Court Opinion

ID: 9862363
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 01:07:57.107869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:25:11.300984
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE O’MALLEY, dissenting: The majority never expressly addresses the fundamental question presented by this case, i.e., are predicate offenses lesser-included offenses? I find instructive the case of Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 85 L. Ed. 2d 764, 105 S. Ct. 2407 (1985). In Garrett, the defendant was charged with, among other things, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE), in violation of 21 U.S.C. section 848. Among the predicate acts that the government used to prove the CCE offense was a prior conviction of importation of marijuana. While the Court ultimately did not reach a conclusion regarding whether the importation offense was a lesser-included offense of CCE, the Court had “serious doubts” regarding that proposition. Garrett, 471 U.S. at 790, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 779, 105 S. Ct. at 2417. The Court described the conduct alleged in the CCE charge (which stretched over a period of years) as “multilayered conduct, both as to time and to place.” Garrett, 471 U.S. at 789, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 778, 105 S. Ct. at 2416. This conduct was contrasted to that in Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 53 L. Ed. 2d 187, 97 S. Ct. 2221 (1977), which dealt with the “classic relation” of the lesser-included and greater offenses of joyriding and auto theft, respectively. While the defendant in Brown committed both offenses simultaneously “[ejvery minute” that he possessed the stolen vehicle, Garrett’s charge involved “wholly separate” incidents of drug smuggling. Garrett, 471 U.S. at 787-89, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 777-78, 105 S. Ct. at 2416. I similarly find defendant’s conduct in this case to be multilayered and not susceptible to the “classic relationship” of lesser-included and greater offenses. The unlawful delivery charges were separate events, occurring eight days apart. I acknowledge that eight days is considerably less than the 5V2 years involved in Garrett and that the offenses in this case took place at the same location, whereas the offenses in Garrett were nationwide in scope. However, while the offenses were not as multilayered as to time and place, they were separate events and were not simultaneous offenses, as in Brown. I also note that the Act provides a five-year time frame in which at least two of the offenses forming the “pattern of narcotics activity” must occur in order to bring a charge of narcotics racketeering. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56V2, par. 1653(b). Clearly, the Act was designed to encompass the same types of multilayered activities as those in Garrett. While the delivery charges are predicate acts of the racketeering charge, the multilayered nature of the racketeering charge precludes the usual application of the lesser-included analysis. As the Supreme Court had “serious doubts” that such activities were lesser-included offenses, I conclude that the predicate offenses that form the “pattern of narcotics activity” are not lesser-included offenses of narcotics racketeering. More specifically to the facts of this case, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the Class X delivery charges could be lesser-included offenses of a Class 1 offense. To support its conclusion, the majority relies on People v. Callaway, 185 Ill. App. 3d 136 (1989), in which the Appellate Court, Fourth District, found that charges of unlawful delivery of illegal narcotics were lesser-included offenses of narcotics racketeering. While acknowledging that we are presented with a factual situation different from that of Callaway, in that the delivery charges in Callaway were all Class 1, 2, or 3 felonies, while the deliveries in this case were Class X, the majority fails to tell us why that difference makes no difference. Instead, the majority cites to the unpublished portion of People v. Smith, 295 Ill. App. 3d 405 (1998), to support its conclusion that a Class X felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of 6 to 30 years, is a “lesser” included offense of a Class 1 felony, punishable by imprisonment of 4 to 15 years. 331 Ill. App. 3d at 989. The majority and the Callaway court rely on the charging instrument approach to conclude that unlawful delivery is a lesser-included offense of narcotics racketeering. While our supreme court has adopted this approach, the court has departed from the strict application of the charging instrument approach when it has determined that the legislative intent, specifically in regard to sentencing provisions, so required. See People v. Bryant, 128 Ill. 2d 448 (1989). In Bryant, our supreme court looked to the statutory scheme created by the legislature to determine that the offense of possession of a stolen motor vehicle (PSMV) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 95½, par. 4—103) was not a lesser-included offense of theft (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 16—1). The court noted that PSMV was a Class 4 felony when enacted in 1977. Through the years, the penalty for that offense had been increased by the legislature until it was made a Class 2 felony in 1985. Theft was classified as a Class 3 felony throughout the relevant period. Departing from strict adherence to the charging instrument approach, the court held that, while PSMV may have been considered a lesser-included offense of theft under prior statutory schemes, the steady increase in the penalty for PSMV was “indicative of the legislature’s intent to make possession of a stolen motor vehicle a separate, more serious offense than theft, rather than a lesser included offense of theft.” Bryant, 128 Ill. 2d at 457. In 1973, the General Assembly created a statutory scheme of sentencing in which, with the exception of murder, felonies were classified as Class 1, 2, 3, or 4. