People v. Wright

• Decision Date: 18 November 1999
• Docket Number: No. 84721.,84721.
• Citation: 189 Ill.2d 1,723 N.E.2d 230,243 Ill.Dec. 198
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Patrick H. WRIGHT, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

723 N.E.2d 230

189 Ill.2d 1

243 Ill.Dec. 198

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Patrick H. WRIGHT, Appellant.

No. 84721.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

November 18, 1999.

Rehearing Denied January 31, 2000.

Alan M. Freedman, Midwest Center for Justice, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for Appellant.

Domenica A. Osterberger, Assistant Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Appellee.

Justice RATHJE delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Patrick Wright, appeals from the trial court's dismissal of his second-amended post-conviction petition. Because defendant was sentenced to death for the underlying murder conviction, defendant appeals directly to this court. See 134 Ill.2d R. 651(a).

BACKGROUND

A jury convicted defendant of the 1983 murder of Carol Specht, the attempted murder of Connie Specht, and related counts of home invasion, residential burglary, armed robbery, and attempted rape. Defendant waived a jury for purposes of sentencing, and the circuit court of Coles County, Honorable Paul Komada presiding, sentenced him to death. This court affirmed defendant's convictions and sentence of death. People v. Wright, 111 Ill.2d 128, 95 Ill.Dec. 787, 490 N.E.2d 640 (1985) (Wright I).

Subsequently, defendant filed a post-conviction petition. The trial court, Judge Komada presiding, denied all post-conviction relief Defendant appealed, and this court affirmed. People v. Wright, 149 Ill.2d 36, 171 Ill.Dec. 424, 594 N.E.2d 276 (1992) (Wright II). Thereafter, defendant filed a "Second Petition for Post-Conviction Relief" and a "Second Amended Petition for Post-Conviction Relief" The second petition and the second-amended petition are the same, except that the amended petition alleges that the first post-conviction proceedings were void.¹ The State moved to dismiss defendant's petitions, and the trial court, Judge Komada presiding, granted the State's motion. Defendant now appeals.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in granting the State's motion because (1) Judge Komada violated defendant's due process rights by ruling on defendant's second post-conviction petition, which alleged that, during defendant's trial and sentencing hearing, Judge Komada was operating under a conflict of interest because he had prosecuted defendant for the armed violence conviction that the State used as impeachment evidence during trial and as an aggravating factor during sentencing; (2) Judge Komada had a conflict of interest during the original proceedings, defendant's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the conflict issue, and defendant's counsel on direct appeal was ineffective for failing to argue that trial counsel was ineffective; (3) the prosecutor had a conflict of interest because she served as defendant's attorney on the case in which Judge Komada had prosecuted defendant, and defendant's counsel on direct appeal was ineffective for failing to raise this issue; (4) defendant's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate, argue, and introduce available evidence that defendant should be found guilty but mentally ill (see 725 ILCS 5/115-4(j) (West 1994)); and (5) defendant's attorney was ineffective for failing to investigate the existence of and not introducing available mitigating evidence of defendant's mental deficiency and his psychological problems.

The State contends that defendant's petition is untimely. Alternatively, the State asserts that, even if the petition is not untimely, the allegations in that petition are waived and barred by res judicata.

TIMELINESS

We first address the State's argument that defendant's second petition is untimely. The trial court entered final judgment on defendant's convictions and sentences on October 31, 1983. This court affirmed defendant's convictions and sentences in October 1985 (Wright I, 111 Ill.2d 128, 95 Ill.Dec. 787, 490 N.E.2d 640), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in February 1987 (Wright v. Illinois, 481 U.S. 1024, 95 L.Ed.2d 519, 107 S.Ct. 1914 (1987)). Defendant filed his initial post-conviction petition in August 1987. In May 1992, this court affirmed the trial court's denial of post-conviction relief (Wright II, 149 Ill.2d 36, 171 Ill.Dec. 424, 594 N.E.2d 276), and, on February 22, 1993, the United States Supreme Court denied defendant's motion to reconsider the denial of his request for certiorari (Wright v. Illinois, 507 U.S. 955, 113 S.Ct. 1372, 122 L.Ed.2d 749 (1993)). Defendant filed his second petition on September 20, 1993.

