People v. Arbuckle

• Decision Date: 27 March 1969
• Docket Number: No. 41303,41303
• Citation: 42 Ill.2d 177,246 N.E.2d 240
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Donald ARBUCKLE, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 240

246 N.E.2d 240

42 Ill.2d 177

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Donald ARBUCKLE, Appellant.

No. 41303.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

March 27, 1969.

Reno, Zahm, Folgate & Skolrood, Rockford (Angus S. More, Jr., Rockford, of counsel), for appellant.

William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and William R. Nash, State's Atty., Rockford (Fred G. Leach, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John C. Tower, Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for appellee.

SOLFISBURG, Chief Justice.

Defendant Donald Arbuckle, age 35, was indicted on January 14, 1958, for statutory rape, allegedly committed on December 9, 1957, on a nine-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, but during the trial he changed his plea to guilty and waived a jury trial. On February 21, 1958, after a hearing in mitigation and aggravation, at which defendant and a psychiatrist testified respecting defendant's life history, his probabilities for rehabilitation, and his prior convictions for indecent liberties with a minor in 1950 and for burglary in 1944, the circuit court of Winnebago County sentenced defendant to life imprisonment.

In July, 1959, defenant filed his petition for relief under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1959, ch. 38, par. 826,) which the circuit court denied on September 17, 1959, and defendant has appealed to this court.

The issue before us is whether defendant's post-conviction petition presents a substantial showing of a denial of constitutional rights to entitle him to an evidentiary hearing under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. Ill.Rev.Stat.1967, ch. 38, par. 122--1 et seq.

Defendant's petition alleges multitudinous violations of constitutional rights and asserts numerous propositions of law. It charges that the law enforcement officials held defendant incommunicado 33 days (another paragraph alleges 20 days) before he was brought to a magistrate for arraignment; that he was not allowed to telephone his family; that he was beaten; that he was questioned continuously; that he was denied counsel before arraignment and inadequately represented by counsel; that he was induced by his counsel to change his plea to 'guilty' on the representation that he would receive a light sentence; that the court lacked jurisdiction under a faulty indictment; that he was denied the right to a speedy trial, and was subjected to cruel and inhuman punishment.

The Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1967, ch. 38, par. 122--2) requires that a petition be supported by 'affidavits, records, records, or other evidence supporting its allegations or shall state why the same are not attached.' The cases repeatedly state that an evidentiary hearing under the Act should be granted only if defendant's post-conviction petition makes a 'substantial showing of a violation of constitutional rights, and allegations which merely amount to conclusions are not sufficient to require a post-conviction hearing.' People v. Knight, 38 Ill.2d 373, 232 N.E.2d 292, 293; People v. Evans, 37 Ill.2d 27, 30, 224 N.E.2d 778; People v. Ashley, 34 Ill.2d 402, 411, 216 N.E.2d 126.

A post-conviction hearing has been allowed even in the absence of supporting affidavits where petitioner's allegations were undisputed, and the petition stated why affidavits were not attached. People v. Washington, 38 Ill.2d 446, 449, 232 N.E.2d 738.

Here the petition was not only without supporting affidavits or excuse, but the record itself disputes the allegations in the petition. Defendant's letter, written from the Menard Prison to the police chief of Rockford on March 15, 1959, requesting 'certified copies of the bench warrant and the information pertaining to the interrogating process and proceedings,' manifested an effort to secure information. However, it could neither excuse nor account for the absence of any affidavits or the complete lack of specificity in the allegations of defendant's petition.

Defendant's allegations of being held incommunicado for 33 days could have been corroborated by affidavits from members of his family, since the record showed he lived with them. Defendant's allegations of beatings, prolonged questioning and other mistreatment by law enforcement officers in no way particularizes the time, place, or persons involved. Moreover, in view of the vigorous defense conducted by defendant's counsel in this case, had such abusive conduct occurred, there would have been some reference to it by counsel in the record. Yet the record is devoid of any such corroborating facts.

The record shows, furthermore, that it was the overwhelming evidence against defendant, and not any mistreatment by law enforcement officals, which prompted him to change his plea from 'not guilty' to 'guilty.' The arresting officers testified they found defendant in his locked car in the garage with the complaining witness, a nine-year-old girl, who had been reported missing. The girl testified to defendant's repeated acts of carnal knowledge of her and his acts of sexual perversion. She identified photographs taken by defendant during the course of such acts, which photographs were found in the dresser drawer in defendant's house.

Since defendant's request to change his plea to guilty came directly after the girl's testimony, and defendant had made no admissions or confessions, it is our judgment that this record shows beyond a...