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2023 IL App (5th) 220725-U 

NO. 5-22-0725 

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT

______________________________________________________________________________ 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the

 ) Circuit Court of 

Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Pope County. 

 ) 

v. ) No. 16-CF-1 

 ) 

MATTHEW C. WERNER, ) Honorable 

 ) Joseph M. Leberman,

Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. 

______________________________________________________________________________ 

JUSTICE MOORE delivered the judgment of the court. 

 Presiding Justice Boie and Justice Vaughan concurred in the judgment. 

 

 ORDER

¶ 1 Held: By statute, defendant’s sentence in Kentucky for crimes committed there was 

presumptively consecutive to his previously imposed Illinois sentence and the 

record does not reflect an order making the sentences concurrent. Thus, the circuit 

court properly dismissed defendant’s postconviction petition contending that the 

sentences were concurrent. Further, no procedural error occurred where the circuit 

court and defense counsel complied with applicable supreme court rules. As any 

argument to the contrary would lack merit, we grant defendant’s appointed counsel 

 on appeal leave to withdraw and affirm the circuit court’s judgment. 

¶ 2 Defendant, Matthew C. Werner, appeals the circuit court’s order summarily dismissing his 

postconviction petition. His appointed appellate counsel, the Office of the State Appellate 

Defender (OSAD), has concluded that there is no reasonably meritorious argument that the circuit 

court erred. Accordingly, it has filed a motion to withdraw as counsel along with a supporting 

memorandum. See Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987). OSAD has notified defendant 

NOTICE

This order was filed under 

Supreme Court Rule 23 and is 

not precedent except in the 

limited circumstances allowed 

under Rule 23(e)(1).

NOTICE

Decision filed 09/26/23. The 

text of this decision may be 

changed or corrected prior to 

the filing of a Peti ion for 

Rehearing or the disposition of 

the same.
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of its motion, and this court has provided him with ample opportunity to respond. However, he 

has not done so. After considering the record on appeal and OSAD’s motion supporting brief, we 

agree that this appeal presents no reasonably meritorious issues. Thus, we grant OSAD leave to 

withdraw and affirm the circuit court’s judgment. 

¶ 3 BACKGROUND

¶ 4 In 2016, defendant pleaded guilty to residential burglary in case No. 16-CF-1 in exchange 

for an eight-year prison sentence. The circuit court gave him a “furlough” until 7:30 p.m. to turn 

himself in. The court cautioned him that if he failed to report he would be charged with escape 

and any sentence imposed for that offense would be consecutive to the burglary sentence. 

¶ 5 Although the facts are not included in the record, it appears that defendant failed to report 

as scheduled and was charged with escape. In case No. 16-CF-23, he pleaded guilty to escape. He 

was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment to run consecutive to the sentence in 16-CF-1. In the 

meantime, he had been sentenced to prison in Kentucky for crimes he committed there. The escape 

sentence was to be consecutive to that term as well.

¶ 6 On September 19, 2022, defendant filed a postconviction petition claiming that the 

Department of Corrections (DOC) had miscalculated his release date. Defendant apparently 

believed that his sentence in 16-CF-1 was running concurrently with his Kentucky sentence, but 

was surprised to learn, after completing his sentence in Kentucky, that the DOC was requiring him 

to complete his burglary sentence before beginning his sentence for escape. The circuit court 

summarily dismissed the petition and defendant timely appealed. 

¶ 7 ANALYSIS

¶ 8 OSAD concludes that neither Illinois law nor the record in this case supports an argument 

that defendant’s Kentucky sentence was to be concurrent to his Illinois sentences and, thus, there 
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is no reasonably meritorious argument that the circuit court erred in dismissing his petition. We 

agree.

¶ 9 Defendant’s claim proceeds from the premise that his burglary sentence was to be served 

concurrently with his Kentucky sentence. Section 5-8-4(e) of the Unified Code of Corrections 

provides as follows: 

“If an Illinois court has imposed a sentence of imprisonment on a defendant and the 

defendant is subsequently sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a court of another state 

or a federal court, then the Illinois sentence shall run consecutively to the sentence imposed 

by the court of the other state or the federal court. That same Illinois court, however, may 

order that the Illinois sentence run concurrently with the sentence imposed by the court of 

the other state or the federal court, but only if the defendant applies to that same Illinois 

court within 30 days after the sentence imposed by the court of the other state or the federal 

court is finalized.” 730 ILCS 5/5-8-4(e) (West 2020). 

¶ 10 OSAD represents that information received from Kentucky shows that defendant’s 

sentence in that state was imposed for crimes committed there after the Illinois burglary. Thus, 

section 5-8-4(e) provides that defendant’s Illinois sentence is consecutive to that sentence unless 

defendant filed a motion in Illinois asking that they run concurrently. Nothing in the record shows 

that defendant filed such a motion. Thus, the circuit court properly held that the sentences are 

consecutive.

¶ 11 To the extent defendant’s argument could be construed as seeking credit against his Illinois 

sentence for time spent in Kentucky custody, this argument also fails. “[A] defendant is not 

entitled to credit for time spent in custody while incarcerated in another state as a result of a crime 

committed there.” People v. Evans, 391 Ill. App. 3d 470, 472-73 (2009) (citing People v. Clinard,
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242 Ill. App. 3d 414, 417 (1993)). As there is no basis for defendant’s claim that he discharged 

his burglary sentence while imprisoned in Kentucky, the circuit court properly dismissed the 

petition.

¶ 12 OSAD further contends that there is no meritorious argument that the court committed 

procedural error in dismissing the petition. A circuit court may summarily dismiss a 

postconviction petition only within the first 90 days after filing. 725 ILCS 5/122-2.1(a) (West 

2020). Furthermore, the State is precluded from providing input at this stage. People v. Gaultney, 

174 Ill. 2d 410, 418 (1996). Here, defendant filed his petition on September 19, 2022. The court 

summarily dismissed it on October 17, 2022, without input from the State, well within the 90-day

limit. 

¶ 13 CONCLUSION

¶ 14 As this appeal presents no issue of arguable merit, we grant OSAD leave to withdraw and 

affirm the circuit court’s judgment.

¶ 15 Motion granted; judgment affirmed.