Section 122-1 of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (725 ILCS 5/122-1 (West 1994)) provides, in pertinent part:

"No proceedings under this Article shall be commenced more than 6 months after the denial of a petition for leave to appeal or the date for filing such a petition if none is filed or issuance of the opinion from the Illinois Supreme Court or 6 months after the date of the order denying certiorari by the United States Supreme Court or the date for filing such a petition if none is filed or 3 years from the date of conviction, whichever is later, unless the petitioner alleges facts showing that the delay was not due to his culpable negligence." 725 ILCS 5/122-1 (West 1994).²

The State asserts that compliance with the time limit in section 122-1 is a jurisdictional prerequisite to maintaining a post-conviction petition. Defendant argues that the time limit is not jurisdictional and that the State has waived its right to argue that defendant's petition is untimely.

Jurisdiction

Relying upon People v. Heirens, 271 Ill.App.3d 392, 207 Ill.Dec. 804, 648 N.E.2d 260 (1995), and People v. Stenson, 296 Ill.App.3d 93, 230 Ill.Dec. 573, 694 N.E.2d 204 (1998), the State argues that the time limit provided in section 122-1 is a jurisdictional prerequisite to maintaining a post-conviction proceeding and that defendant's failure to file timely his petition deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to consider his claims. Defendant does not contend that he filed his petition within the time limit of section 122-1. Instead, he asserts that Heirens was incorrectly decided and that the time limit in section 122-1 is a statute of limitations that the State, by failing to raise the issue in the trial court, has waived.

Both Heirens and Stenson hold that the limitations period found in section 122-1 is a jurisdictional provision that confers subject matter jurisdiction upon the trial court to adjudicate a defendant's post-conviction petition. Stenson, 296 Ill.App.3d at 96,230 Ill.Dec. 573,694 N.E.2d 204; Heirens, 271 Ill.App.3d at 402,207 Ill.Dec. 804,648 N.E.2d 260. In reaching this conclusion, the courts relied upon this court's decision in Fredman Brothers Furniture Co. v. Department of Revenue, 109 Ill.2d 202, 93 Ill.Dec. 360, 486 N.E.2d 893 (1985). In Fredman, this court addressed the difference between statutes of limitations and statutes that both confer jurisdiction on a court and fix a time within which such jurisdiction may be exercised. The court noted that statutes of limitations are procedural in nature and "only fix the time within which the remedy for a particular wrong may be sought." Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 209, 93 Ill.Dec. 360,486 N.E.2d 893. "On the other hand, `statutes which create a substantive right unknown to the common law and in which time is made an inherent element of the right so created, are not statutes of limitation.'" (Emphasis added.) Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 209,93 Ill.Dec. 360,486 N.E.2d 893, quoting Smith v. Toman, 368 Ill. 414, 420, 14 N.E.2d 478 (1938). In such cases, the time limit is "a condition precedent to the plaintiff's right to seek a remedy." Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 209,93 Ill.Dec. 360,486 N.E.2d 893. Time is a condition of the liability itself and not of the remedy alone. Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 209,93 Ill.Dec. 360,486 N.E.2d 893. "Such statutes set forth the requirements for bringing the right to seek a remedy into existence. They do not speak of commencing an action after the right to do so has accrued." Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 210,93 Ill.Dec. 360,486 N.E.2d 893.

A review of the time limitation found in section 122-1 reveals that it has more in common with statutes of limitations than it does with statutes conferring jurisdiction. The plain language of section 122-1 demonstrates that time is not an integral part of the remedy. The mere passage of time does not deprive a defendant of his right to seek a remedy. In fact, if a petitioner can demonstrate that the late filing was not due to his culpable negligence, there is no time limit within which a petitioner must file his post-conviction petition. See People v. Bates, 124 Ill.2d 81, 88, 124 Ill.Dec. 407, 529 N.E.2d 227 (1988); 725 ILCS 5/122-1 (West 1994). A safety valve that allows an unlimited time in which to file a post-conviction petition cannot be reconciled with a concept that makes time a condition of the liability or with a position that time is an inherent element of the right created. As a lack of culpable negligence permits the filing of a post-conviction petition regardless of the length of time that has passed, a lack of culpable negligence—not time—is the inherent element.

We agree with Chief Justice Freeman that the remedy provided by the Post-Conviction Hearing Act is a remedy unknown at common law. This, however, is not dispositive of the question of whether the time period is jurisdictional. In Fredman, this court held that a limitations period is jurisdictional only if it creates a substantive right unknown to the common law, and if time is an inherent element of the right created. Fredman, 109 Ill.2d at 209, 93 Ill.Dec. 360, 486 N.E.2d 893. Clearly both of these provisions must be met. Because time is not an inherent element of the right to bring a post-conviction petition, compliance with section 122-1 cannot be a jurisdictional prerequisite.

This conclusion is supported by the fact that we have previously considered the limitations period to be a statute of...