Docket No. 85897–Agenda 5–January 2000.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. 

								TAFFORD LEE HOLMAN, Appellant.

Opinion filed April 20, 2000.

	JUSTICE MILLER delivered the opinion of the court:

	The defendant, Tafford Lee Holman, brings this appeal from

an order by the circuit court of Will County dismissing, without an

evidentiary hearing, his second post-conviction petition. Because

the defendant received the death penalty for one of the underlying

offenses, the present appeal is to this court. 134 Ill. 2d R. 651(a).

We now affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

	The defendant was convicted of murder and other offenses and

was sentenced to death in 1981. On direct appeal, this court

affirmed certain of the defendant’s convictions but vacated his

death sentence and remanded the cause for a new sentencing

hearing. People v. Holman, 103 Ill. 2d 133 (1984). The United States Supreme Court denied the defendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Holman v. Illinois, 469 U.S. 1220, 84 L. Ed. 2d 347, 105 S. Ct. 1204 (1985). On remand, the defendant was again

sentenced to death, and this court affirmed the defendant’s

sentence on appeal. People v. Holman, 132 Ill. 2d 128 (1989). The United States Supreme Court denied the defendant’s petition for certiorari. Holman v. Illinois, 497 U.S. 1032, 111 L. Ed. 2d 804, 110 S. Ct. 3296 (1990). The defendant then filed a petition for

post-conviction relief in the circuit court of Will County. The

circuit court dismissed the petition, and this court affirmed the

order of dismissal. People v. Holman, 164 Ill. 2d 356 (1995). The United States Supreme Court once again denied certiorari. Holman v. Illinois, 516 U.S. 976, 133 L. Ed. 2d 407, 116 S. Ct. 478 (1995). The defendant later instituted habeas corpus proceedings in federal court. The district court granted the defendant relief, on grounds unrelated to those raised here, but the

court of appeals reversed that judgment. Holman v. Gilmore, 126 F.3d 876 (7th Cir. 1997). The United States Supreme Court denied

review. Holman v. Page, ___ U.S. ___, 140 L. Ed. 2d 179, 118 S. Ct. 1169 (1998).

	The defendant commenced the present proceeding on March

11, 1998. In a pro se petition, the defendant raised several interrelated grounds for relief, all of which were based on this

court’s decisions in People v. Brandon, 162 Ill. 2d 450 (1994), and its progeny, including People v. Gevas, 166 Ill. 2d 461 (1995), People v. Kinkead, 168 Ill. 2d 394 (1995), People v. Birdsall, 172 Ill. 2d 464 (1996), People v. Nitz, 173 Ill. 2d 151 (1996), and People v. Britz, 174 Ill. 2d 163 (1996). That line of authority equated the use of psychotropic drugs with a bona fide doubt of fitness to stand trial and recognized, as a matter of due process, a

right to a fitness hearing in the provisions of section 104–21(a) of

the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/104–21(a)

(West 1992)). When Brandon was decided, and at the time of this defendant’s trial and sentencing hearing, section 104–21(a)

provided, “A defendant who is receiving psychotropic drugs or

other medications under medical direction is entitled to a hearing

on the issue of his fitness while under medication.” 725 ILCS

5/104–21(a) (West 1992). The statute has been amended twice

since Brandon was decided (Pub. Act 89–428, §605, eff. December 13, 1995; Pub. Act 89–689, §90, eff. December 31,

1996); section 104–21(a) currently provides, “A defendant who is

receiving psychotropic drugs shall not be presumed to be unfit to

stand trial solely by virtue of the receipt of those drugs or

medications.” 725 ILCS 5/104–21(a) (West 1998).

	The defendant alleged in the present post-conviction petition

that he was receiving a psychotropic drug under medical direction

during his trial and sentencing hearing and that a fitness hearing

therefore should have been conducted for him. The defendant

further alleged that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to seek

the hearing that the Brandon line of cases held was required under the statute. The trial judge appointed counsel to represent the

defendant in proceedings on the petition.

	The State moved to dismiss the defendant’s post-conviction

petition, arguing that it was untimely, that it was barred as a

successive petition, and that it was barred by principles of waiver

and res judicata. Following a hearing on the State’s motion, the trial judge dismissed the petition. In a written opinion, the judge

expressed the view that the defendant could not make use of the rule announced in the Brandon line of cases. The trial judge noted that the defendant did not allege that his consumption of

psychotropic drugs had affected his understanding of the

proceedings against him. The judge commented on the need for

finality in the legal system and observed that Brandon was decided after this court had affirmed the defendant’s convictions and death

sentence on appeal. The judge pointed out that all the prior

decisions involving the defendant, from this court and from the

federal court of appeals, had failed to find any violations of due

process in the proceedings that resulted in the defendant’s

convictions and death sentence. The defendant’s appeal to this

court followed. 134 Ill. 2d R. 651(a).

