Title: The PEOPLE v. Moone

State: illinois

Issuer: Illinois Supreme Court

Document:

45 Ill. 2d 488 (1970)
259 N.E.2d 785
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee,
v.
ALVIN W. MOONE, Appellant.
No. 41429.

Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed June 29, 1970.
EDWARD F. BRENNAN, of East St. Louis, appointed by the court, for appellant.
WILLIAM J. SCOTT, Attorney General, of Springfield, (FRED G. LEACH, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel,) for the People.
Reversed and remanded.
Mr. JUSTICE CULBERTSON delivered the opinion of the court:
Upon motion of the People, the circuit court of St. Clair County dismissed a post-conviction petition filed by Alvin W. Moone, and he has appealed to this court.
Moone was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than 15 nor more than 25 years upon his plea of guilty to a charge of burglary. His post-conviction petition raises questions going to the integrity of that plea. Substantially the same questions were raised upon appeal from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court for the Fifth District (58 Ill. App.2d 139), but the defendant's *489 appointed attorney was permitted to withdraw after filing the record.
The problems in this case arise from the circumstances under which the defendant's plea of guilty was accepted. He had been indicted for burglary on June 14, 1963. He was admitted to bail, and did not appear when the case was called for trial on July 21, 1963. He was subsequently apprehended in Missouri and extradited. His case was again called for trial on November 13, 1963, but was continued to January 6, 1964, because the defendant's attorney was engaged in trial in another court.
When the case was called for trial on January 6, 1964, the defendant's attorney stated:
Thereafter, on the same day, the case was assigned to another judge. Before that judge, the following transpired:
The matter was then set for hearing on January 17, 1964.
The problem in this case arises from the fact that the defendant's attorney did not want to try the case, whereas the defendant wanted a trial. On January 6 the defendant's attorney was not ready for trial and requested a continuance so that the defendant could seek other counsel. Only after this request was denied did the defendant enter a plea of guilty and he made it clear that he did so because he was without representation. In our opinion the defendant was without the effective assistance of counsel at the time he entered his plea of guilty, and his motion to withdraw that plea should have been allowed. A.B.A. Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice, 2.1.
The judgment of the circuit court of St. Clair County is reversed, and the cause is remanded to that court with directions to vacate the judgment of conviction and set aside the plea of guilty, and for further proceedings in accordance with law.
Reversed and remanded, with directions.