The PEOPLE v. Brock

259 N.E.2d 12, 45 Ill. 2d 292, 1970 Ill. LEXIS 576
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 1970
Docket41672
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 259 N.E.2d 12 (The PEOPLE v. Brock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The PEOPLE v. Brock, 259 N.E.2d 12, 45 Ill. 2d 292, 1970 Ill. LEXIS 576 (Ill. 1970).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Schaefer

delivered the opinion of the court:

On May 31, 1966, the defendant, Robert E. Brock, pleaded guilty in the circuit court of Sangamon County to indictments which charged him with the crimes of murder and theft. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than 14 nor more than 18 years for the crime of murder, and to a concurrent sentence of not less than one nor more than five years for the crime of theft.

On April 13, 1967, the defendant filed his pro se petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act, and an attorney was appointed to represent him. That attorney, who was the public defender who had represented the defendant when his plea of guilty was entered, was subsequently granted leave to withdraw and another attorney was appointed to represent the petitioner. Evidence was heard and the petition was denied. The defendant has appealed.

One of the issues presented to this court arises from the fact that the defendant’s plea was entered following negotiations between the State’s Attorney and the public defender. In his supplemental post-conviction petition the defendant charged that the agreement upon which his plea of guilty was based was not performed, and upon that ground he asked that his plea be set aside. The sentences imposed were those contemplated by the agreement; the charge that the agreement was not fully performed relates to criminal charges then pending against the defendant in Shelby County, Tennessee. The defendant asserts that the State’s Attorney undertook to bring about the dismissal of those charges, as well as charges pending in Will County, Illinois, but that the Tennessee charges have not been dismissed.

The State’s Attorney testified that before the plea was entered, Joseph Maddox, the public defender, told him that the defendant was very concerned about whether or not charges that were pending against him in Tennessee and Will County, Illinois, “would be prosecuted after he finished whatever term of prison he might get in this case and he asked my opinion — what my opinion was as to whether the prosecuting authorities in Will County and Tennessee would do anything if there was a plea of guilty entered here and a sentence imposed. I told him that in my opinion I didn’t feel that either Will County or the State of Tennessee would bother with prosecuting these rather lesser charges against him if he would be convicted of murder in Sangamon County.”

The public defender testified that he had engaged in repeated discussions with the State’s Attorney and his assistants prior to the entry of the plea of guilty, and that when those discussions had crystallized to a point at which the State’s Attorney agreed to make specific recommendations concerning the sentences to be imposed upon a plea of guilty, the matter was taken up with the trial judge who stated that he would follow the recommendations of the State’s Attorney. It was understood that an effort would be made to have the defendant incarcerated in the penitentiary at Joliet rather than some other institution, and that the trial judge would write a letter which would assist the defendant in the event that he applied for parole. He also testified that “it was agreed that the State’s attorney’s office would take all appropriate and proper causes (sic) to cause the other cases to be dismissed. It is obvious that — the state’s attorney of Sangamon County could not dismiss a case in Tennessee, but it was part of the agreement that action — proper action would be taken to see that the other cases would be dismissed.” He testified further that the defendant “seemed to be more concerned about the forgery or theft charge in Tennessee than he was concerned about a murder charge in Sangamon County. I repeatedly talked about the seriousness of the charge in Sangamon County and before I could finish a sentence he would be wanting to talk about the charges against him in Tennessee.”

It was stipulated that the trial judge, if called as a witness, would testifiy that “a few days prior to the time that Mr. Brock entered his plea of guilty there was a hearing held in my chambers with Mr. Maddox, who represented the defendant, and Mr. Terrell [the State’s Attorney], who represented the People, appearing.” At that time the court indicated that “under the circumstances as outlined by the state’s attorney that the court would follow his recommendation.” It was also stipulated that the judge would testify that it was agreed that after the defendant had been in the penitentiary for some years and had been a model prisoner and followed all the rules and regulations of prison life “neither the state’s attorney nor the trial court would pose any objection to an application of the prisoner for executive clemency,” and that the State’s Attorney further indicated that he would do what he could to dispose of any “other pending charges against Brock, I believe in Indiana, Texas or Tennessee — some other states.”

The defendant testified that on May 31, 1966, Maddox told him of the recommendations that would be made concerning sentencing. “He also said that Mr. Terrell would do all and everything he could do to get the charges dismissed and he said that — Mr. Terrell [the State’s Attorney], he would contact the sheriff in Memphis, Tennessee and call the authorities in Joliet and dismiss the charges if I plead guilty.” The defendant also testified that his attorney advised him that if he did not plead guilty the State’s Attorney would either seek the death penalty or a long prison term and in the event the defendant was found guilty would oppose parole, and that the State’s Attorney had said that if the defendant refused to change his plea of not guilty “he would contact the sheriff in Memphis and they would try me on those hearings and have them consecutively.”

With one exception, all of the matters agreed upon in the negotiations that preceded the defendant’s plea of guilty have been fully performed. That exception concerns the Tennessee charges. The defendant contends that his plea was induced by the representation that those charges would be dropped, whereas they have not been. But testimony which has been set forth does not support the contention that it was agreed that the charges would be dropped. The public defender who represented the defendant testified that the State’s Attorney’s office would take all appropriate steps to cause the other cases to be dismissed, and as he testified, it was obvious that the State’s Attorney of Sangamon County could not bring about a dismissal of charges pending in Tennessee.

From correspondence between the State’s Attorney and the prosecuting officials in Tennessee it appears that on the date the defendant’s plea was entered an assistant State’s Attorney telephoned to inquire what disposition would be made of the pending Tennessee charges if the defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to the Illinois penitentiary.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
259 N.E.2d 12, 45 Ill. 2d 292, 1970 Ill. LEXIS 576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-v-brock-ill-1970.