	As a preliminary matter, we note that the defendant has filed

a motion asking this court to stay the present appeal and to permit

the parties to submit supplemental briefs addressing our recent

decision in People v. Mitchell, No. 83281 (January 27, 2000), which rejected the doctrine expressed in the Brandon line of authority equating the consumption of psychotropic drugs with a bona fide doubt of fitness to stand trial. We ordered the motion taken with the case, and we now deny it. We do not believe that

further briefing is necessary, and we are prepared at this time to

resolve the present appeal. The defendant has also submitted a

separate motion requesting leave to file a short response to the

State’s citation of fMitchell as additional authority. Again we ordered the motion taken with the case. We now allow it, and wwe

have considedrred the defendant’s respoonnse in our idispositioindisposition on of the

present appeal.

	The Post-Conviction Hearing Act (725 ILCS 5/122–1 through

122–7 (West 1996)) provides a means by which a defendant may

challenge his conviction or sentence for violations of federal or

state constitutional rights. People v. Tenner, 175 Ill. 2d 372, 377 (1997). An action seeking post-conviction relief is a collateral

proceeding, not an appeal from the underlying judgment. People v. Evans, 186 Ill. 2d 83, 89 (1999). To be entitled to post-conviction relief, a defendant must establish a substantial deprivation of

federal or state constitutional rights in the proceedings that resulted

in the conviction or sentence being challenged. People v. Morgan, 187 Ill. 2d 500, 528 (1999). Because of considerations of res judicata and waiver, the scope of post-conviction review is limited “to constitutional matters which have not been, and could not have

been, previously adjudicated.” People v. Winsett, 153 Ill. 2d 335, 346 (1992). Thus, issues that were raised on appeal from the

underlying judgment of conviction, or that could have been raised

but were not, ordinarily will not be considered in a post-conviction

proceeding. People v. West, 187 Ill. 2d 418, 425 (1999). Principles of fundamental fairness, however, will support relaxation of the

doctrines of waiver and res judicata when appropriate. People v. Neal, 142 Ill. 2d 140, 146 (1990).

	The Act generally limits a defendant to one post-conviction

petition. People v. Flores, 153 Ill. 2d 264, 273 (1992); People v. Free, 122 Ill. 2d 367, 375 (1988). Section 122–3 of the Act expressly states, “Any claim of substantial denial of constitutional

rights not raised in the original or an amended petition is waived.”

725 ILCS 5/122–3 (West 1996). Exceptions have been made to

that requirement in a limited range of circumstances. When the

proceedings on the initial petition are deficient in some fundamental

way, this court has permitted defendants to file a further petition.

See Flores, 153 Ill. 2d at 273-74; Free, 122 Ill. 2d at 376.

	The present post-conviction petition, which is the defendant’s

second, must therefore be deemed barred unless the defendant can

justify bringing a successive petition. This court has previously

referred to the cause and prejudice standard as an aid in

determining whether a successive post-conviction petition may

proceed. Flores, 153 Ill. 2d at 279; see also People v. Wright, 189 Ill. 2d 1, 42-43 (Bilandic, J., specially concurring). The United

States Supreme Court applies that standard in evaluating

successive habeas corpus actions. McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467, 113 L. Ed. 2d 517, 111 S. Ct. 1454 (1991). Under this

standard, the term “ ‘cause’ has been defined as ‘ “some objective

factor external to the defense [that] impeded counsel’s efforts” to

raise the claim’ in an earlier proceeding. (McCleskey, 499 U.S. at 493, 113 L. Ed. 2d at 544, 111 S. Ct. at 1470, quoting Murray v. Carrier (1986), 477 U.S. 478, 488, 91 L. Ed. 2d 397, 408, 106 S. Ct. 2639, 2645.)” Flores, 153 Ill. 2d at 279. The term “prejudice” has been defined “as an error which ‘ “so infected the entire trial

that the resulting conviction violates due process.” ’ ” Flores, 153 Ill. 2d at 279. We do not believe that the defendant can make either

showing here.

	In the present petition, the defendant alleges that he was

receiving psychotropic drugs under medical direction during the

proceedings against him. The sole premise of the current petition

is that Brandon and its progeny require that the defendant be granted relief. With the Brandon line of authority having been overruled, it is as though the doctrine expressed in those decisions

never existed, and the defendant now occupies essentially the same

position he did before those cases were decided. Because post-

conviction relief extends only to deprivations of constitutional

rights, the defendant must assert a constitutional basis for the

present petition. As Mitchell confirms, the right guaranteed by section 104–21(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725

ILCS 5/104–21(a) (West 1994)), is wholly statutory, and the only

constitutional ground on which the defendant may now seek relief

is his contention that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective

for failing to request a fitness hearing in this case.

