2017 IL App (2d) 141251 No. 2-14-1251 Opinion filed May 12, 2017

______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT

______________________________________________________________________________ T HE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Du Page County. ) Plaintiff

- Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 85- CF -707 ) DARYL SIMMS , ) Honorable ) Daniel P. Guerin , Defendant -Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding.

______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE SPENCE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Jorgensen and Schostok concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶ 1 Defendant, Daryl Simms, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to reinstate a petition that he previously filed under the Post

- Conviction Hearing Act (Postconviction Act) (725 ILCS 5/122 -1 et seq. (West 2014)). The trial court ruled that the motion to reinstate was time

- barred as a matter of law because defendant filed it more than one year after his postconviction petition was voluntarily dismissed. We c onclude that the trial court had the discretion to grant the motion to reinstate if defendant sufficiently pleaded that the delay was not due to his culpable negligence. W e therefore reverse and remand

. ¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- ¶ 3 Following a bench trial, defendant was convicted of murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 9- 1(a)), aggravated criminal sexual assault (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 12- 14(a)), criminal sexual assault (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 12- 13(a)), armed robbery ( Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 18- 2), home invasion ( Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 12-11( a)), and residential burglary ( Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, ¶ 19- 3(a)). He was sentence d to death. On direct appeal, the supreme court affirmed defendant’s convictions but remanded for resentencing because the tria l court had improperly allowed vict im impact statements during sentencing

. People v. Simms , 121 Ill. 2d 259 , 275 -76 (1988). On remand, defendant elected to be sentenced by a jury , which found him eligible for the death penalty. I n the resulting appeal, the supreme court again remanded the cause for resentencing , this time due to an improper jury instruction. People v. Simms , 143 Ill. 2d 154, 171-72 (1991). Defendant was resentenced to death upon remand, and the supreme court aff irmed on appeal. People v. Simms , 168 Ill. 2d 176, 182 (1995). ¶ 4 Defendant filed a postconviction petition on November 14, 1995. With the trial court’s leave, he filed an amended postconviction petition on May 21, 1997. T he trial court dismissed the amend ed petition without an evidentiary hearing. On appeal, the supreme court affirmed the dismissal of most of the claim s but reversed the dismissal of claims alleging perjury

. People v.
Simms , 192 Ill. 2d 348, 392, 430 (2000). It remanded the cause for an evidentiary hearing. Id. ¶ 5 In January 2003, as part of a mass commutation of death sentences, then -Governor George Ryan commuted defendant’s death sentence to life imprisonment. At the time, defendant’s postconviction petition was still pending. On July 7, 2004, defendant filed a pleading entitled “Withdrawal of Claims” in which he expressed a desire to withdraw the remaining postconviction claims. Defendant stated that he was aware that, after withdrawing the claims, no evidentiary hearing would tak e pla ce. Defendant further stated that he was2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- withdrawing the claims freely and voluntarily, after having consulted with his postconviction counsel. The same day, the trial c ourt entered an order stating: “Petition er wishing to withdraw Claims III, IV and V of his Amended Petition,” those “[c]laims *** are withdrawn [and] no further proceedings remain pending in this court.” ¶ 6 On October 18, 2011, defendant filed a petition under section 2

- 1401 of the Code of Civil
Proc edure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2

- 1401 (West 2010)) , seeking reinstatement of his postconviction petition. He argued that the July 7, 2004, order disposing of his remaining postconviction claims was void because : (1) the State coerced him into withdrawing his pe tition , by stating that it would seek reinstatement of the death penalty if he succeeded on his postconviction challenge, (2) his postconviction counsel and the State fraudulently concealed that the courts would likely decide that the reimposition of the death penalty would be unlawful, and (3) the procedur e through which the withdrawal took place was unlawful. The trial court granted the State’s motion to dismiss the section 2

- 1401 petition as untimely. On appeal, the Office of the State Appellate Defend er sought to withdraw as counsel pursuant to Pennsylvania v. Finley , 481 U.S. 551 (1987), and People v. Lee , 251 Ill. App. 3d 63 (1993). We granted the motion to withdraw, stating that (1) a due

- process violation did not ipso facto imply a void judgment a nd (2) no other exception to section 2-1401 ’s two

- year limitations period applied. People v. Simms , 2013 IL App (2d) 120204-U ¶¶ 11 -14 (summary order)

