Court Opinion

ID: 9740580
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:37:53.60625+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:18.947037
License: Public Domain

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE JONES, dissenting: - Probation for treatment under the Dangerous Drug Abuse Act is not a “substantial right”; it is not a right at all. It is a matter that lies within the discretion of the trial court (People v. Robinson, 12 Ill.App.3d 291, 297 N.E.2d 621; People v. Dill, 23 Ill.App.3d 503, 319 N.E.2d 240; People v. Edwards, 29 Ill.App.3d 625, 331 N.E.2d 342), and, beyond that, a matter for election by the defendant (Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 91%, § 120.10). If a trial court can confer or withhold probation for drug treatment as a matter of discretion and there must also be an affirmative election by defendant to accept the treatment program that accompanies the probation, if it be granted, the failure to consider such probation cannot, by definition, be a “substantial right.” Nevertheless, the majority have so designated it and, despite the fact that the matter was not raised with the trial court or on appeal, have declared it to be “plain error.” I disagree and dissent.