Opinion ID: 2009926
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Requests in Prayer for Relief

Text: Defendant next argues that the circuit court erred in failing to specifically rule on the requests in his prayer for relief. Defendant also contends that the court acted too hastily in dismissing his petition on the twenty-third day after it was filed, especially in light of his requests in the prayer for relief. As we noted, in the prayer for relief, defendant asked the circuit court to: (1) set a date to resolve preliminary matters; (2) grant him sufficient time and leave to amend and/or supplement the petition; (3) grant him authority to obtain subpoenas for discovery; (4) appoint counsel to represent him; (5) order an evidentiary hearing; and (6) enter any other appropriate order. The only one of these that the trial court specifically denied was the request for counsel. The appellate court found no error. First, it noted that there is no requirement that the circuit court wait until the ninetieth day to dismiss a petition. Second, the court held that defendant's requests were merely general requests that are contained in postconviction petitions and that defendant had not provided any indication of how much time he needed or the reasons for a continuance or leave to amend. The court held that it would be a waste of judicial resources to require circuit courts to rule on every general request by a defendant in a postconviction petition, particularly when some of the requests cannot even be granted until the second or third stage. The court noted that, at the first stage, the Act requires only that the trial court determine if the petition is frivolous and patently without merit, which is exactly what the trial court did. The State echoes the appellate court's reasoning, and also notes that the Act's statute of limitations requires that the petition, including its accompanying evidentiary support, be filed by a certain date. Here, the petition was filed right before the statute of limitations expired. The State argues that it would contravene the Act's statute of limitations to give the defendant more time to prepare a proper petition. In response, defendant argues that, procedurally, there was no problem with the requests in the prayer for relief, as the Act requires neither a separate motion seeking a continuance or leave to amend nor specificity in the request. Defendant also argues that his statement at the beginning of his petition that he had mailed affidavits to prospective witnesses but that they had not mailed them back was adequate to alert the trial court as to why he needed a continuance and leave to amend. Defendant further contends that, at a minimum, the trial court should have given him until the end of the 90-day period to obtain the affidavits and that its failure to do so was an abuse of discretion. Defendant's sole support for this argument is People v. Jennings, 411 Ill. 21, 26, 102 N.E.2d 824 (1952), in which this court recognized that a circuit court has the authority to grant a postconviction petitioner more time in which to obtain supporting affidavits. We find no error by the circuit court. First, we disagree with defendant's argument that the circuit court failed to rule on the requests in his prayer for relief. By entering a final order summarily dismissing the petition as frivolous and patently without merit, the court impliedly denied the requests in defendant's prayer for relief. The question is whether it was an abuse of discretion to do so. Clearly, it was not. As the appellate court noted, the requests in defendant's prayer for relief were simply generic, boilerplate requests. Defendant did not provide any details about why he wanted leave to amend, more time, subpoena power for discovery, or what he wanted to add to the petition. Defendant is correct that the Act does not require a defendant to file a separate motion for leave to amend or for a continuance or to provide any details as to why he wants the court to grant his requests. Absent such detail or explanation, however, a defendant will be hard-pressed to show that the court abused its discretion in denying the requests. Defendant argues that it should have been clear from his statements at the beginning of the petition that he needed more time to obtain affidavits from witnesses that he believed would have offered testimony favorable to his defense. He attached their unsigned affidavits, explaining that he had mailed them to the prospective witnesses but that no one had mailed them back. Moreover, he was filing the petition at that time only because the statute of limitations was about to run. The trial court could very well have concluded, nevertheless, that if defendant had not obtained the affidavits in three years that there was little chance he was going to obtain them at all. Defendant did not provide the trial court with an explanation of when he mailed the proposed affidavits or when he expected that they might be returned. Defendant tries to leave the impression that he was rushed and that he was simply not given enough time to prepare a proper petition. In fact, he was given the maximum amount of time that the statute allowed at the time. Under the statute of limitations then in effect, the longest possible time a defendant could have to file a postconviction petition (absent a delay not due to the defendant's culpable negligence) was three years from the date of conviction (725 ILCS 5/122-1(c) (West 2002)), and that was the time limit applicable to defendant. If his direct appeal would have concluded within a year after the conviction, then defendant would have had a much shorter period in which to prepare his petition and obtain affidavits. Defendant is correct that Jennings said that a trial court could grant a continuance for a defendant to obtain affidavits. However, the full passage from Jennings states that [w]here there are no supporting affidavits and their absence is neither explained nor excused, the trial court should either dismiss the petition or grant a further time within which such affidavits may be obtained. (Emphasis added.) Jennings, 411 Ill. at 26, 102 N.E.2d 824. [5] Here, the court dismissed the petition, and defendant has not shown that the court abused its discretion in failing to grant him more time. We likewise see no error in the trial court's dismissing the petition on the twenty-third day. The Act merely requires the trial court to make its first-stage order [w]ithin 90 days after    filing and docketing. 725 ILCS 5/122-2.1(a) (West 2002). The Act does not require the court to wait the full 90 days, and defendant has failed to cite a single case in which a postconviction court was found to have erred by ruling too quickly. Defendant contends that the trial court should have given him at least until the ninetieth day to obtain the witness affidavits to support his claim. As set forth above, however, the trial court could have found that if defendant had already been given the maximum time contemplated by the legislaturethree years from the date of convictionand had failed to obtain the affidavits in that time, another 68 days was not going to make a difference. Nor did defendant give the court any reason to believe that the affidavits would be forthcoming. The court did not err in dismissing the petition on the twenty-third day.