Court Opinion

ID: 9454467
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:47:28.792826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:07.897765
License: Public Domain

KERNER, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result reached by my brethren.
The federal courts are being innundated by an ever-increasing number of habeas corpus and related petitions under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 and 2255. I feel that if more careful examination were made of each case on all phases of its direct appeal, fewer corrections of error would be needed in the post conviction review process. The assistance of competent counsel is essential to the full examination of a conviction so as to raise all possible appealable errors during the direct appeal.
Illinois provides for appointed counsel for indigent defendants bbth at trial and for the first appeal, whether to the Illinois Appellate Court or the Illinois Supreme Court. Since the first appeal is a matter of right, such appointment is required by Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 83 S.Ct. 814, 9 L.Ed.2d 811 (1963). However, if the first appeal is to the Illinois Appellate Court, counsel is not required to be appointed to prosecute an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court may be a matter of right under Rule 317 or a matter of discretion under Rule 315. I regard the prosecution of this appeal as a “crucial stage” in the criminal process which requires the appointment of counsel. McConnell v. Rhay, 393 U.S. 2, 89 S.Ct. 32, 21 L.Ed.2d 2 (1968). This is especially so since the absence of the advice of counsel may cause the prisoner, unlearned in the law, to waive constitutional errors by failing to properly raise them in a petition for review under Rule 317. In fact, the probability is that he will not even recognize such errors.
Also, I agree with the petitioner that it is beyond reason to expect the average layman-prisoner to make a showing as to why the Illinois Supreme Court should accept an appeal on the basis of the general importance of the decision below, much less to show a conflict between Illinois Appellate Court Districts, under *762Rule 315. However, such issues can and should be raised by counsel in the briefs before the Appellate Court. Thus, whether or not they are dealt with by the opinion of that court, they will usually be part of the record before the Illinois Supreme Court for its consideration even on a prisoner’s pro se petition for review. I feel that we are justified in assuming that the Illinois Supreme Court will conscientiously review the record and consider the arguments raised in the Appellate Court briefs.
I feel my brethren have read Douglas too narrowly. Since new constitutional error may arise in the Appellate Court, from which an appeal arises as a matter of right, I feel that a further appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court would merely be another portion of the “one and only appeal an indigent has as of right” under Douglas. Id. at 357, 83 S.Ct. at 816.
As to the institutional difficulties involved in implementing such a decision, having been Governor of Illinois when the 'Gideon and Douglas decisions were rendered and having dealt with the budgetary and manpower problems involved, I, perhaps more then my brethren, am well aware of the practical problems in this area. Yet, I am unwilling to sacrifice a major constitutional right solely because its implementation may be difficult and expensive.
My concurrence in the result is based on my belief that prisoner-petitioners in Illinois are not prejudiced by the failure to supply counsel here due to the existence of Illinois’ post-conviction hearing procedures. As noted by the majority, it has been held that counsel must be appointed for indigents to aid in the preparation and presentation of their first post-conviction petitions. It is my understanding that the review afforded by this procedure is sufficient to review any significant and meritorious claims of constitutional error in any of the prior proceedings. Until we are shown a case in which this procedure is inadequate or unable to review such constitutional questions which could have been presented in an appeal of right under Rule 317, I will regard the procedure as a sufficient substitute for the appointment of counsel to assist in petitions for review under Rule 317.