People v. Valadez

308 N.E.2d 253, 17 Ill. App. 3d 499, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 3008
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 4, 1974
DocketNo. 58622
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 308 N.E.2d 253 (People v. Valadez) 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. Valadez, 308 N.E.2d 253, 17 Ill. App. 3d 499, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 3008 (Ill. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

On February 1, 1972, the defendant-petitioner, Roy Valadez, pleaded guilty to a two-count indictment charging him with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 38, pars. 10 — 2, 12 — 4.) He was sentenced to concurrent terms of five to ten years in the Illinois State Penitentiary, but on direct appeal to this court, the conviction and sentence on the aggravated battery charge were reversed and the conviction and sentence for aggravated kidnapping affirmed. (People v. Valadez, 15 Ill.App.3d 585, 304 N.E.2d 667.) On August 14, 1972, defendant filed a pro se petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act which, as subsequently amended by appointed counsel; alleged that his plea of guilty was the result of his attorney’s statement that a deal had been worked out for him to be sentenced to no more than two years and one day if he entered a plea of guilty. On motion of the State, the petition was dismissed without an evidentiary hearing on November 2, 1972. On this appeal, defendant contends that he was entided to an evidentiary hearing on his claim and also that the trial court should have granted his motion for a substitution of judges.

Petitioner relies upon People v. Wegner, 40 Ill.2d 28, 237 N.E.2d 486, for the proposition that an evidentiary hearing was required because his petition and accompanying affidavits raised a factual issue. Wegners petition alleged his plea was induced by misrepresentation of his privately retained counsel. An affidavit of his mother stated that his counsel had called her to say he had made an arrangement that if the petitioner pleaded guilty he would receive a maximum sentence of 30 to 90 days in jail, that her son was induced to plead guilty on the basis of these representations and in fact a sentence, of one to four years was imposed. The Illinois Supreme Court concluded that the petition and affidavit alleged a violation of constitutional right, and that since the record did not positively rebut the defendant’s allegations, an evidentiary hearing as to their truth or falsity was required. The State argues that in the case at bar, the record does positively rebut Valadez’ allegations. People v. Spicer, 47 Ill.2d 114, 117-119, 264 N.E.2d 181.

The facts of the original incident may be summarized: On September 7, 1971, Robert J. Colwell was at 5300 north at the lakefront leaving the beach area when two unknown males, one of whom was identified as the defendant, approached him, put a gun in his side and told him to walk to a car, blindfolded him and left. He was taken to an apartment (that of defendant and Barbara Hendricks) where he was questioned about $250,000 of hallucinogenic pills. He was beaten and tortured at the apartment and later that evening taken to a wooded area and beaten again. He was taken to a garage, put into another car, handcuffed to the car and forced to spend the evening in the garage. The next day he was driven around the city, taken to another wooded area and beaten, and later that evening (September 8) taken back to the apartment where he was once again beaten and tortured. He was finally able to make his escape the following morning after being handcuffed to a bench in a garage. At one point he was burned with cigarettes and cigarette fluid.

Insofar as they pertain to the claim that the plea of guilty entered on February 1, 1972, was involuntary, the allegations of the amended petition were as follows: On February 1, 1972, petitioner’s attorney, Saul Perdomo, stated to him that the judge was going to ask him questions concerning the plea of guilty, and that when answering the judge’s questions, he should answer in accordance with the nod of his attorney’s head, from side to side meaning no, and up and down meaning yes; Perdomo told him the judge’s questioning was part of the courtroom procedure, not to be worried by the questions, that a deal had been worked out for him to be sentenced to no more than two years and one day if he entered a plea of guilty; relying on the promised sentence, he pleaded guilty, and on February 15, 1972, when the case was up for sentencing, attorney DeLeonardis told him he would represent the petitioner in place of Perdomo; he was “shocked” to receive two five to ten year sentences, and spoke with his family, who informed him they had talked to Perdomo who told them he “was sentenced to a much larger term in jail” than he was “supposed to get.”

The petitioner also claimed that DeLeonardis’ lack of familiarity with the case denied him due process, as did the judge’s failure to grant a continuance, the judge’s prejudice against him and the introduction of certain tape recordings at the hearing in aggravation and mitigation. However, these other contentions were decided in the direct appeal and that judgment is res judicata as to aU issues actuaUy raised; those issues that could have been presented but were not presented are deemed waived. (People v. French, 46 Ill.2d 104, 107, 262 N.E.2d 901, cert, denied 400 U.S. 1024, 27 L.Ed.2d 636, 91 S.Ct. 590.) Only the voluntariness of the guilty plea has been briefed.

In order to determine whether the allegations of the petition were sufficient to warrant hearing, it is necessary to consider all those facts in the record bearing on the issue. (People v. Spicer, 47 Ill.2d 114, 118, 264 N.E.2d 181.) The report of proceedings shows that on February 1, 1972, the defendant, represented by Saul Perdomo, agreed in open court to a pretrial conference. After the conference, Perdomo stated on the record that the defendant wished to enter a plea of guilty to the charge and “throw himself on the mercy of the court.” The plea was accepted after defendant was properly admonished and judgment entered on the finding of guilty. Specifically, defendant responded negatively when asked if threats or force or promises were used upon him and the court advised him of the possible sentence. The victim and a Chicago police officer testified to the facts surrounding the incident, and the record shows that other witnesses were present in court and prepared to testify, one of whom had taken the license number of the kidnapers’ car and was able to identify the defendant. The judge stated that before proceeding with aggravation and mitigation, he would order a “thorough and complete investigation of the background” of the four defendants and the case was continued until February 15, 1972, when attorney Louis DeLeonardis appeared for the defendant, stating that Perdomo was in Florida. DeLeonardis was given a copy of the pre-sentence report and the matter continued until 2:30 the same afternoon to enable him to prepare for the case. In aggravation, the State discussed the facts of the crime and Valadez’ three prior felony convictions, but stated that pursuant to the pre-trial conference, the State would make no specific recommendation as to sentence. For approximately 30 minutes, a tape made during the kidnaping was played. After argument by counsel in mitigation, Valadez admitted he did most of the talking on the tapes, and carried on a lively discussion with the trial judge as to the significance of his participation in the crime, his past record and who was “to blame” for defendant’s “problem” as Valadez characterized it.

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Related

People v. Sturgeon
649 N.E.2d 1385 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)
People v. Bland
384 N.E.2d 1380 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
308 N.E.2d 253, 17 Ill. App. 3d 499, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 3008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-valadez-illappct-1974.