. ¶ 7 On July 1, 2014, defendant filed a motion to reinstate his postconviction petition ; the trial
court’s ruling on that motion is the subject of the instant appeal

. As part of the motion, defendant reasserted the postconviction claims that the supreme court had determined merited an evidentiary hearing. On July 22, 2014, the trial court ordered the State to file a resp onse to the motion and ordered defendant to thereafter file a reply. The State argued in its response that the2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- trial court should deny defendant’s motion because under People v. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d 906 (2008), and People v. Macri , 2011 IL App (2d) 100325, a postconviction petition could not be reinstat ed more than one year after it wa s voluntarily withdrawn. In his reply, defendant argued , inter alia , that his situation was distinguishable from Macri because the supreme court had remande d some of his postconviction claims for an evidentiary hearing and because section 1 22- 5 of the Postconviction Act (725 ILCS 122

- 5 (West 2014)) allowed the trial court to exten d the time for filing pleadings. ¶ 8 On September 8, 2014, the trial court denied de fendant’s motion to reinstate as untimely pursuant to the cases cited by the State. The trial court denied defendant’s motion to reconsider on October 21, 2014. This court granted defendant’s motion for leave to file a late notice of appeal. ¶ 9 II. ANALYSI S ¶ 10 On appeal, defendant contests the trial court’s denial of his motion to reinstate. As the trial court denied the petition as untimely as a matter of law, we review its ruling de novo

. See English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 908. ¶ 11 We begin by examining English and Macri , the cases relied on by the trial court. In English , the defendant was granted leave to voluntarily dismiss his p ostconviction petition without prejudice. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 907. He then sought to reinstate it within one year, but t he trial court denied his motion. Id. On appeal , the court stated as follows. Section
122- 5 of the Postconviction Act (725 ILCS 5/122

- 5 (West 2004)) gives the trial court the discretion to allow the voluntary withdrawal of a postconviction petition at a ny time before judgment is entered. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 909. The voluntary withdrawal of a postconviction petition is the equivalent of a voluntary dismissal in a civil case. Id. A defendant2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- who is permitted to voluntarily withdraw a postconvi ction petition can refile and reinstate it , but the Postconviction Act does not provide a n explicit time limit for the refiling. Id. ¶ 12 Because postconviction proceedings are civil, a court can ent er orders in such proceedings “ ‘as is generally provided in civil case s.’ ” Id

. (quot ing 725 ILCS 5/122 -5 (West 2004)). Therefore, if the Postconviction Act i s silent about a procedural matter, courts c an look to the Code. Id. Se ction 13

- 217 of the Code (735 ILCS 5/13

- 217 (West 2004)) allows a plaintiff who voluntarily dismisse s an action one year to refile the action, so a postconviction petition filed within one year after voluntarily withdraw al i s likewise timely. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 910. As the defendant sought to reinstate his postconviction petition within one year after voluntarily dismissing it, the trial court erred by denying his motion to reinstate. Id. ¶ 13 In Macri , the defendant unsuccessfully sought to reinstate his postconviction p etition almost s ix years after he withdrew it. Macri , 2011 IL App (2d) 100325, ¶ 3. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court should have treated his petition as a “ ‘ new original pet ition.’ ” Id. ¶ 4. This court noted that the defendant’s p etition was filed beyond the one

- year period in which a defendant was entitled to automatic reinstatement under Eng l ish and that it was also beyond the limitations period for initial postconviction petitions provided in section 122

- 1(c) of the Postconvicti on Act (725 ILCS 5/122

- 1(c) (West 2010)). Macri , 2011 IL App (2d) 100325, ¶ 8. We stated, “Thus, even assuming that a petition sought to be refiled beyond a year but within the limitations period must be automatically reinstated, [the] defendant was not entitled to have his petition automatically reinstated and treated as an original petition.” Id.
Reco gn izing that section 122

- 5 of the Postconviction Act gives trial courts a great deal of discretion, we went on to state, “In reaching this conclusion, we note that [the] defendant makes no argument that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion .” Id. ¶ 9

