Opinion

People v. Brown

  • 103 Ill. App. 3d 306
  • 59 Ill. Dec. 24
  • 431 N.E.2d 43
  • 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1369
Court
Appellate Court of Illinois
Filed
Jan 22, 1982
Status
Published
Author
Nash
On the bench
Van Deusen, Nash
Cited by
10 cases
Authority
More cited than 13.1%

The opinion

JUSTICE NASH, dissenting:

I respectfully dissent having concluded from the record of the sentencing hearing that the trial judge improperly considered the then pending charges in Kane County in imposing sentence.

As noted by the majority, arrests or pending charges will not ordinarily be considered in determining the length of a sentence. (See People v. Fritz (1979), 77 Ill. App. 3d 1, 6 , rev’d on other grounds (1981), 84 Ill. 2d 72 ; People v. Smothers (1979), 70 Ill. App. 3d 589, 591 ; see also People v. Siefke (1981), 97 Ill. App. 3d 14 .) Generally it is presumed that a sentencing judge will disregard information improperly included within a presentence report, but that presumption is rebutted if the record reflects the court did, in fact, consider such evidence. (E.g., People v. Brown (1980), 91 Ill. App. 3d 163 (court made specific reference to evidence); People v. De Groot (1968), 108 Ill. App. 2d 1 (court overruled objection to evidence).) In the present case, the trial judge expressly referred to and reviewed defendant’s conduct in Kane County for which charges were then pending. It cannot, therefore, be presumed that conduct of defendant did not, in part, form a basis for the severe sentences imposed.

I would remand for a new sentencing hearing to be certain defendant was not sentenced in both Du Page and Kane counties for the same conduct. Compare People v. Poll (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 286, 289 .

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.