Court Opinion

ID: 9712491
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:55:04.313626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:12.534936
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE HUTCHINSON, dissenting: In the present case, defendant voluntarily waived his right to have the charges tried by a jury or the bench when he elected to enter a plea of guilty. In pleading guilty, defendant waived all nonjurisdictional errors or irregularities. See People v. Peeples, 155 Ill. 2d 422, 491 (1993). Defendant is requesting this court to vacate his extended-term sentence because the State failed to inform the trial court during its presentation of the factual basis that the victims were over the age of 60 when defendant robbed them. At the hearing, defendant was admonished regarding the possible sentence he eventually received. The possibility of a term of 30 to 60 years was clear at the time of the plea. By pleading guilty, defendant gave up the right to challenge a sentence within the statutory range for the offense to which he pleaded guilty. We have previously stated: “A defendant who pleads guilty does not have the same appeal rights as one convicted following a trial. [Citation.] Generally, after pleading guilty, a defendant may not raise claims of the deprivation of constitutional rights that occurred before the entry of the plea. [Citation.] Before defendant entered his plea, the court informed him of the sentencing ranges for the offenses and specifically admonished him of the possibility of consecutive sentences. Having waived a jury trial on all issues, defendant cannot now claim that he was deprived of the right to have a jury determine the issue of his future dangerousness. Similarly, he cannot claim that he was unfairly deprived of the right to have the State prove that point beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v. Chandler, 321 Ill. App. 3d 292, 297 (2001). Furthermore, defendant was on notice that the age of the victims could be relevant. Even before the plea hearing took place, defendant explained his involvement in the crime to an investigator. Defendant indicated that he went to the victims’ residence one week before the burglary and noted that an older couple lived there. During the burglary he chided one of the other individuals involved for taking the “old woman’s jewelry.” At the plea hearing, the record clearly reflects that defendant was admonished of the nature of the charges and possible penalties by the trial court before he entered his plea. The trial court informed defendant that, if an extended term applied to him, the sentencing range would run between 30 and 60 years. At that point, defendant was confronted with the possibility that he was eligible to receive a prescribed statutory maximum sentence of 60 years upon a finding that any one of the statutory factors existed. See 730 ILCS 5/5 — 5—3.2(b)(4)(ii) (West 1998); 720 ILCS 5/12 — 11 (West 1998); People v. Rivera, 333 Ill. App. 3d 1092 (2001). If defendant had additional concerns, he was afforded the opportunity to confer with his appointed counsel. Any error resulting from the State’s failure to officially inform the trial court of the age of the victims was harmless. See People v. Blackwell, 325 Ill. App. 3d 354 (2001); People v. Peacock, 324 Ill. App. 3d 749 (2001); People v. Pearson, 324 Ill. App. 3d 622 (2001); People v. Rohlfs, 322 Ill. App. 3d 965 (2001). I believe that, by entering a plea of guilty, defendant waived the right to challenge the factor that resulted in the longer sentence. See Chandler, 321 111. App. 3d at 296-97. Further, defendant’s extended-term sentence was specifically authorized by statute, and the trial court’s imposition of the sentence complied with the rule announced in Apprendi. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to vacate defendant’s extended-term sentence.