. We2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- stated that the defendant’s only argument was that , once he voluntarily withdr ew his petition, he could refile the petition without leave of the court at any time and have it tre ated as the original petition. Id. We disagreed with this position, stating that “[o]nly if the trial court allowed defendant to reinstate his petition would his petition have been treated as an original petition.” Id. ¶ 14 Defendant argues that the trial court misinterpreted English and Macri as prohibiting the refiling of a petition more than on e year after it was withdrawn. He argues that , in doing so, the trial court failed to exercise its discretion when ruling on his motion to reinstate, t hereby abusing its discretion. See People v. Partee , 268 Ill. App. 3d 857, 868-69 (1994) (where a trial court erroneously believes that it has no discretion in a matter, its ruling must be reversed). ¶ 15 Defendant argues that , while we recognized in Ma cri the presence of a one - year limitation on the automatic reinstatement of a withdrawn petition, we placed no limit on the trial court’s discretion to allow reinstatement beyond one year. Defendant argues that section 122 -5 of the Postconviction Act gives trial courts wide discretion in how to proceed on postconviction petition s . Defendant further argues that , unl ike in English and Ma cri , the supreme court had ruled that two of his claims made substantial showings that his constitutional rights had been violated during the sentencing hearing , and his petition was in the third stage of proceedin gs when he withdrew it. Defendant argues that his situation is also distinguishable because he gave a plausible explanation of why he decided to withdraw his meritorious petition. Specifically, he alleged in his amended petition that the State had taken the position that , if he prevailed on his postconviction claims, it could seek the death penalty against him. Defendant maintains that his allegation was well supported, as the State took that position in numerous cases until the supreme
court finally rejected it in 20 06. See People v. Morri s , 219 Ill. 2d 373, 384 -85 (2006) (finding2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- that Governor Ryan’ s clemency orders precluded the State from seeking the death penalty if a defendant w ere retried for the same crime)

. Defendant contends that t he trial court, in exercising its discretion whether to allow a late motion to reinstate , should have consider ed that he faced the possibility of the death penalty when he withd rew his meritorious petition. ¶ 16 The State argues that any reading of Macri that allows refiling or reinstatement of a voluntarily withdrawn postconviction petition after one year contravenes the Code . The State further argues that in People v. English , 2013 IL 112890, ¶ 14, the supreme court cited with approval the princip le that a vo luntarily dismissed postconviction petition may be refiled only within one year of dismissal. ¶ 17 The State additionally relies on section 13

- 217 of the Code (735 ILCS 5/13

- 217 (West 2014)) , which provides that , if a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses an action, the plaintiff “may

commence a new action within one year or within the remaining period of limi tation, whichever is greater.” The State maintains that this section potentially extends the limitations period for filing an action and that, “had the defendant sought to refile or reinstate within one year of his voluntary withdrawal, he would have enjoyed an extension of the limitations period set forth in the [Postconviction] Act, as the time for filing a post

- conviction petition would have expired by the time he filed his motion to reinstate.” The State argues that defendant cites no authority for the proposition that there is an infinite extension of the limitations period for a defendant who voluntarily withdraws or dismisses a postconviction petition. ¶ 18 The State also argues that People v. Harris , 2016 IL App (1st) 141778, suggests that a trial court’s jurisdiction to consider a motion to reinstate a voluntarily withdrawn postconviction petition terminates 30 days after the withdrawal. In H arris , the defendant filed a postconviction petition on May 7, 2010, and the trial court granted his motion to withdraw it on June 8, 2012.2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- The defendant sought to vacate that order on July 5, 2012, and the trial court denied the motion
to vacate on July 27, 2012. On June 6, 2013, the defendant filed a motion to refile and reinstat e the postconviction petition. Id. ¶ 1. At a hearing on January 31, 2014, the trial court recalled denying the motion to vacate and did not think that there w ere any pending motion s before it