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 1005—5—1. With the exception of murder, Class 1 felonies carried the most severe penalties, and the penalties decreased in Classes 2, 3, and 4. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 1005—8—1. At that time, unlawful delivery of 30 or more grams of cocaine was classified as a Class 1 felony; delivery of less than 30 grams was classified as Class 2. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 5672, pars. 1401, 1402. In 1979, the legislature added the felony classification of Class X, which carried harsher penalties than even Class 1. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, pars. 1005— 5 — 1, 1005 — 8—1. The delivery of 30 or more grams of cocaine, among other deliveries of controlled substances, was reclassified as a Class X felony. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 56½, par. 1401(a)(2). It was not until 1982 that the legislature created the Class 1 felony of narcotics racketeering. See Ill. Rev. Stat., 1982 Supp., ch. 56½, par. 1651 et seq. While narcotics racketeering has remained a Class 1 felony and the potential imprisonment for its violation has remained constant, the amount of cocaine necessary for a Class X charge of unlawful delivery was decreased to 15 grams (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 5672, par. 1401(a)(2)), and the term of imprisonment was increased for deliveries in excess of 100 grams (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 56½, par. 1401.1 (subsequently renumbered as par. 1401.2)). The General Assembly has chosen to make the delivery of between 15 and 100 grams of cocaine a Class X felony, while it has made the later-enacted narcotics racketeering a Class 1 felony. This scheme is indicative of the legislature’s intent to make large-scale drug delivery a more serious offense than the receipt of income from multiple, smaller drug offenses, rather than a lesser-included offense. Given this legislative history, I conclude that the legislature did not intend to include the Class X delivery of a controlled substance as a lesser-included offense of Class 1 narcotics racketeering. I find it ironic, given the majority’s emphasis on the “disproportionate penalties” analysis in Bryant, that the majority fails to address that very issue as it affects this case and potentially countless other cases involving Class X narcotics defendants. For example, consider a defendant who engaged in the same conduct as our defendant except for the racketeering, or who either was not charged with racketeering or mounted a successful defense to that charge. Is he also entitled to a vacation of his Class X conviction and sentence? If not, he may spend twice as long (15 additional years) in prison as a consequence of less egregious criminal conduct or of his successful defense of the racketeering charge. Our supreme court has concluded that the Illinois Constitution would be violated if the penalty for an offense is not as great or greater than the penalty for a less serious offense. See People v. Wisslead, 94 Ill. 2d 190, 196 (1983). Applying Wisslead to the majority’s lesser-included analysis must result in a finding that “lesser” Class X narcotics deliveries are unconstitutionally punished more severely than “greater” Class 1 narcotics racketeering charges. I cannot presume that the legislature intended such an absurd, unconstitutional result. See People v. Steppan, 105 Ill. 2d 310, 316 (1985). Also left unaddressed in the majority opinion is the situation in which one or both of the underlying offenses forming the pattern of narcotics activity has already resulted in a conviction. The statute includes no requirement that the underlying offenses be offenses of which the defendant has not been previously convicted. In such an instance, a defendant could have served a sentence on one or both of the “lesser-included” offenses before being sentenced on the narcotics racketeering charge. Such a defendant would, theoretically, serve a greater sentence in aggregate than would defendant in this case (in the absence of his extended-term sentence), even if the underlying offenses were only Class 2 felonies. Finally, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the unlawful delivery convictions and sentences must be vacated. In general, where multiple convictions are based on multiple acts and some offenses are included offenses, only the conviction and sentence for the offense with the highest sentence may stand. People v. Lee, 311 Ill. App. 3d 363, 372-73 (2000). The rule against multiple convictions should inure to the State and not provide a windfall for defendants. Lee, 311 Ill. App. 3d at 373. The majority, however, has vacated the two Class X convictions, along with their undeniably proper 30-year sentences, and let stand the lesser Class 1 conviction. While the majority has affirmed the extended-term sentence on that conviction, a subsequent review of that sentence by our supreme court may conclude differently and could still result in a reduction to a 15-year sentence. Defendant has already received the windfall of a conviction of a lower category felony; the possibility of a double windfall remains alive. Apparently, the additional work involved in investigating and prosecuting the second delivery was not only for naught but also was counterproductive. The State would have been better served had it prosecuted defendant only for the first offense. I cannot agree that this was the outcome that the legislature intended when it passed the Act, nor can I agree that a fan-reading of statutory and case law allows such an outcome.