 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
People v. Quinones11/10/2005
the court's comments at the sentencing hearing and the ultimate sentence imposed, the court clearly had no intention of sentencing defendant to the minimum sentence." Wilkins, 343 Ill. App. 3d at 150.
In this case, during defendant's sentencing hearing, the State noted that defendant had been convicted of two counts of aggravated UUW and that the offense of aggravated UUW is a Class 4 felony that may be punished by between one and three years in prison. After indicating that it had considered the parties' arguments in aggravation and mitigation, the trial court stated, " n [aggravated UUW] Counts 3 and 4 which are Class 3 felonies, your sentence is three years Illinois Department of Corrections." The mittimus, which was thereafter signed by the trial court, also indicated that aggravated UUW was a Class 4 felony. Here, as in Wilkins, the trial court did not indicate that it wished to sentence defendant to the minimum or maximum sentence available. The three-year sentence was not the minimum nor the maximum prescribed for a Class 3 felony and was, in fact, within the range prescribed for a Class 4 felony. Moreover, the record indicates that the court was notified that aggravated UUW was a Class 4 felony both by the State and the mittimus. In sum, there is simply no indication on the record that the trial court "relied on the mistaken belief or used the mistaken belief as a reference point in fashioning the sentence." Hill, 294 Ill. App. 3d at 970. Accordingly, the trial court's misstatement, that aggravated UUW was a Class 3 felony, did not arguably influence its sentencing decision and we refuse to vacate defendant's sentence on this ground.
Next, defendant contends that, because he was prejudiced by inadequate Rule 605(a) (Official Reports Advance Sheet No. 21 (October 17, 2001), R. 605(a), eff. October 1, 2001) admonishments during his sentencing hearing, his case should be remanded to the trial court with instructions that it completely admonish defendant.
Rule 605(a) requires that, at the time of sentencing, a court admonish a defendant who has been found guilty following a trial that in order to preserve his right to appeal, he must file notice of appeal within 30 days of his sentence, that if the defendant wishes to challenge his sentence prior to taking appeal, he must file a motion to reconsider his sentence within 30 days, that any sentencing issue not raised in the motion to reconsider will be waived on appeal and that in order to preserve his right to appeal the defendant must file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the disposition of his motion to reconsider. Official Reports Advance Sheet No. 21 (October 17, 2001), R. 605(a), eff. October 1, 2001.
Our supreme court recently addressed the issue of incomplete Rule 605(a) admonishments in People v. Henderson, No. 98887 (August 18, 2005). The court held that "where a defendant is given incomplete Rule 605(a) admonishments regarding the preservation of sentencing issues for appeal, remand is required only where there has been prejudice or a denial of real justice as a result of the inadequate admonishment." Henderson, slip op. at 13. The court further held that, as in the case before it, "where no sentencing issues were raised on appeal, defendant neither prejudiced nor denied real justice." Henderson, slip op. at 17. However, the court noted:
"If defendant had presented actual sentencing challenges in his appeal, the appellate court would at least have been alerted to the existence of these issues. The court then could have taken whatever actions it deemed appropriate, including hearing the challenges itself or remanding them to the trial court." (Emphasis in original.) Henderson, slip op. at
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Illinois DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|