People v. Price

2018 IL App (1st) 161202, 123 N.E.3d 555, 428 Ill. Dec. 826
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 24, 2018
DocketNo. 1-16-1202
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2018 IL App (1st) 161202 (People v. Price) 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. Price, 2018 IL App (1st) 161202, 123 N.E.3d 555, 428 Ill. Dec. 826 (Ill. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE MIKVA delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

*826¶ 1 The underlying issue before us is whether an amendment increasing the *827*556minimum age for automatic transfer to criminal court from 15 to 16 years of age-an amendment held by our supreme court to apply retroactively to "ongoing proceedings" in pending cases-applies where the defendant's criminal trial had concluded and a verdict of guilty had been entered, but where the defendant had not yet been sentenced as an adult. We hold that the amendment did apply, and that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to argue for its application in this case. We reverse and remand to the trial court, where the State may argue that the defendant should-as a matter of discretion-still be sentenced as an adult.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 In August 2014, defendant Rasaan Price was charged as an adult with first degree murder, for a shooting that took place on July 23, 2014, when Rasaan was 15 years old. Under the version of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 (Juvenile Court Act or Act) (705 ILC 405/1-1 et seq. (West 2014) ) then in effect, the minimum age for automatic transfer from juvenile court to criminal court for defendants charged with qualifying crimes (which included first degree murder) was also 15 years of age. Rasaan was accordingly charged and tried as an adult in criminal court, and a jury found him guilty of first degree murder on October 22, 2015. Rasaan filed two post-trial motions, and both were denied. However, upon hearing the evidence in mitigation and in aggravation-including Rasaan's own statement in allocution and the certificates of achievement awarded to him while incarcerated-and after noting the consistent support Rasaan had received from his family throughout his case, the trial court judge concluded that Rasaan had "an outstanding chance of rehabilitation" and sentenced him, on March 25, 2016, to only 25 years of imprisonment, a sentence falling on the low end of the range of 20-60 years that Rasaan could have received ( 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-20(a) (West 2014) ).

¶ 4 In the months between the jury's verdict and sentencing, the legislature enacted Public Act 99-258 (Pub. Act 99-258 (eff. Jan. 1, 2016) ), which, among other things, amended section 5-130 of the Juvenile Court Act by raising the minimum age for automatic transfer to criminal court from 15 to 16 years. 705 ILCS 405/5-130(1)(a) (West Supp. 2015). It also amended the Unified Code of Corrections (Code of Corrections) ( 730 ILCS 5/1-1-1 et seq. (West 2014) ) to require consideration of certain mitigating factors when individuals under the age of 18 are sentenced in criminal court (730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-105(a) (West Supp. 2015) ) and made firearm enhancements discretionary, rather than mandatory, for such individuals (730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-105(b) (West Supp. 2015) ).

¶ 5 Rasaan's counsel was clearly aware of the dramatic changes for juveniles under Public Act. 99-258. He argued that Rasaan should be sentenced under the amended sentencing statute, and Rasaan was; the trial court elected not to impose the 25-year firearm enhancement, which the amendments had just made discretionary for individuals under the age of 18. Rasaan's counsel, however, did not argue that the amendment to section 5-130 raising the minimum age for automatic transfer from 15 to 16 should apply retroactively, did not seek to transfer Rasaan's case to juvenile court, and did not argue that he should be sentenced under the Juvenile Court Act rather than the Code of Corrections.

¶ 6 Eight months after Rasaan was sentenced, our supreme court unanimously confirmed in People ex rel. Alvarez v. Howard , 2016 IL 120729, ¶ 28, 410 Ill.Dec. 960, 72 N.E.3d 346 -a case in which the *828*557defendant had been charged but not yet tried in criminal court-that the amendment to section 5-130 applies retroactively to "pending cases." Almost a year later, in People v. Hunter , 2017 IL 121306, ¶ 43, 422 Ill.Dec. 791, 104 N.E.3d 358, the court narrowed that holding, clarifying that a case pending on direct appeal is not "pending" in the sense necessary for retroactive application of the amendment.

¶ 7 The sole issue before us is whether, given the procedural posture of the case when the amendment to section 5-130 took effect, Rasaan's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to seek transfer of his case to juvenile court, for sentencing under the Juvenile Court Act.

¶ 8 Although trial counsel should not be expected to anticipate every new direction future caselaw will take, we conclude that here-where Rasaan's counsel was aware of an amendment to the statute that subjected his young client to the criminal court system, where that amendment concerned a matter of procedure and made no express reference to prospective application, and where there were still trial court proceedings to which the amendment could be applied-counsel was ineffective for failing to seek application of the amendment to those proceedings.

¶ 9 II. JURISDICTION

¶ 10 The trial court sentenced Rasaan on March 25, 2016, and he timely filed his notice of appeal on April 1, 2016. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to article VI, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution ( Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 6 ) and Illinois Supreme Court Rules 603 and 606, governing appeals from final judgments of conviction in criminal cases ( Ill. S. Ct. R. 603 (eff. Feb. 6, 2013), R. 606 (eff. Dec. 11, 2014) ).

¶ 11 III. ANALYSIS

¶ 12 Rasaan argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move for transfer of his case to juvenile court for sentencing, on the basis that the amendment to section 5-130 of the Juvenile Court Act increasing the age for automatic transfer to criminal court applies retroactively to all cases that have not reached final judgment. Because the final judgment in a criminal case is the sentencing order, and because Rasaan had not yet been sentenced, he argues it was not too late to seek transfer at that time. Rather than his current sentence of 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, under the Juvenile Court Act, Rasaan could have been sentenced to no more than a five-year term in the Department of Juvenile Justice, with release no later than his twenty-first birthday.

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Bluebook (online)
2018 IL App (1st) 161202, 123 N.E.3d 555, 428 Ill. Dec. 826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-price-illappct-2018.