People v. Morreale

• Decision Date: 22 May 1952
• Docket Number: No. 32250,32250
• Citation: People v. Morreale, 107 N.E.2d 721, 412 Ill. 528 (Ill. 1952)
• Parties: PEOPLE v. MORREALE.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 721

107 N.E.2d 721

412 Ill. 528

PEOPLE v.MORREALE.

No. 32250.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

May 22, 1952.

As modified on Denial of Rehearing Sept. 15, 1952.

Charles A. Bellows, of Chicago, for plaintiff in error.

Ivan A. Elliott, Atty. Gen., and John S. Boyle, State's Atty. of Chicago (John T. Gallagher, Rudolph L. Janega, Arthur F. Manning, and William J. McGah, Jr., all of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

DAILY, Chief Justice.

An indictment returned in the criminal court of Cook County on June 17, 1950, charged Leo Morreale, plaintiff in error, with the infamous crime against nature upon the person of an adult female.Upon arraignment, several weeks later, he entered a plea of not guilty, being represented at such proceeding by attorney George Crane.Under circumstances which shall be fully detailed, plaintiff in error withdrew his plea of not guilty on May 17, 1951, entered a plea of guilty and requested probation.His plea was accepted and, after a hearing, probation was denied and plaintiff in error was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of not less than five years and not more than ten years.Through new counsel, plaintiff in error petitioned the court to vacate the judgment and sentence and to permit him to withdraw his plea of guilty and enter a plea of not guilty.Following a detailed hearing the petition was denied and, now, plaintiff in error has sued out this writ of error contending that it was error to refuse permission to change his plea to not guilty.

Recourse to the record shows that when the cause was called for trial on May 17, 1951, attorney Berman, a youthful associate of Crane, appeared and asked for a continuance because Crane was engaged in the trial of another case.At the time, an assistant State's Attorney, who was conducting the prosecution, advised the court that the matter could be disposed of quickly and asked that the case be passed, rather than continued, to enable him to talk to Crane, plaintiff in error's counsel.The court granted a recess during which said assistant State's Attorney and Berman contacted Crane in another courtroom and Crane was asked if he could appear and dispose of the case of his client Morreale.When Crane indicated that it would not then be possible, the assistant State's Attorney urged that Berman be allowed to appear with Morreale and to change the latter's plea from not guilty to guilty.The assistant State's Attorney stated that the State would not oppose probation and that plaintiff in error 'couldn't get hurt' because he had no previous record.Crane acquiesced and instructed Berman to follow the suggested procedure.Berman, in turn, advised plaintiff in error to change his plea to guilty and that he would probably get probation.When plaintiff in error expressed doubts about following such course, he was taken to Crane in the other courtroom who told him not to 'worry about anything; plead guilty and you will get probation.'Thereupon Berman and plaintiff in error returned to the courtroom of the trial judge and moved to withdraw the plea of not guilty and to enter a plea of guilty.The court questioned plaintiff in error as to whether such action was his wish and duly admonished him as to the consequences of entering such a plea.When plaintiff in error persisted, the court granted the motion.

After hearing the testimony of the complaining witness and stipulations as to what a companion of the prosecutrix and an examining physician would testify to, the court found plaintiff in error guilty, ordered that the application for probation be investigated, and continued the cause to May 29, 1951.At the hearing on the latter date, the People did not oppose the application for probation and Crane was present and argued in behalf of his client.Plaintiff in error testified as to his past relationship with the prosecutrix and to the events and circumstances surrounding the night of the crime charged in the indictment.Following this the court denied probation and entered sentence as above described.

In his subsequent petition to vacate the judgment and sentence, and in his testimony at the hearing thereon, plaintiff in error denied that he had committed the crime charged and stated that he had changed his plea only because Crane and Berman had advised him that it would be the best course to follow and that he would get probation.He also indicated that he knew that Crane and Berman had conferred with the assistant State's Attorney before advising him to change his plea.The two attorneys also testified in plaintiff in error's behalf and told of their conversations with the assistant State's Attorney.After the introduction of numerous affidavits and considerable evidence attesting to the good reputation of plaintiff in error for chastity and morals and to the bad reputation of the complaining witness for truth and veracity, the court denied the petition.Its action is assigned as error in this court.

Permission to withdraw a plea of guilty and enter a plea of not guilty is a matter within the discretion of the court, yet it is a judicial discretion which should always be exercised in favor of innocence and liberty and in the light of the preference that is shown by law for a trial upon the merits by a jury.Where it appears that the plea of guilty was entered on a misapprehension of the facts or of the law, or in consequence of misrepresentations by counsel or the State's Attorney or someone else in authority, or the case is one where there is doubt of the guilt of the accused, or where the accused has a defense worthy of consideration by a jury, or where the ends of justice will be better served by submitting the case to a jury, the court should permit the withdrawal of the plea of guilty and allow...