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People v. McNett10/14/2005
sentence, but merely converted them from probation conditioned on work release to regular probation.
More important is that, in the modified sentence, defendant received as much work release time as the law permits under any circumstance. The record suggests that a long work release period was important to the State, as it provided conditions under which defendant could receive outpatient alcohol abuse treatment under controlled conditions. In deciding whether the inequality in the exchange of performances was "so great as to make the entire agreement unenforceable," we think it is important to note that nothing the State could have done, including going to trial, could have given it the result it intended. In Hare, by contrast, the defendant at least had the theoretical possibility of escaping imprisonment entirely by being acquitted after a trial.
As a final matter, defendant challenges the court's authority to impose several terms of his probation: the restitution and the conditions concerning his ex-wife. We hold that we need not consider those terms because they have no effect on the outcome of this case. The court terminated his probation. Thus, the individual terms can have no continuing effect on him unless they are necessary terms of the plea agreement whose invalidity has the potential to invalidate the convictions. In other words, the invalidity of a term that is not a necessary part of the agreement can have no effect on what happens to defendant. We do not think that any reasonable interpretation would make the restitution and the conditions concerning defendant's ex-wife essential.
When the reviewing court cannot grant effectual relief to the complaining party, the matter is moot. People v. Roberson, 212 Ill. 2d 430, 435 (2004). The mootness doctrine applies even to a voidness claim. See Roberson, 212 Ill. 2d at 440 (invoking the public interest exception to mootness to review a sentence held to be void). Thus, we do not address these claims.
For the reasons given, we affirm the order of the circuit court of Lake County denying defendant's "Motion to Vacate Illegal Sentence and Void Plea Agreement."
Affirmed.
HUTCHINSON and GILLERAN JOHNSON, JJ., concur.
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