People v. Wadlington

398 N.E.2d 88, 78 Ill. App. 3d 1072, 34 Ill. Dec. 413, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3655
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 21, 1979
DocketNo. 78-618
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 398 N.E.2d 88 (People v. Wadlington) 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. Wadlington, 398 N.E.2d 88, 78 Ill. App. 3d 1072, 34 Ill. Dec. 413, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3655 (Ill. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE JIGANTI

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Kenneth Wadlington (a/k/a Sheldon Dorian), appeals from the dismissal of a post-conviction petition. He argues his pleas of guilty to two counts of burglary were induced by unfulfilled promises by State officials and that failure to admonish him concerning the mandatory three-year parole term made his pleas involuntary. The defendant asks the court to vacate his guilty pleas and to remand the cause for a new trial or, alternatively, to reverse and remand for additional post-conviction proceedings.

The defendant was charged with two counts of burglary. On March 24, 1977, he appeared before the trial judge. The defense stated that the pleas of guilty were negotiated in exchange for the prosecutor’s recommendation of a term of imprisonment of three to nine years on each of the charges. The prosecution also recommended that those sentences run concurrently with each other and concurrently with a previously imposed sentence of l)í to 15 years which the defendant had been serving in Pennsylvania until his escape.

During the hearing, the defendant personally asked to state on the record his understanding of the plea arrangement. The trial court granted permission, and the defendant stated that he understood that if he pleaded guilty, the prosecutor would recommend a sentence of three to nine years. At this point the court said it would concur with the prosecution’s recommendation. The defendant went on to state that by pleading guilty he would concede that he was the Sheldon Dorian who had escaped from a Pennsylvania prison; that Pennsylvania should be required to return him to Pennsylvania to serve the unexpired portion of his sentence; that the Illinois sentences would run concurrently with the Pennsylvania sentence; and that he would be entitled to statutory and compensatory good time on his Illinois sentence while serving the time in Pennsylvania. The court asked the prosecutor if that was his understanding and the prosecutor responded in the affirmative.

The prosecutor then repeated the recommendation:

“[T]he state’s recommendation to your honor on the two indictments that are pending is a recommendation of three to nine years on each indictment to be served concurrently, and that that time is to be concurrent with the sentence imposed in Pennsylvania.”

The defendant responded “correct” and the prosecutor then said “[t]hat is the limit of the state’s recommendation to the court.”

The court then admonished the defendant as to his rights. After repeating the allegations of the two count information, the court said the following:

“In Illinois burglary is a class 2 felony. If tried and found guilty you could be sentenced to a term of not less than one year nor more than 20 years, with the proviso a minimum term would not exceed l/3rd of the maximum term. Under the circumstances the maximum term would be 6—
Mr. Miranda [Assistant Public Defender]: 6 years 8 months to 20.
The court: And fined a sum of money up to *10,000, and as a part of any sentence upon termination of whatever period of time you would serve in the Illinois Department of Corrections, upon your discharge you will be subject to the further supervision of the parole and pardon board of this state for a period of 3 years.”

The defendant was sentenced to terms of three to nine years on each of the information counts, the terms to run concurrently with each other and with the unexpired Pennsylvania sentence.

The defendant was turned over to the Illinois State Correctional Center to await his transfer to Pennsylvania. He relies on the following events in arguing that he served part of his Illinois sentence consecutive to his Pennsylvania sentence rather than concurrently, as had been promised. On April 27,1977, a detainer was placed on file against the defendant by Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In June of 1977, the defendant was turned over to Pennsylvania. He was tried in Pennsylvania on the escape charge and sentenced to a term of 6 to 24 months, that term to run consecutively to any other sentence the defendant was serving.

In August of 1977, the defendant was returned to Illinois. In September of 1977, the defendant filed a petition for an order to show cause why he should not be returned to Pennsylvania to begin serving his sentence.

In October 1977, the defendant filed his post-conviction petition, alleging generally that the plea bargain was not being honored. He asked that his sentence be vacated and that he be allowed to withdraw his pleas of guilty.

In November of 1977, the State filed a motion to dismiss the post-conviction petition, arguing that it failed to raise any constitutional questions and did not state a cause of action under the post-conviction hearing statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, pars. 122 — 1 et seq.).

Defendant’s counsel filed a memorandum of law in which he argued the defendant was not being given a concurrent sentence, as promised during the plea negotiations, due to the fact that he was presently incarcerated in an Illinois penitentiary.

In January of 1978, the court granted the motion to dismiss after hearing argument from counsel. The defendant remained in the custody of the Illinois correctional system during this time. In February of 1978, the defendant was transferred to Pennsylvania to serve his Pennsylvania and Illinois sentences.

On appeal, the defendant also argues that the plea agreement was violated in that he was promised Illinois would give him compensatory good time for time spent in Pennsylvania institutions. This issue was not raised in the defendant’s post-conviction petition and was not mentioned during argument on the State’s motion to dismiss. The record contains a letter the defendant received from the Illinois Prisoner Review Board dated May 24, 1978, which states he is ineligible for compensatory time based on time spent in another State’s institution. It also contains a letter dated September 11, 1978, from the attorney who represented the defendant when he entered the guilty pleas stating the defendant recently informed him that he would not be receiving compensatory good time credit on his Illinois sentences while serving time in Pennsylvania. The attorney wrote “it was everyone’s understanding that he would receive such credit in exchange for his pleas of guilty.”

A post-conviction petition may be dismissed without an evidentiary hearing if it does not raise issues of a constitutional nature. (People v. Norris (1977), 46 Ill. App. 3d 536, 361 N.E.2d 105.) The State contends the trial court properly dismissed the petition because it did not contain allegations of constitutional error, while the defendant argues to the contrary.

The defendant argues he was promised a concurrent sentence and that this promise was not fulfilled. He argues because his Illinois sentences were to run concurrently with the Pennsylvania one, each day he spent in an Illinois institution had the effect of extending his sentence. The State contends the promise was fulfilled.

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Related

People v. Woods
523 N.E.2d 190 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1988)
People v. Smithey
458 N.E.2d 87 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
398 N.E.2d 88, 78 Ill. App. 3d 1072, 34 Ill. Dec. 413, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wadlington-illappct-1979.