Court Opinion

ID: 9523446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:42:11.673339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:41.276157
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE EBERSPACHER, dissenting: I am of the opinion that we have properly disposed of this issue in People v. Edwards, 18 Ill.App.3d 379. Supreme Court Rule 402, which recognizes and embraces negotiated pleas in the present form, became effective as of September 17, 1970. A previous version of the Rule had likewise recognized and embraced negotiated pleas. As are all Supreme Court Rules, it is a pronouncement of the applicable law in the case. The Unified Code of Corrections is a legislative enactment made more than 2 years after the first version of Supreme Court Rule 402 recognizing and embracing negotiated pleas. It makes no specific reference to negotiated pleas, therefore whatever applicability the Code has to negotiated pleas must be implied from its general language, and if it modifies Rule 402 it must do so by implication. I would point to the language of section 5—4—1(a) of the Code to call attention that it is applicable only, “after a determination of guilt" (Emphasis supplied). In a negotiated plea situation the defendant confesses guilt, and his guilt is not determined by the court. Further examination of that section leads me to conclude that its drafters did not have a negotiated plea situation in mind, and as a result I would not consider section 5—4—1(a) applicable to a situation in which the court had accepted the negotiated plea. In a negotiated plea situation, a defendant confesses his guilt in reliance on what the defendant considers as concessions to him, being either fulfilled or promised by the State. It is he who has voluntarily considered the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and character of the defendant, and exercised his choice to avoid standing trial and to avoid having those factors considered by some one else in the determination of the sentence. In cases in which the defendant agrees by negotiation to a higher minimum than should be imposed if the nature and circumstances of the offense and his history and character does not warrant a greater minimum than is provided under section 5— 8—1(c)(3), it is quite obvious that defendant has chosen to confess with the hope of the trial court accepting his plea with a minimum of consideration of those factors. I do not agree that in such a negotiated plea situation the trial court must, in imposing more than the minimum, tell the defendant that this is done because of the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and character of the defendant, when in fact the defendant has considered those things and concluded that it would be beneficial to him to accept more than the minimum in view of the nature and circumstances and his background. A defendant who negotiates a plea realizes that a court can impose more than the bare minimum provided by the Code, or he would not negotiate a greater minimum than is therein provided. As a result I would affirm.