred in not giving him credit against the four-year sentence for the time he served in jail for contempt, and (2) the trial court’s order of restitution was defective. We affirm and remand with directions.

I. Facts

The trial court originally sentenced defendant to 30 months of probation in May 1989 after he pleaded guilty to burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 19 — 1(a)). As a condition thereof, the court required him to serve 60 days in jail. According to the presentence report prepared in May 1989, the burglary victim reported a total loss of $1,401.96. Accordingly, the trial court ordered both defendant and his codefendant, Norman Patheal, who was before the court for sentencing at the same time as defendant, to pay restitution of $1,401.96. The court also specifically directed that both defendants were jointly and severally liable for the restitution.

The court ordered Patheal to pay $50 per week beginning with his first paycheck. The court ordered defendant, also as a condition of probation, to make a good-faith effort to obtain a job as soon as he completed serving his 60 days in the county jail. The court further directed defendant to submit a plan to the court within the first 90 days of his probationary period to explain how he proposed to pay the restitution as ordered.

A second codefendant, Michael Orr, was found guilty of the same burglary following a jury trial, and in June 1989, the trial court sentenced him to probation on the condition that he pay restitution of $300.

In April 1990, the State filed a petition to revoke defendant’s probation. In June 1990, defendant admitted to the allegations in the petition, and the trial court then extended his probation for an additional six months and imposed certain additional conditions of probation.

In May 1991, the State filed a second petition to revoke defendant’s probation, alleging in part that he failed to pay restitution and to obtain his educational certificate. In July 1991, the trial court conducted a hearing on this petition, found that the State had proved the above allegations, and allotted the matter for sentencing on August 9, 1991. The court also directed the probation department to prepare a supplemental presentence report.

On August 7, 1991, the probation office reported in writing to the trial court that defendant failed to appear for his presentence investigation interview on July 15, 1991, and had failed to contact that office at any time thereafter despite letters the office had mailed to defendant directing him to do so. Upon receiving that report from the probation office, the court on its own motion entered an order that required defendant to appear on August 9, 1991, the date that his sentencing hearing was originally allotted “to show cause, if any he has, why he should not be held in contempt of court for failure to cooperate with the Adams County Probation Department in the preparation of Presentence Investigation Report herein.”

On August 9, 1991, defendant appeared with his counsel. The trial court began the hearing by noting the action it had taken on August 7, 1991, and asking if the parties were ready to proceed on the contempt matter. They replied that they were, and the trial court then immediately addressed defense counsel and asked if he wished “to offer any evidence.” Defense counsel responded by calling defendant to testify. Defendant then explained that he had not contacted the probation office because, “from 7 o’clock in the morning till 6 o’clock at night,” he was looking for work. He also claimed that he never received a letter from the probation office directing him to contact that office immediately.

The probation officer then testified that he met personally with defendant on July 3, 1991, and told him the date he should appear at the probation office for an interview. The probation officer testified that defendant did not appear, that the officer had sent a letter to defendant at his last known address directing him to contact the officer immediately, but defendant had not responded to that letter.

No further evidence was presented at this contempt hearing. The court then stated to defense counsel, “[s]ince the burden is on the defendant to show cause you may be heard first in argument.” After hearing arguments from both counsel, the court found that “defendant has been contemptuous in his failure and refusal to cooperate with the probation department. *** The defendant will be sentenced to the Adams County Jail for 30 days for contempt, no credit for good time, no day for day.” The trial court then allotted defendant’s burglary re-sentencing hearing for September 3,1991.

After hearing evidence and argument at the resentencing hearing on September 3, 1991, the trial court sentenced defendant to four years in prison and gave him credit on that sentence for 60 days he spent in jail as a condition of his probation. The court further stated the following:

“By law, [defendant] is not entitled to credit for the 25 days he has spent thus far for contempt of court. The remaining five days of that sentence will be vacated and he will begin serving his sentence once again with time running.”

The court further ordered defendant to pay the balance of restitution and costs he owed within one year after his discharge from prison.

II. Credit Against Penitentiary Sentence For Time Served For Contempt

Citing People v. Hutchcraft (1991), 215 Ill. App. 3d 533, 574 N.E.2d 1337, defendant argues that the trial court erred by failing to grant him credit on his penitentiary sentence for time he served in the county jail for contempt while on probation. Hutchcraft focused on section 5 — 8—7(b) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code), which reads as follows:

“The offender shall be given credit on the determinate sentence *** for time spent in custody as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed ***.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 8—7(b).)

In Hutchcraft, the defendant was on probation for burglary when the State filed a petition entitled, “[p]etition to revoke probation, conditional discharge or court supervision, or in the alternative to hold the defendant in contempt.” (Emphasis added.) (Hutchcraft, 215 Ill. App. 3d at 539, 574 N.E.2d at 1340.) As the title to that petition makes clear, the State alleged that the defendant was in contempt because he had violated conditions of his probation by wilfully failing to advise the probation office of his current address and by wilfully failing to report to the probation officer as directed. (Hutchcraft, 215 Ill. App. 3d at 536, 574 N.E.2d at 1338-39.) Based upon the State’s petition, the trial court found the defendant in contempt and sentenced him to the county jail.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
591 N.E.2d 907, 228 Ill. App. 3d 305, 169 Ill. Dec. 403, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-otten-illappct-1992.