. Id. ¶ 10. On June 10, 2014, the defendant filed a motion to obtain a ruling on his m otion to refile and reinstate. Id. ¶ 1. B efore obtaining a ruling, the defendant filed a notice of appeal on June 16, 2014. The trial court denied the motion to refile and reinstate on January 9, 2015. Id. ¶ 19 On appeal, the defendant challenged the trial court’s July 27, 2012, order denying his motion to vacate the order grant ing his motion to withdraw the postconviction petition. Id. ¶ 13. The appellate court cited case law for the proposition that an order allowing a voluntary dismissal is a final judgment for appeal purposes. Id. ¶ 19. It then extrapolated that the trial court lost jurisdiction over the matter 30 days after it denied the defendant’s motion to vacate and that it thereafter did not have jurisdiction to rule on the defendant’s motion to refile and reinstate. Id. The appellate court further stated that the defendant’s notice of appeal was likewise untimely because it was no t filed within 30 days after the denial of the motion to vacate. Id. ¶ 20 The Harris court declined to follow English , 381 Ill. App. 3d 906, stating that the decision failed to recognize that the trial court lost jurisdiction to rule on the motion to vacate 30 days after the entry of the final judgment. Harris , 2016 IL App (1st) 141778, ¶ 21. The Harris court stated that its determination did not interfere with “a defendant’s ability to refile his postconviction petition within one year” under section 13

- 217 of the Code, in that “all defendant need do to invoke his right under section 13

- 217 is file his post conviction petition again.” Id. ¶ 22.2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- ¶ 21 Applying Harris ’s analysis to this case, t he State argues that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to consider defendant’s motion to reinstate , because he filed it on July 1, 2014, more than 30 days after the trial court’s July 7, 2004, grant of defendant’s motion to withdraw the postconviction petition. The State maintains that , although Harris appears at odds with English and Macri , all three cases agree that , if a defendant voluntarily dismisses his petition , postconviction proceedings can continue only if he re files it within one year. Accordingly, t he State argues that this case law is no help to defendant, because he waited more than 10 years to seek reinstate ment of his postconviction petition. The State contends that under Harris the appropriate disposition is dismissal, whereas under English and Macri the appropriate disposition is to affirm the denial of the reinstatement. The State ar gues that under either scenario defendant is not entitled to relief. ¶ 22 Defendant responds, and we agree, that the supreme court’s decision in English , 2013 IL 112890, ¶ 14, has no bearing on this case because it was not on an appeal from the appellate court’s decision in English , 381 Ill. App. 3d 906, a nd the supreme court referred to that appellate court decision simply as part of its description of the case’s procedural history. ¶ 23 Defendant further argues that this case is not governed by section 13

- 217 of the Code. Defendant asserts that under English , 381 Ill. App. 3d 906, the statute simply limits the trial court’s discre ti on with respect to a motion to reinstate filed withi n one year after the withdrawal, in that the trial court must grant such a motion. Defendant argues that , after th e one- year period , the trial court has the discretion to “extend[ ] the time of filing any pleading other than the original petition.” 725 ILCS 5/122-5 (West 2014). ¶ 24 Defendant also argues that we should reject Harris ’s analysis because it is based on meaningless semantics. Specifically, Harris holds that, 30 days after a postconviction peti tion’s2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- voluntary withdrawal, a trial court loses jurisdiction to hear a motion to “reinstate” the petition but maintains jurisdiction if t he same petition is “refiled.” Defendant notes that the English defendant was allowed to “reins tate” his petition wit hout “ref i li ng” it. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 91 0. Defendant maintains that there is no functional difference between moving to “reinstate” a withdrawn petition and “refiling” the same petition. In any event, defendant argues that even under Harris the trial court had jurisdic tion here, as he “refiled” hi s petition , by filing a new

ver sion of it, on the same day that he filed a motion to reinstate his petition

. ¶ 25 We note that neither party has cited or addressed People v. York , 2016 IL App (5th) 13057 9, which supports defendant’s position that the trial court has the discretion to allow a

mo tion to reinstate a voluntarily withdrawn postconviction petition. In York , 16 months after voluntarily withdra w ing his postconviction petition , the defendant file d a new postconviction petition raising the same issue , and he asked the trial cour t to set aside the withdrawal. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition, ruling that , if it was a successive petition, it did not allege facts showing cause and pre judice and , i f i t was not a success ive petition, it was untimely. Id. ¶ 1. ¶ 26 T he appellate court stated as follows. The situation was distinguishable from English , as the defendant did not seek to reinstate his petition with in one year after withdrawing it. Id. ¶ 20. Section 122

