People v. Wallace
| Decision Date | 23 September 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 39288,39288 |
| Citation | 35 Ill.2d 251,220 N.E.2d 198 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Alexander WALLACE, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Arthur J. O'Donnell, Chicago, for appellant.
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and William R. Ketcham, State's Atty., Geneva (Fred G. Leach, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Barry E. Puklin, Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for appellee.
This is an appeal from the circuit court of Kane County, which denied defendant a new trial requested under the provisions of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1963, chap. 38, par. 122--1 et seq.) by a petition filed subsequent to his conviction of murder based upon a guilty plea upon which defendant was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of 33 to 55 years.
Although defendant was specifically and at length advised by the court and by his counsel as to the possible consequences of a guilty plea, he nevertheless persisted in stating that he freely and voluntarily wished to so plead. He now contends that the guilty plea was not voluntary but was the product of promises of a light sentence by the chief deputy sheriff of Kane County. It is also maintained that the guilty plea was prompted by a written confession signed by defendant, now claimed to have been obtained from him through acts of physical brutality and duress by both Chicago and Kane County authorities. Defendant argues that he was thus deprived of rights secured him by the Illinois and United States constitutions and therefore the conviction must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
On June 17, 1962, the bullet-riddled body of one Herbert Kwate was found in the country near Carpentersville, Illinois. No witnesses to the killing were or have been forthcoming. On June 19, 1962, shortly before midnight, defendant and Gary D'Allessandro, upon receiving information that a Chicago police detective wanted to talk with them, voluntarily proceeded to a Chicago police station to see the detective.
Although no warrant was issued for his arrest, defendant was there held in custody by Chicago authorities and was intermittently interrogated by them. He was from time to time transferred to various Chicago police stations. Defendant, testifying at the post-conviction proceedings, stated that during one of these 'outings', he was handcuffed and placed in a squad car and 'taken for a ride', during which he was questioned about robberies and hit in the stomach at least 15 times. He was then taken back to a police station, placed in a cell with D'Allessandro for a short time and subsequently placed in a 'drunk tank' in the same building. Later, defendant became nauseous and was taken in custody to a hospital where he was examined but made no complaints of mistreatment, physical or otherwise. No definitive treatment was given defendant at the hospital, and he left, in custody of the officers, immediately following his examination.
Defendant was on June 20, at about 4:00 P.M. delivered to sheriff's police from Kane County who, after brief questioning, took him to the Kane County jail at Geneva, Illinois. After intermittent interrogation, defendant on June 23, 1962, confessed to the killing of Herbert Kwate. He was indicted, the public defender appointed to represent him, and the guilty plea was entered on August 6, 1962. Conviction and sentence followed.
At the post-conviction proceedings defendant testified that during the interrogation that brought about the confession, electrical wires were placed against his exposed privates several times and the confession was made only because of such brutal treatment.
Before the court sentenced defendant, a hearing in aggravation and mitigation was held during which the now allegedly coerced confession was placed before the court. During this hearing, defendant made no claims of physical mistreatment or coercion by any of the authorities involved, and, further, expressed his gratitude to the Kane County authorities for what they had done for him. At the post-conviction hearing, however, defendant completely changed his story. He told of the above related brutality by both ...
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