United States ex rel. Williams v. Morris

• Citation: 447 F. Supp. 95
• Decision Date: 27 January 1978
• Docket Number: 77 C 2184 and 77 C 1937.,No. 77 C 2402,77 C 2402
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Lawrence WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Ernest MORRIS, Warden, Respondent. UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Oscar SOUTHALL, Petitioner, v. Thaddeus E. PINKNEY, Warden, Pontiac Correctional Center, Respondent. UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Emanuel WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. PEOPLE OF the STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondents.
• Court: United States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois)

447 F. Supp. 95

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Lawrence WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Ernest MORRIS, Warden, Respondent.

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Oscar SOUTHALL, Petitioner, v. Thaddeus E. PINKNEY, Warden, Pontiac Correctional Center, Respondent.

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Emanuel WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. PEOPLE OF the STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondents.

Nos. 77 C 2402, 77 C 2184 and 77 C 1937.

United States District Court, N. D. Illinois, E. D.

January 4, 1978.

On Motion to Reconsider January 27, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Lawrence Williams, pro se.

Oscar Southall, pro se.

Emanuel Williams, pro se.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen. of Ill., Melbourne A. Noel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., Patrick J. Calihan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill. (L. Williams and O. Southall cases), Michael B. Weinstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill. (E. Williams case) for respondents.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MARSHALL, District Judge.

In United States ex rel. Baker v. Finkbeiner, 551 F.2d 180 (7th Cir. 1977), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the failure of the state prosecutor and trial judge to advise a state criminal defendant of a mandatory parole term which automatically attached to his sentence created a constitutional defect in his guilty plea and warranted habeas relief. Seizing upon this newly fashioned doctrine, three state prisoners seek writs of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 because their guilty pleas were allegedly tainted by the same omission. In each case, the Illinois Attorney General has moved to dismiss the petitions on the ground that the petitioners have not exhausted their state remedies.

In Baker, the petitioner (the defendant in state court) agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in exchange for the prosecutor's promise that he would recommend a specific sentence of imprisonment. Unbeknownst to the defendant, Illinois law required that a mandatory parole term be added to any term of imprisonment. Before accepting the plea, the trial judge informed the defendant of the statutory range of imprisonment for the pending charges and told the defendant that his sentence would conform to the plea agreement, but failed to mention the mandatory parole term. Neither the prosecutor nor defendant's attorney remedied this omission. Defendant was imprisoned, served his sentence, and was released on parole. After violating parole, he was reimprisoned for an additional term.

In Baker the court held that since the defendant was given a substantially more onerous sentence than he had been promised, his guilty plea had been unfairly induced in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. His guilty plea was involuntary since he lacked a full understanding of the consequences of his action. To remedy this constitutional violation, however, the court did not vacate the guilty plea. Vacating the plea would have permitted the state to reprosecute a defendant who had already performed his part of the bargain by serving his prison sentence. Instead, the court ordered the petitioner released from custody, thereby extinguishing only his undisclosed parole obligations.

Each petitioner here attempts to demonstrate that his case fits within the factual contours of Baker and requires habeas relief. However, all three petitioners admit that they have not invoked any state legal remedies, either by way of direct appeal, coram nobis, state habeas corpus, or post-conviction petitions. Federal courts are precluded from considering habeas petitions by state prisoners unless the applicant has exhausted his state remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b). But state remedies need only be exhausted where they are both adequate and available. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 493, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973). We believe it would be futile for petitioners to seek state court relief on their claims.

Illinois state courts have consistently refused to grant relief to criminal defendants who pleaded guilty prior to May 19, 1975 and who were not advised of the mandatory parole term. On that date, the Illinois Supreme Court overruled an earlier decision and held that Illinois Court Rule 402 required trial judges to admonish defendants who pleaded guilty that a period of mandatory parole attached to their sentences. People v. Wills, 61 Ill.2d 105, 330 N.E.2d 505 (1975). In a supplemental opinion, the court decided that the new requirement would apply only prospectively. 330 N.E.2d at 509. In the present cases, each petitioner pleaded guilty prior to May 19, 1975.¹ Therefore, they reap no benefit from the Wills opinion. The Illinois courts have so held, whether defendants have used direct appeals or habeas or post-conviction petitions.