	We do not believe that the defendant has demonstrated cause

and prejudice for his failure to raise this argument at an earlier

point in the history of this case. With respect to the “cause” portion

of the inquiry, we are unable to discern any objective circumstance

that would have prevented the defendant’s lawyers from raising the

same issue in the defendant’s initial post-conviction petition. The

defendant has presented no basis for us to excuse his failure to

present this issue in the earlier petition. Regarding the “prejudice”

aspect of the inquiry, we cannot say that counsel’s failure to

request a fitness hearing constituted an error that so infected the

proceedings at trial and sentencing that the defendant’s convictions

and death sentence must be considered violations of due process.

Apart from the bare assertion that the defendant was receiving

psychotropic drugs under medical direction at the time of the

proceedings against him, the record before us contains no showing

of the frequency or extent of the defendant’s medication, and thus

nothing that would cause us to question the general statutory

presumption of fitness (725 ILCS 5/104–10 (West 1994) (“A

defendant is presumed to be fit to stand trial or to plead, and be

sentenced”)).

	The Brandon line of authority, which equated the consumption of psychotropic drugs with a bona fide doubt of fitness, has been overruled, and thus it no longer provides any basis for the present

post-conviction petition. The defendant could have challenged, in

his initial post-conviction petition, his trial and sentencing lawyers’

failure to request a fitness hearing for him, yet he did not do so. As

noted earlier, it is well established that claims not raised in an

original or amended post-conviction petition are waived. 725 ILCS

5/122–3 (West 1996). We find no fundamental deficiency in the

earlier proceeding that would warrant consideration of this late

claim here. Because all the matters raised in the present post-

conviction petition depend on the Brandon line of cases, and because this court’s decision in Mitchell has overruled that authority, we must affirm the judgment of the circuit court, which

dismissed the defendant’s petition.

	For the reasons stated, the judgment of the circuit court of

Will County is affirmed. The clerk of this court is directed to enter

an order setting Tuesday, September 19, 2000, as the date on

which the sentence of death, entered in the circuit court of Will

County, is to be carried out. The defendant shall be executed in the

manner provided by law. 725 ILCS 5/119–5 (West 1998). The

clerk of this court shall send a certified copy of the mandate in this

case to the Director of Corrections, to the warden of Tamms

Correctional Center, and to the warden of the institution where the

defendant is now confined.

Judgment affirmed.

	JUSTICE FREEMAN, dissenting:

	I disagree with the result reached by the court for the reasons

stated in my dissents in People v. Mitchell, No. 83281, slip op. at 38 (January 27, 2000) (Freeman, J., dissenting, joined by Harrison,

C.J., and McMorrow, J.), and People v. Jones, No. 85354, slip op. at 7-8 (April 20, 2000) (Freeman, J., dissenting, joined by

Harrison, C.J., and McMorrow, J.). The present case essentially

mirrors that of defendant Jones. As in that case, I would decide this appeal, along with its procedural complexities, on the basis of the law as it stood prior to the issuance of Mitchell. See Mitchell, slip op. at 67 (Freeman, J., dissenting, joined by Harrison, C.J., and

McMorrow, J.).

	I also wish to express my strong disagreement with the court’s

decision to deny defendant’s request for additional briefing in order

to address the changes in law brought about by Mitchell and their effect on this case. In Mitchell, this court reexamined the validity of past precedent sua sponte. Since this court issuec id its opinion in Mitchell, we have allowed parties to file supplemental briefs addressing the changes in the law in two cases that are

pending--–People v. Johnson, No. 84146 (ordered entered February

29, 2000), and People v. Jamison, No. 80967 (ordere  entered March

2321, 2000). Because defendant'’s attorneys in this case could not

have known of the changes in this area of the law prior to the filing

of their original briefing materials, I would give defendant the same

opportunity to areargue his claims that the court gave to defendants

Johnson and Jamison. The parties there were never ordered to brief the validity of the prior precedent at any point. In other

words, the court’s decision was an internal one, made without

either prompting or briefing by the State or by defendant Mitchell.

As stated in my dissent in Jones, “since the date we issued Mitchell, not one member of the defense bar has had the opportunity to defend Brandon and its progeny.1 More importantly, not one defense attorney has had the opportunity to

reshape his or her appellate arguments in light of the change in the

law precipitated by Mitchell.” Jones, slip op. at 8 (Freeman, J., dissenting, joined by Harrison, C.J. and McMorrow, J.). I, therefore, would grant defendant’s

motion.

	CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON and JUSTICE McMORROW

join in this dissent.