People v. Brown, 67 N.E.3d 526

Anthony S. Brown pleaded guilty pursuant to a negotiated plea to being an armed habitual criminal and received an 18-year sentence; a home-invasion-with-firearm charge was nol-prossed.
Brown later filed an amended postconviction petition claiming plea counsel incorrectly told him he would be eligible to serve 50% of his sentence (day-for-day good-conduct credit) rather than the statutorily required 85%.
Brown signed an affidavit stating he accepted the plea in reliance on counsel’s advice and would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about the 85% requirement.
The State moved to dismiss at second stage; the trial court granted dismissal, concluding Brown failed to show prejudice from the inaccurate advice.
On appeal, the Fourth District reviewed de novo whether Brown made a substantial showing of a constitutional violation and focused on the applicable prejudice standard for ineffective-assistance claims challenging guilty pleas.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Brown made a substantial showing of ineffective assistance of counsel for being misinformed about good-conduct credit	State: dismissal proper; no prejudice shown under controlling precedent	Brown: counsel’s erroneous advice about good-conduct credit caused him to accept the plea and entitled him to an evidentiary hearing	Court: affirmed dismissal — Brown failed to show Strickland prejudice because he did not allege innocence or identify a plausible trial defense
Whether an allegation that, but for counsel’s erroneous collateral-advice, defendant would have gone to trial is alone sufficient to show prejudice	State: insufficient without more	Brown: his affidavit that he would not have pleaded is sufficient (relies on Stewart/Kitchell)	Court: rejects Stewart/Kitchell approach; follows Rissley requiring additional allegations (innocence or plausible defense) to show prejudice

People v. Rissley, 206 Ill. 2d 403 (Ill. 2003) (supreme court requires Strickland prejudice showing for guilty-plea challenges; mere assertion that defendant would have gone to trial is insufficient without claim of innocence or plausible defense)
People v. Stewart, 381 Ill. App. 3d 200 (Ill. App. Ct. 2008) (held erroneous advice about good-conduct credit plus reliance may warrant evidentiary hearing)
People v. Pendleton, 223 Ill. 2d 458 (Ill. 2006) (standards for review of second-stage postconviction dismissals)
People v. Coleman, 183 Ill. 2d 366 (Ill. 1998) (postconviction petitions are liberally construed at pleading stages)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (established two-pronged standard for ineffective assistance: deficient performance and resulting prejudice)