In cases where defendants have filed direct appeals from their pre-Wills guilty pleas to challenge the trial court's failure to admonish them about the parole provisions, every Illinois Appellate Court has denied relief.² People v. Deckard, 32 Ill.App.3d 497, 336 N.E.2d 614 (1st Dist. 1975); People v. Tate, 37 Ill.App.3d 358, 346 N.E.2d 79 (2d Dist. 1976); People v. Stambor, 33 Ill. App.3d 324, 337 N.E.2d 63 (3d Dist. 1975); People v. Giles, 35 Ill.App.3d 514, 341 N.E.2d 410 (4th Dist. 1976); People v. Bosse, 32 Ill.App.3d 422, 336 N.E.2d 216 (5th Dist. 1975). Those courts have either reasoned that Wills made such admonitions unnecessary, or that such an omission is not enough by itself to warrant reversal. Since its decision rested on a construction of an Illinois court rule, the Illinois Supreme Court had noted that the additional admonition was a "procedural change" which involved "no constitutional issue or standard." 330 N.E.2d at 509. Thus, while the failure to advise a defendant on this issue is one factor to be considered in determining whether a plea of guilty was voluntarily and intelligently made under constitutional standards, that omission alone is not of recognized constitutional dimensions in the Illinois courts. People v. Bosse, supra at 218.

Illinois courts have also denied relief in collateral proceedings to review criminal convictions. One appellate court has squarely held that a trial court's failure to admonish a defendant concerning the mandatory parole term is a nonjurisdictional defect which is not cognizable in a state habeas corpus proceeding. People ex rel. Jenkins v. Department of Corrections, 32 Ill.App.3d 147, 336 N.E.2d 385 (1st Dist. 1975). In addition, two appellate courts have concluded that the absence or incompleteness of a parole admonition in a pre-Wills guilty plea is insufficient to warrant relief under the Illinois Post-Conviction Hearing Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, §§ 122-1 et seq. People v. Miller, 36 Ill.App.3d 943, 344 N.E.2d 760 (1st Dist. 1976) (no admonition); People v. Cox, 44 Ill.App.3d 945, 3 Ill.Dec. 628, 358 N.E.2d 1313 (1st Dist. 1976) (incomplete admonition). The Miller court dismissed the petition without even conducting an evidentiary hearing on the voluntariness of the plea, reasoning that the Wills requirement is inapplicable to guilty pleas predating that decision. The Cox court reviewed the entire record of the plea hearing before holding that defects in the parole admonition did not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation and did not by themselves negate substantial compliance with Rule 402. In a similar case, another Illinois court has echoed this reasoning, finding that "even a substantial or total failure to comply with Supreme Court Rule 402 may not necessitate reversal of a conviction obtained on a plea of guilty." People v. White, 39 Ill.App.3d 770, 350 N.E.2d 556, 558 (3d Dist. 1976). Finally, the statutory writ of error coram nobis is unavailable because more than two years have elapsed since petitioners' guilty pleas were entered and thus such actions would be barred by the two-year statute of limitations. Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 110, § 72(3).

There is only one noticeable crack in this wall of resistance erected by the Illinois courts to petitioners' claims. In People v. Wenger, 42 Ill.App.3d 608, 1 Ill.Dec. 306, 356 N.E.2d 432 (4th Dist. 1976), the trial court improperly admonished the defendant that the maximum sentence that might be imposed was three years, when in fact the statute authorized up to ten years imprisonment. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation. After his probation was revoked, a 32 to 96 month sentence was imposed. In reversing the dismissal of defendant's post-conviction petition, the appellate court noted that although Rule 402 defects are usually not of constitutional magnitude, they can provide a constitutional issue cognizable in a post-conviction proceeding if the defendant alleges that noncompliance with Rule 402 resulted in an involuntary or unintelligent plea. It then held that the sentence was incompatible with notions of fundamental fairness and due process, since it had exceeded the maximum risk to which the defendant had ostensibly been exposed at the time of his plea.

The Wenger theory would support the present petitioners' claims for relief. In both situations, the sentencing risks were understated by the trial judge, and the actual sentence imposed exceeded the stated limits. In addition, both cases involved a two-stage sentencing process. Nevertheless, the facts in Wenger are sufficiently distinguishable from petitioners' situations to lead us to believe the Illinois courts will continue to deny relief for errors in parole admonitions. In Wenger the defendant was misinformed about the maximum term of imprisonment. The trial court's duty to accurately communicate this information clearly existed at the time the plea was entered. Rule 402 required the trial court to inform the defendant of "the minimum and maximum sentence prescribed by law." Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 110A, § 402(a)(2) (1971). In the present cases, however, petitioners received proper disclosures from the trial judge concerning the maximum term of...