People v. Wallace

559 N.E.2d 539, 201 Ill. App. 3d 943, 147 Ill. Dec. 366, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1269
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 23, 1990
DocketNo. 2-88-1086
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 559 N.E.2d 539 (People v. Wallace) 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. Wallace, 559 N.E.2d 539, 201 Ill. App. 3d 943, 147 Ill. Dec. 366, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1269 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE DUNN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, William Wallace, appeals from an order of the circuit court of Lake County dismissing his amended petition for post-conviction relief. On appeal, defendant argues that this order should be reversed because he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the post-conviction proceedings. We affirm.

In October 1984, defendant was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 12 — 14). He was originally sentenced to a 20-year term of imprisonment. This court affirmed defendant’s conviction on direct appeal but remanded the cause for resentencing. (See People v. Wallace (1986), 145 Ill. App. 3d 247.) Upon remand, the trial court sentenced him to a 12-year term of imprisonment, and this court affirmed the sentence on appeal. See People v. Wallace (1988), 170 Ill. App. 3d 329.

On October 4, 1985, while his initial appeal was pending, defendant filed a petition for post-conviction relief. Defendant alleged in the petition that, prior to his trial, Randall Stewart, the assistant State’s Attorney who prosecuted the case, agreed to have the charges dismissed if defendant passed a polygraph examination and the complaining witness either refused to take one or failed one. The petition further alleged that defendant passed a polygraph test but the complaining witness never took such a test.

The trial court determined that defendant’s petition was not frivolous and appointed counsel to represent him. At the July 31, 1986, hearing on the petition, defendant testified that his trial attorney, Joseph Moscov, told him that the prosecuting attorney had agreed to have the charges dismissed if defendant passed a polygraph examination and the complaining witness either failed one or refused to take one. Randall Stewart testified that he never entered into such an agreement with Moscov. Moscov testified that Stewart had stated he would give strong consideration to having the charges dismissed under such circumstances but had not actually promised to do so.

The trial court denied the post-conviction petition, and defendant appealed. The court reversed and remanded on the basis of post-conviction counsel’s failure to comply with Supreme Court Rule 651(c) (107 Ill. 2d R. 651(c)), which requires a showing on the record, by certificate or otherwise, that post-conviction counsel has consulted with petitioner, has examined the record of the proceedings at trial, and has made any necessary amendments to the petition. (People v. Wallace (1988), 164 Ill. App. 3d 1161 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23).) We further stated, however, that the issue litigated at the post-conviction hearing should not be relitigated upon remand.

The trial court appointed Alex Rafferty, a private attorney, as defendant’s post-conviction counsel upon remand. Rafferty filed an amended post-conviction petition which alleged that defendant’s trial counsel provided ineffective assistance in three respects. The first such allegation was that the prosecuting attorney methodically eliminated all black individuals from the jury in violation of defendant’s sixth amendment right to trial by an impartial jury, but trial counsel failed to call this to the court’s attention. The second allegation was that trial counsel failed to bring to the jury’s attention “the discrepancy between the testimony of the complaining witness and the scientific reports with respect to the presence of semen.” The third allegation was that trial counsel “misrepresented the facts of his negotiations with the prosecuting attorney.” Rafferty filed a certificate of compliance with Supreme Court Rule 651(c) (107 Ill. 2d R. 651(c)) along with the amended petition.

At an August 26, 1988, status hearing on the petition, Rafferty told the trial judge that the court had to make an initial determination as to whether the amended petition was frivolous. When questioned about the lack of affidavits or supporting documentation filed with the amended petition, Rafferty stated that defendant told him there was a medical or laboratory report with regard to the second issue raised, but Rafferty had been unable to obtain a copy from defendant’s trial counsel. Rafferty then asked the State to provide him with copies of any such scientific reports. When the trial judge asked if he would need to see such reports, Rafferty stated it would not be necessary because the first issue raised was sufficient to sustain the amended petition.

With regard to the first issue, the trial judge stated that it would be impossible to determine from the record which members of the jury venire were black. Rafferty agreed but stated that defendant had taken notes concerning the race of the venire members. No affidavits or supporting documents were ever presented to the trial court, however, concerning any of the issues raised in the amended post-conviction petition.

The trial court issued an order on October 7, 1988, dismissing the amended petition. The court stated that the amended petition was patently without merit but only addressed the first issue raised therein. At a subsequent hearing, Rafferty did not advise the court of its failure to address the other two issues but, instead, merely asked that a notice of appeal be filed and that the Appellate Defender be appointed to represent defendant.

Defendant now contends that he received ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel for the following reasons: (1) Rafferty incorrectly advised the trial judge that an initial determination had to be made as to whether the amended petition was frivolous; (2) he failed to advise the trial court that, in dismissing the amended petition, it apparently failed to consider two of the three issues presented therein; and (3) he failed to file any supporting documents or affidavits with the amended petition. In order to establish ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must demonstrate that his attorney’s performance “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness” (Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 688, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 693, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2064; People v. Albanese (1984), 104 Ill. 2d 504, 525) and a reasonable probability exists that, were it not for counsel’s errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. (Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 698, 104 S. Ct. at 2068; Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d at 525.) A reasonable probability is “a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” (466 U.S. at 694, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 698, 104 S. Ct. at 2068.) The Strickland test has been applied to determine whether post-conviction counsel was ineffective. See People v. Rogers (1986), 147 Ill. App. 3d 1, 3-4.

The State concedes that Rafferty was incorrect when he advised the trial court that it had to make an initial determination as to whether the amended post-conviction petition was frivolous. The proceedings on the amended petition were a continuation of the proceedings on defendant’s original post-conviction petition, which was filed on October 4, 1985. A post-conviction petition may not be dismissed as frivolous pursuant to section 122 — 2.1 of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 122 — 2.1) unless this is done within 30 days of the filing and docketing of the petition. (People v. Porter (1988), 122 Ill.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
559 N.E.2d 539, 201 Ill. App. 3d 943, 147 Ill. Dec. 366, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wallace-illappct-1990.