- 5 of the Postconviction Act allows a defendant to voluntarily withdraw his petition at any time before a final judgment, and it gives the trial court the discretion to enter orders allowing “ ‘ amendment of the petit ion or any other pleading, or as to pleading over, or filing further pleadings, or extending the time of filing any pleading *** as shall be appropriate, just and reasonable[,] and as is generally provided in civil cases. ’ ” Id. ¶ 27 (quoting 7 25 ILCS 5/122- 5 (West 2012) ). The voluntary withdrawal of a petition is like a voluntary dismissal in2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- civil cases, and section 13

- 217 allows a defendant to refile a voluntarily dismissed action within one year after the dismissal or within the original li mitation s period for filing an action. Id. Under the Postconviction Act, the limitations period is three years from the conviction date
“ ‘ unless the petitioner alleges facts showing that the delay was not due to his or her culpable negligence. ’ ” (Emph asis in original .) Id. (quoting 725 ILCS 5/122

- 1(c) (West 2012)). Thus, a defendant see king to reinstate a voluntarily withdrawn petition after more than one year (and after the limitations period) must be given the opportunity to demonstrate that the delay was not d ue to his culpable negligence. Id. Section 122

- 5 further supports this outcome, as it explicitly grants postconviction courts the discretion to extend “ ‘ the time of filing any pleading oth er than the original petition. ’ ” Id. ¶ 30 (quoting 725 ILCS 5/122

- 5 (West 2012) )

. The defendant’s new petition was essentially a motion to reinstate the original petition, and as such a motion was a

“ pleading ” other than the original petition, the trial court had the discret i on to extend the limitations period

. Id. ¶ 27 The appellate court also reasoned that the State ’s position, that a voluntarily withdrawn petition must be treated as a successive petition if the defenda n t did not seek to reinsta te it within one year, rendered the provision allowing for a withdrawal meaningless for many defendants. Id. ¶ 29. That is, treating the one

- year limit in section 13

- 217 as an absolute bar to reinstating a petition would put many defendants in a worse position than if they had not filed timely petition s in the first place, as successive petitions face additional hurdles. Id. ¶ 28 Returning to the case law cited by the parties, we observe that this situation is distinguishable from English because the court there held that a defendant is entitled to the automatic reinstatement of a voluntarily withdrawn postconviction petition within one year after its withdrawal, whereas in this case defendant sought to reinstate his petition well after one year.2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- Therefore, as in Macri , we need not decide whether we agree with English ’s position on automatic reinstatement. See Macri , 2011 IL App (2d) 100325, ¶ 8 (“Thus, even assuming that a petition sought to be refiled beyond a year but within the limitations period must b e automatically reinstated, [the] defendant was not entitled to have his petition automatically reinstated and treated as an original petition .” (Emphasis added. )). ¶ 29 Contrary to the State’s position, Macri also does not resolve the issue here. In Macri , t he defendant argued only that he was entitled to the automatic reinstat e ment of his voluntarily withdrawn postconvict i on petition at any ti me without leave of the court. Id. ¶ 9. We expressly pointed out that , although section 122

- 5 of the Postconviction Act gives trial courts a great deal of discretion, the defendant did not argue that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion

. Id

. In contrast, this is precisely the argument defendant advances here. ¶ 30 Harris does not convince us that we lack jurisdiction over this matter. In that case, the defendant challeng ed only the denial of his motion to vacate the trial court’s order granting his motion to withdraw his postconviction petition, as opposed to the denial of his motion to refile and reinstate

