People v. Mitchell

• Decision Date: 22 September 1970
• Docket Number: No. 42469,42469
• Citation: 262 N.E.2d 915,46 Ill.2d 133
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. James MITCHELL, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 915

262 N.E.2d 915

46 Ill.2d 133

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v.James MITCHELL, Appellant.

No. 42469.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 22, 1970.

Steven Helfer, Rochelle, appointed by the court, for appellant.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and John B. Roe, State's Atty., Oregon (Fred G. Leach, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel), for the People.

CREBS, Justice.

The defendant, James Mitchell, has appealed from the order of the circuit court of Ogle County denying his post-conviction petition in which he sought to have his previous plea of guilty to forgery withdrawn so that he might stand trial on the indictment.At his post-conviction hearing he claimed, among other things, that he was deprived of his liberty without due process of law in that he was induced to change his plea of not guilty to guilty by an unfulfilled promise of the prosecutor to recommend probation; that instead he received a sentence of not less than three nor more than seven years in the penitentiary.

The State admits that it promised to recommend probation, but contends that defendant's constitutional rights were not violated because defendant admitted knowing that such a recommendation would not be binding on the court and because in the time between the change of plea and sentencing a new State's Attorney had taken office and he had no knowledge of the agreement to make such a recommendation.Apparently, defendant had been released from custody pending an investigation and report of the probation officer and then did not appear for sentencing until several months later.

The identical question involved here has been before this court on a number of occasions.In McKeag v. People, 7 Ill.2d 586, 131 N.E.2d 517, we held that where a plea of guilty was induced by representations that a recommendation as to sentence would be made and these representations were not carried out defendant is entitled to a new trial, and it is of no consequence that a recommendation, if made, would not have been binding on the court imposing sentence, for defendant might well have thought the court imposing sentence would have given some consideration to the recommendation.In People v. Washington, 38 Ill.2d 446, 232 N.E.2d 738, we stated that a prosecutor's unfulfilled promise of a reduced sentence, or a misrepresentation by the trial judge as to sentence to be imposed, invalidates a guilty plea, and a conviction based upon such a plea is open to collateral attack....