Opinion ID: 3134950
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effectiveness of Guilty Plea Counsel

Text: The defendant next argues that his counsel was ineffective because he allowed the defendant to plead guilty to intentional and knowing murder, even though the defendant’s confession to the police indicated only that the “gun went off” and the defendant testified at the second phase of his sentencing hearing that he accidentally shot the victim and did not intend to kill him. The defendant argues that his counsel was ignorant of the mental states necessary to establish death penalty eligibility under section 9–1(b)(6) of the Criminal Code (720 ILCS 5/9–1(b)(6) (West 1996)). He contends that counsel’s ignorance is demonstrated by a series of alleged omissions: (1) counsel failed to object to the absence of the mental states in the issues instruction for the felony-murder count at the eligibility hearing, or tender a correct instruction; (2) counsel failed to object to the prosecutors’s argument omitting the mental states; (3) counsel failed to present defendant’s testimony that the shot was an accident at the eligibility stage when it would have been relevant to eligibility; (4) counsel essentially conceded the defendant’s eligibility for a death sentence rather than arguing that the shooting was an accident; (5) there is no indication from the record that counsel investigated the defendant’s claim that the shooting was an accident; and (6) in the preplea proceedings, counsel filed a motion seeking to preclude imposition of the death penalty, which did not cite the Illinois statute setting forth the appropriate mental states, but instead argued pursuant to Enmund v. Florida , 458 U.S. 782, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1140, 102 S. Ct. 3368 (1982), that the defendant could not be sentenced to death without an intent to kill. In support of his position, the defendant argues that this case is similar to People v. Pugh , 157 Ill. 2d 1 (1993), where this court found that the defendant was prejudiced by his counsel’s misapprehension of the law and was therefore entitled to a new death eligibility and sentencing hearing. A court is not precluded from accepting a plea of guilty, in spite of a defendant’s claim of innocence, if the record reflects a factual basis from which a jury could find the defendant guilty of the offenses to which the plea was entered. Pugh , 157 Ill. 2d at 25. A plea based on the reasonably competent advice of counsel is an intelligent plea not open to attack on the grounds that counsel erred in his judgment. People v. Palmer , 162 Ill. 2d 465, 475, 476 (1994). To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in entering a plea of guilty, the same two-part standard set forth in Strickland v. Washington , 466 U.S. 668, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 104 S. Ct. 2052 (1984), is applicable. Palmer , 162 Ill. 2d at 475; Hill v. Lockhart , 474 U.S. 52, 57, 88 L. Ed. 2d 203, 209, 106 S. Ct. 366, 369-70 (1985). To satisfy the first prong of the Strickland standard in a case where a defendant is represented by counsel during the plea process and enters his plea upon the advice of counsel, the defendant must show that his counsel’s advice fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and not whether a court would in retrospect consider the advice to be right or wrong. People v. Jones , 144 Ill. 2d 242, 254 (1991). In recognition of the variety of factors that go into any determination of trial strategy, courts have held that such claims of ineffective assistance of counsel must be judged on a circumstance-specific basis, viewed not in hindsight, but from the time of counsel’s conduct, and with great deference accorded counsel’s decisions on review. Roe v. Flores-Ortega , 528 U.S. 470, 477, 145 L. Ed. 2d 985, 995, 120 S. Ct. 1029, 1034-35 (2000); Strickland , 466 U.S. at 689, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 694, 104 S. Ct. at 2065. A defendant is entitled to reasonable, not perfect, representation, and mistakes in strategy or in judgment do not, of themselves, render the representation incompetent. Palmer , 162 Ill. 2d at 476. Counsel’s strategic choices are virtually unchallengeable. Thus, the fact that another attorney might have pursued a different strategy, or that the strategy chosen by counsel has ultimately proved unsuccessful, does not establish a denial of ineffective assistance of counsel. Palmer , 162 Ill. 2d at 476, 479. In order to establish the “prejudice” requirement in such cases, a defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, the defendant would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Pugh , 157 Ill. 2d at 15; Hill , 474 U.S. at 59, 88 L. Ed. 2d at 210, 106 S. Ct. at 370-71. As the Court in Hill observed, the question of prejudice depends in large part on a prediction of whether the defendant likely would have succeeded at trial: “In many guilty plea cases, the ‘prejudice’ inquiry will closely resemble the inquiry engaged in by courts reviewing ineffective-assistance challenges to convictions obtained through a trial. For example,  where the alleged error of counsel is a failure to advise the defendant of a potential affirmative defense to the crime charged, the resolution of the ‘prejudice’ inquiry will depend largely on whether the affirmative defense likely would have succeeded at trial.” Hill , 474 U.S. at 59, 88 L. Ed. 2d at 210, 106 S. Ct. at 370-71. The defendant’s principal contention in his argument that his counsel was ineffective in advising him to plead guilty is that counsel was operating under a misapprehension of the law as to the culpable mental state necessary for a finding of death eligibility based on the felony-murder aggravating factor as set forth in section 9–1(b)(6) of the Criminal Code (720 ILCS 5/9–1(b)(6) (West 1996)). To establish this aggravating factor, the State must prove that the defendant acted with the intent to kill or that he acted knowing his conduct created a strong probability that the victim would die or suffer great bodily harm. 720 ILCS 5/9–1(b)(6) (West 1996). After carefully examining the record, however, we find no indication that defense counsel did not understand the law at the time the guilty pleas were entered. There is no admission from defense counsel that he did not understand the law, and he has not filed an affidavit to that effect. As previously noted, the defendant’s motion to preclude the death penalty indicated that to declare the defendant death eligible on the basis of felony murder, the State would have to show that the defendant intended to kill the victim. Defense counsel asserted at that time that the State had no evidence in its possession that would show that the defendant intended to kill the victim. In response, the State filed a written motion and the issue was argued at a hearing. In its written motion and at the hearing, the State cited Illinois statutory law, section 9–1(b)(6), and pointed out that the defendant could be death eligible for felony murder if the State showed that the defendant had knowledge that his conduct created a strong probability of death (720 ILCS 5/9–1(b)(6)(b) (West 1996)). The State also cited People v. King , 109 Ill. 2d 514 (1986), noting that in that case the court held that the knowledge element of section 9–1(b)(6) could support a death eligibility finding where the defendant’s “gun went off” when the victim jerked away. In King , the shooting occurred as the defendant walked the victim to the back of the store while holding a loaded gun to the victim’s head. See King , 109 Ill. 2d at 522, 542. The hearing on the defendant’s motion to preclude the death penalty occurred some seven months before the defendant’s guilty pleas. Thus, it is apparent from the record that defense counsel was well aware of the mental states required to prove felony murder long before the defendant’s pleas were entered. Based on the fact that there was some indication in the record that the defendant pointed a loaded gun in the direction of the victim in anger, defense counsel could have reasonably concluded that it was best to plead guilty to all charges as a matter of strategy because of the likely possibility that the defendant would have been found death eligible based on the knowledge element, similar to the defendant in King , 109 Ill. 2d 514. Furthermore, we believe that instead of indicating a misapprehension of the law, the alleged omissions of defense counsel cited by the defendant were consistent with his counsel’s strategy to have the defendant take full responsibility for his crimes by pleading guilty and then use that to show his remorse to the jury in hopes of avoiding the death penalty at the final phase of sentencing. Defense counsel expressed that strategy during his closing argument at the aggravation and mitigation phase as follows: “It was an all or nothing proposition. He wanted to take responsibility so he took it all, and he took the stand and told you about it. He is remorseful.