. Harris , 2016 IL App (1st) 141778, ¶ 13. Moreover, w e disagree with Harris ’s rationale that , just because a trial court m ight lose jurisdiction to hear a defendant’s motion to
vacate an order allowing a voluntary dismissal 30 days after the order is entered, the trial court also loses jurisdiction to rule on a defendant’s subsequent motion to refile and reinstate. See id. ¶ 19. Harris d id not cite any relevant authority to this effect, and s uch an outcome presupposes that the two types of motions are seeking the same relief. However, a motion to vacate the grant of a request to voluntarily withdraw a postconviction petition seeks to have the petition proceed as if it were never withdrawn in the first place. In contrast, a motion to refile and reinstate does not attack the ruling allowing the voluntary withdrawal of the petition but rather seeks to2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- reini ti ate the proceedings. In a situation such as the one at bar, the grant of a timely motion to vacate an order allowing a voluntary withdrawal would mean that a trial court would not have to consider any other time restrictions or whether the defendant alleged facts showing a lack of culpable negligence for a delay, whereas such considerat ions are relevant for a motion to refile and reinstate. See York , 2016 IL App (5th) 130579, ¶ 27. Harris did concede that a defendant is able to “ refile ” a postconviction petition within one year under section 13 -217 ( id. ¶ 22) , but it did not see this as contradictory to its position that a trial court could not rule on a defendant ’s motion “to refile and reinstate” more than 30 days after it denied the defendant’s motion to vacate ( id. ¶ 19 ). We agree with defendant that there is no logical difference between the two. In sum, we believe that Harris presents a poorly reasoned analysis of the timeliness of motions to refile and reinstate , and we choose not to follo w it. ¶ 31 We ultimately agree with York that there is not an absolute one- year bar to see king t o reinstate a voluntarily withdrawn postconviction petition. R ather , a defendant filing such a motion beyond the prescribed time limits has the opportunity to plead facts showing that the delay was not due to his culpable negligence, and it is within the trial court’s discretion whether to grant the mot ion to reinstate the petition. ¶ 32 As many of the aforementioned cases point out, the Postconviction Act gives the trial court the discretion to allow the defendant to withdraw the postconviction petition at any time prior to judgment (725 ILCS 5/122

- 5 (West 2014)), but it does not explicitly discuss when the petition may be reinstated. The trial court is given discretion regarding proceedings on a postconviction petition, specifically rulings “as to [the] amend ment of the petition or any other pleading, or as to pleading over, or filing further pleadings, or extending the time of filing any pleading other than the original petition, as shall be appropriate, just and reasonable and as is2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- generally provided in civ il cases .” (Emphasis added.) Id. Postconviction proceedings are civil , as reflected in section 122

- 5, so courts can look to the Code if the Postconviction Act does not address a procedural matter. English , 381 Ill. App. 3d at 909. Under section 13-217 of the Code, a plaintiff “may commence a new action within one year or within the remaining period of limitation, whichever is greater, *** after the action is voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff.” 735 ILCS 5/13

- 217 (West 1994). 1 As stated, the one -y ear period is not applicable here. As to the “remaining period of limitation” ( id. ), t he Postconviction Act provides limitation s periods for filing a petition, specifically six months after proceedings in the United States Supreme Court have concluded; six months from the date for filing a certiorari petition, if none has been filed 2 ; and three years from the conviction if no appeal has been filed ( 725 ILCS 5/122

- 1(c) (West 2014)). However, as York noted, section 122

- 1(c) allows a defendant to bypass these time limitations by “alleg[ing] facts showing that the delay was not due to his or her culpable negligence.” Id. 3 Logically, t he trial court must have the discretion to determine whether this standard has been met in the motion to reinstate , which also corresponds to the discretion given

1 The 1994 version of section 13-217 is currently in effect because the subsequent version of the statute included amendments that the supreme court found unconstitutional in their entirety in Best v. Taylor Machine Works , 179 Ill. 2d 367 (1997). See Richter v. Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. , 2016 IL 119518, ¶ 44 n.1.

2 Our supreme court has construed this portion of the provision as six months from the date for filing a petition for certiorari or a petition for leave to appeal. People v. Johnson , 2017 IL 120310, ¶ 24.

3 Although not applicable here, the time limitations also do not apply if the defendant claims actual innocence. 725 ILCS 5/122-1(c) (West 2014).2017 IL App (2d) 141251

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- to the trial court in s ection 122-5 to extend “the time of filing any pleading other than the original petition.” 725 ILCS 5/122

- 5 (West 201 4); see York , 2016 IL App (5th) 130579 , ¶ 30. This

con clusion is consistent with the language of the Postconviction Act and the Code, and it is also
in harmony with the analyses in English , Macri , and York . Accordingly, here the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to reinstate as untimely without considering whether defendant alleged facts showing that the delay was not due to his culpable negligence . See York , 2016 IL App (5th) 130579 , ¶ 27. We therefore reverse the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to reinstate his postconviction petition , and we remand for further proceedings during which the trial court shall exercise its discretion to determine if defendant sufficiently alleged that the delay
in fili ng the motion was not due to his culpable negligence. ¶ 33 III. CONCLUSION ¶ 34 For the reasons stated, we reverse the judgment of the Du Page County circuit court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. ¶ 35 Reversed and remanded.