Court Opinion

ID: 9737390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:23:43.770529+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:58.579942
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, specially concurring: I can accept the majority’s determination that because the defendant failed to request a different judge before trial the issue is waived. Having made this determination, the court’s discussion of whether the defendant could have invoked Supreme Court Rule 402(d)(2) (87 Ill. 2d R. 402(d)(2)), which would require the judge to recuse himself, is unnecessary; since the issue has been waived, any conclusion the court might reach regarding the applicability of the rule would not affect the outcome of the case. (Palmer House Co. v. Industrial Com. (1944), 388 Ill. 542, 547). In any event, I do not agree with the conclusion the court did reach that the rule is inapplicable when the trial judge withdraws his consent from the plea agreement after rather than before sentencing. This interpretation of the rule is overly restrictive and it violates the due process clause of the Federal Constitution. When a defendant agrees to a plea bargain, he trades his constitutional right to a trial for a bargained-for sentence. This decision requires a rational calculation of risks and benefits — the expected period of incarceration following a trial against the expected period of incarceration following a negotiated guilty plea. To make this calculation, the defendant must understand not only the elements of his offense, but also the rules of the gáme, including what he can expect if the court withdraws its consent to the plea agreement. See Comment, Where Promises End: Prosecutorial Adherence to Sentence Recommendation Commitments in Plea Bargains, 52 U. Chi. L. Rev. 751 (1985). The Illinois Supreme Court drafted Rule 402 “to remove the aura of secrecy from plea agreements so that their details would be recorded and clearly understood.” (People v. Lambrechts (1977), 69 Ill. 2d 544, 558.) This rule serves to outline what a defendant can expect once he agrees to a plea bargain. Section 402(d)(2) sets forth what is to occur when a trial judge withdraws his consent to a plea agreement. The rule provides that if “the trial judge later withdraws his concurrence *** he shall so advise the parties and then call upon the defendant either to affirm or to withdraw his plea of guilty. If the defendant thereupon withdraws his plea, the trial judge shall recuse himself.” (Emphasis added.) (87 Ill. 2d R. 402(d)(2).) The use of the word “shall”, here gives the defendant a protected interest that the right afforded by the rule — that the judge will recuse himself should he withdraw his consent to the plea bargain — will be respected. See, e.g., Hewitt v. Helms (1983), 459 U.S. 460, 74 L. Ed. 2d 675, 103 S. Ct. 864. In the instant case, the judge agreed to the plea bargain and sentenced the defendant accordingly. He later voided the sentence and allowed the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea. Since the judge initially concurred in the plea and subsequently withdrew it when he voided the sentence, the rule should apply here. The majority’s conclusion that the committee comments limit the scope of the rule to situations where the judge withdraws his consent before sentencing is too narrow an interpretation of the rule to satisfy due process standards. The intent of a rule or statute is best determined from the plain meaning of its language. (People v. Pettit (1984), 101 Ill. 2d. 309.) Nowhere in the text of Rule 402(d)(2) is there even a hint that it would not apply to the facts presented here. Had we intended to limit the rule to situations where consent is withdrawn prior to sentencing, we could have easily said so. While committee comments provide some indication of a rule’s intent, they are hardly meant to serve as an exhaustive list of all the possible situations where the rule is properly applied. In addition, the purpose behind the rule is an important consideration in ascertaining its intent. (People v. Dednam (1973), 55 Ill. 2d 565.) The reason the rule provides for recusal is clear — to insure that an impartial judge hears the defendant’s case. The danger that a defendant may be prejudiced when the judge who withdrew his consent from the plea agreement hears the case exists whether consent is withdrawn before or after sentence is imposed: in- both instances the same judge has heard evidence by way of the guilty plea and factors in aggravation or mitigation. If anything, the possibility of prejudice would be even greater in the situation presented here where the judge withdrew consent after he imposed the sentence. Having presided over the plea through the sentencing hearing, the probability that the judge has formed a more rigid impression and thus is less inclined to be impartial is greater. Further, the judge might be more likely to be prejudiced against the defendant since the defendant, by requesting a trial, has demonstrated his dissatisfaction with both the sentence the judge has already imposed and the judgment the judge has issued. In sum, Rule 402(d)(2) protects the defendant when he enters a plea. Disregarding a defendant’s rights and expectations once he agrees to a plea, or interpreting them narrowly, encroaches upon -the defendant’s protected interest and violates due process. (See Santobello v. New York (1971), 404 U.S. 257, 30 L. Ed. 2d 427, 93 S. Ct. 495.) For these'reasons, I disagree with the majority’s decision on this issue.