People v. Satterwhite

• Decision Date: 30 June 1969
• Docket Number: Gen. No. 49695
• Citation: People v. Satterwhite, 251 N.E.2d 297, 112 Ill.App.2d 461 (Ill. App. 1969)
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas SATTERWHITE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 297

251 N.E.2d 297

112 Ill.App.2d 461

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas SATTERWHITE, Defendant-Appellant.

Gen. No. 49695.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

June 30, 1969.

Thomas Satterwhite, pro se.

John J. Stamos, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago, for appellee. Elmer C. Kissane, Robert B. Rosen, Chicago, of counsel.

ADESKO, Presiding Justice.

After a bench trial appellant was found guilty of the unlawful sale of narcotic drugs. On January 23, 1964, after a hearing in aggravation and mitigation, the trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment. His post conviction petition was dismissed, whereupon defendant appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. On September 29, 1967, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. People v. Satterwhite, 38 Ill.2d 138, 230 N.E.2d 206 (1967).

Appellant now presents a pro se appeal, which was dismissed previously on his own motion then subsequently reinstated upon the sole issue that error occurred when the trial court sentenced him after the prosecutor recited orally the appellant's past record of convictions rather than filing a written statement thereof. Ill.Rev.Stat.1963, Ch. 38, Sec. 22--43, provides in relevant parts:

'* * * After a plea or verdict or finding of guilty and before sentence is imposed, or after sentence is imposed and before the defendant has received his final and unconditional release and discharge from such sentence, the prosecutor may file with the court a written statement concerning any former conviction of a subsequent offense rendered against the defendant. The court then shall cause the defendant to be brought before it; shall inform him of the allegations of the statement so filed, and of his right to a hearing before the court on the issue of such former conviction of a subsequent offense and of his right to counsel at such hearing; and unless the defendant admits such conviction, the court shall hear and determine such issue, and shall make a written finding thereon * * *'

Appellant contends that the prosecutor Must file a written statement setting out the prior convictions relying on his interpretation of the statute and the decision in People v. Thompson, 36 Ill.2d 478, 224 N.E.2d 264 (1967). The Thompson case does not involve the question of subsequent offender and the sentence was within the statutory range prescribed for first offenders.

After the guilty finding in the instant case, the prosecutor read into the record a list of the appellant's prior convictions and asked...