Court Opinion

ID: 9819247
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:21:02.253432+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:38:29.664582
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE RATHJE, dissenting: I disagree with the majority’s holding that a defendant need only file a motion to reconsider sentence and is not required to move to withdraw his guilty plea where the trial court exercised any discretion in imposing the sentence. In support of this holding, the majority maintains that Evans left open the question of the proper procedure to be followed where a defendant enters a partially negotiated guilty plea. I disagree. In Evans, our supreme court spoke in terms of “open guilty pleas,” that is, where “defendants pled guilty without receiving any promise from the State in return.” Evans, 174 Ill. 2d at 332. It is following an open plea that the trial court exercises its discretion and determines the sentence to be imposed. Evans, 174 Ill. 2d at 332. The only other kind of plea referred to in Evans is a “negotiated plea.” I find the language “without receiving any promises from the State in return” to be significant. 174 Ill. 2d at 332. It clearly means that a plea agreement in which any concession is made by the State, regardless of whether it affects the number of years the defendant will serve or not, is a negotiated plea agreement. My reading of Evans evidences no intention on the part of the supreme court to create a third category of guilty pleas. See also People v. Economy, 291 Ill. App. 3d 212 (1997). Thus, until the supreme court holds otherwise, I will continue to follow the views expressed in Rice (291 Ill. App. 3d 9). As was the case in Rice, at the time of the defendant’s guilty plea in this case, Evans had not yet been decided, and therefore neither the trial court nor the defendant in this case had the benefit of Evans’ clarification of the law regarding the procedural requirements related to challenges to sentences imposed following negotiated pleas. Therefore, I would reverse and remand this cause to permit the defendant to file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. See Rice, 291 111. App. 3d 9. I would not reach the issue of whether an extended-term sentence was properly imposed in this case.