Opinion ID: 2027457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the admonitions

Text: When the case was called for trial, the charges against the defendant were contained in an 18-count information which included six murder charges, two charges of attempted murder, four armed-robbery charges, four aggravated-battery charges, and two armed-violence charges. On the day the trial was scheduled to commence the State voluntarily moved to nol-pros five counts of the information, as set forth in the majority opinion (101 Ill.2d at 481). The defendant then waived a jury trial. During the colloquy concerning the jury waiver, the trial judge asked the defendant if he understood the severity of the charges against him but did not explain the nature of any of the charges. The jury waiver was followed by a short recess requested by defendant's attorneys. When the court reconvened, defense counsel informed the trial judge that the defendant wished to change his plea to guilty. The judge then admonished the defendant that the State might seek the death penalty, that the State would have to prove that the defendant was at least 18 years of age and that there were certain aggravating factors that qualified the defendant for the imposition of the death penalty. The judge followed this up by telling the defendant that the decision he would be called upon to make was probably the most important decision of his life and informed the defendant that he had the choice of having the death sentence hearing conducted before a jury or waiving the jury and having the hearing conducted by the court. Immediately after a luncheon recess the court asked the defendant whether he persisted in the guilty plea or wished to change it, and upon being advised that the defendant still wished to plead guilty the court asked whether he wished him to hear the case, to which the defendant responded in the affirmative. Upon the conclusion of the prosecutor's recital of the factual basis for the guilty plea and the entry of the court's findings of guilt on 11 counts, the State requested a death penalty hearing, at which point the trial judge again informed the defendant he could elect to have a jury decide on the death sentence. All of these proceedings were completed in one day. Nowhere in the transcript is there any statement by the trial judge which informed the defendant of the nature of the charges which remained after the elimination of five of the 18 counts. The judge's failure in this respect was especially serious in view of the confusion which might have been caused by the prosecutor's reference to the charges which were being eliminated. The only time the indictment was read to the defendant was at the arraignment, more than five months before entry of the guilty plea. At that time he received no judicial admonition to pay heed to the charging instrument and no inquiry was made regarding his understanding of it, as he was then not voluntarily or knowingly attempting to waive any constitutional rights. The defendant in this case, through his attorney, entered a general plea of guilty, in the words of the attorney, to whatever [was] still left in the information. But the trial judge neither told the defendant what counts were still left nor informed him of the nature of the charges to which his general plea was entered. Not only did the judge fail to explain the nature of the remaining charges, he did not even refer to them by name. The record in this case is lacking in any affirmative showing that at the time the defendant entered his plea he was either informed of or understood the nature of the murder, attempted-murder, armed-robbery and aggravated-battery charges to which his plea was directed. There might even have been some confusion on the part of the prosecutor, evidenced by the fact that upon completing his recital of the factual basis for the plea he asked that two of the aggravated-battery counts merge into an attempted-murder charge. As both the majority (101 Ill.2d at 484) and Justice Moran's dissent (101 Ill.2d at 497) observe, Rule 402 was adopted in response to the requirement of Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709, that a guilty plea not be accepted in the absence of an affirmative showing in the record that the plea was intelligent and voluntary. (See 73 Ill.2d R. 402, Committee Comments.) It is a rule that was not made to be disregarded ( People v. Walker (1981), 84 Ill.2d 512, 525-26), as the foregoing suggests occurred. Moreover, the record in this case affirmatively reveals that any discussion between the defendant and his counsel concerning the possibility of a guilty plea could not have taken place over an extended period of time. It reflects that these discussions commenced only after the State nol-prossed five of the charges. Following that, there was a short recess during which the defendant spoke to counsel and to his mother and sister over the telephone, and then he returned to court to plead guilty. The trial judge did fully admonish the defendant regarding the possibility that he might receive a death sentence, as the majority opinion points out (101 Ill.2d at 486). The trial judge also admonished the defendant that he had the right to have the charges against him heard by a jury and that by pleading guilty he was waiving that right, and he informed the defendant in addition that he had the right to have his sentence considered by a jury. At no place, however, do I see in the record any statement by the trial judge concerning the minimum and maximum terms of imprisonment the law prescribed, so as to give the defendant some idea of what kinds of punishment short of death he might receive and what he might be in a position to bargain with the State's Attorney for should he withhold his plea of guilty and attempt to renegotiate his plea. In that respect also the requirements of Rule 402(a)(2) were not satisfied. I am unable to determine from the record whether the plea was entered voluntarily or intelligently. Except for the statements that the death penalty might be imposed, that the defendant had the right to be tried by a jury both with respect to guilt or innocence and with respect to the death sentence hearing, and that at a death sentence hearing the State would be required to prove the age of the defendant and aggravating factors that qualified the defendant for the imposition of the death penalty, there were virtually no admonishments. In addition, there is nothing in the record to indicate that any determination was made that no force, threats or promises had been made to obtain the guilty plea. A further aspect of the hearing on the plea of guilt which I feel is significant to note is that the trial judge did not even admonish the defendant as required by Rule 402(a)(4) that on such a plea he gave up his right to trial and the right to face the persons that made accusations against him, and to hear them testify and to cross-examine them through his lawyer, until at the very end of the hearing the defendant's attorney himself reminded the trial judge that it would be in order to offer those admonitions. When a guilty plea is entered, the question of its voluntariness is a part of the State's case, not an affirmative defense as the majority appears to imply. (See Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 243-44, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, 279, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712.) The record that the trial judge allowed to be made is not adequate to enable this court to accomplish the review the law directs when such a plea is entered. The fact that the defendant was present when the prosecutor read into the record the factual basis for the plea does not persuade me that the defendant understood what he was pleading guilty to at the time he entered his plea. The factual basis was not recited until after the guilty plea had been accepted, and it therefore could not have assisted the defendant in understanding the nature of the charges at the time he entered his plea. In addition, at no time did the defendant concede the accuracy of the factual basis. In fact, no inquiry was ever made of the defendant as to the accuracy of the factual matter the prosecutor read into the record. The defendant's silence at this stage of the proceedings can hardly be equated with an understanding of the nature of the charges.