Court Opinion

ID: 9862421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 01:10:02.4545+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:25:29.417375
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, dissenting: The majority’s attempt to find sanity in Burt’s insistence on pleading guilty illustrates why our system of capital punishment has fallen into such disrepute. Demanding to enter an open guilty plea in the middle of a trial, over counsel’s objections, where the State is seeking the death penalty and the nature of the underlying charges is such that death eligibility is certain, is an inherently irrational act. It is tantamount to requesting an immediate death warrant. It is something no clear thinking person would ever do. Once trial was underway, a clear thinking person would heed his lawyer’s advice, recognize that he had nothing to lose, and take his chances with the jury. At a minimum, he would attempt to extract some kind of concessions from the prosecution in exchange for his plea, including an agreement to forgo the death penalty. Burt did none of that. It is interesting that the majority’s disposition leaves out why. This is not a situation where the defendant searched his soul and abandoned his defense because he knew he was guilty and wanted to make a swift peace with his maker. Apparently, Burt just wanted to take a smoke. This is no exaggeration. According to one of Burt’s attorneys, Burt’s abrupt decision to change his plea from not guilty to guilty was motivated by his desire to leave the county jail, where smoking was banned, and return to the Department of Corrections, where smoking was permitted. Considering Burt’s psychiatric history, low IQ, brain impairment and drug addiction, there is a real question as to whether he ever possessed the ability to think rationally. There can be no real doubt, however, that whatever decisionmaking sense he possessed abandoned him during trial. Burt suffered from frequent mood swings, he complained of feeling “burned out,” he feared snakes in his cell and reported hearing voices in his head. He became belligerent, and he ingested large doses of psychotropic medication throughout the period between his arrest and sentencing. Something was clearly wrong. Under the law in effect at the time, the trial court had a duty to determine what it was (725 ILCS 5/104 — 11(a), 104 — 21(a) (West 1992); People v. Brandon, 162 Ill. 2d 450, 456 (1994)), but no fitness hearing was ever held. The majority’s efforts to justify that result ring hollow. No matter how artfully the legal precedent is strung together, the fact remains that the capital punishment system failed here as we have seen it fail so often in recent years. It is time to abandon the pretense. Histoiy has moved on. The failure of our present system of capital punishment is documented and indisputable. That is why our court is no longer entrusted to have the final say on when men are put to death. It is why the Governor has declared a moratorium on executions. The issue our court should consider now is what to do next. The court has enacted a comprehensive set of new rules governing the conduct of cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty. For the reasons set forth in my dissenting opinion in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585, 631-36 (2001) (Harrison, C.J., dissenting), I believe that the procedures contained in those rules are indispensable for achieving an accurate determination of innocence or guilt and should be applied to all capital cases now coming before us. Because Burt was tried, convicted and sentenced without the benefit of the new rules, his convictions and death sentence should be vacated, and the cause should be remanded to the circuit court for a new trial. Even if Burt were not entitled to the benefit of the new rules, his sentence of death could not stand. For the reasons set forth in my partial concurrence and partial dissent in People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179 (1998), the Illinois death penalty law is void and unenforceable because it violates the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). Absent the new rules, there is no basis for altering that conclusion. At a minimum, Burt’s sentence of death should therefore be vacated, and he should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment. 720 ILCS 5/9 — l(j) (West 1998). Because he was convicted of murdering more than one victim, the term of imprisonment must be natural life. 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—1 (a)(1)(c)(ii) (West 1998). JUSTICE KILBRIDE, also dissenting: For the reasons set forth in my dissents in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585, 636-40 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), and People v. Simpson, 204 Ill. 2d 536, 581-85 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), I agree with Chief Justice Harrison that defendant’s convictions and sentence should be set aside because the trial proceedings were not conducted in accordance with the new supreme court rules governing capital cases. As I stated in my dissents, the procedures in capital cases prior to this court’s adoption of the new rules were inherently unreliable and did not sufficiently protect a defendant’s constitutional rights. For this reason, the new rules should be applied retroactively to all capital defendants’ direct and post-conviction appeals. The case at hand presents a number of examples of why all capital defendants must have the benefit of the new rules. First, without casting any aspersions upon defendant’s trial attorneys, the two court-appointed attorneys had no prior capital litigation experience. The attorneys readily acknowledged their lack of experience and requested that the trial court relieve them of their appointments. Second, the attorneys also conceded their lack of knowledge of the Illinois statutory provisions providing for fitness hearings for defendants taking psychotropic medications. Third, as noted by Chief Justice Harrison, the defendant unexpectedly pled guilty over the objection of counsel, yet there is no explanation of why counsel could not or did not procure any concessions from the State in return for defendant’s guilty plea, such as an agreement not to seek the death penalty. See People v. Burt, 205 Ill. 2d 28, 41 (2001) (Harrison, C.J., dissenting). Each of these examples is a type of deficiency commonly tolerated under the old system and thoroughly addressed by the new rules. Since defendant was tried, convicted and sentenced to death without the benefit of the new rules, I respectfully dissent.