People v. HarperPeople v. Harper
delivered the opinion of the court:
Dеfendant, Albert L. Harper, is serving consecutive terms of imprisonment for two separate offenses of burglary (
Construing defendant’s motion to vacate as a postconviction petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (
Because a party can challenge a void sentence at any time, either directly or collaterally, we disagree with the State’s first and second contentions. We do not reach the State’s third contention. We find
I. BACKGROUND
On April 27, 1994, in Harper I, a jury found defendant guilty of burglary (
On June 16, 1994, in Harper II, defendant pleaded guilty to burglary, and the trial court sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment, ordering that the 10-year term run consecutively to the prison terms in Harper I.
Although burglary was a Class 2 felony, the court sentenced him as a Class X offender in both cases, pursuant to sectiоn 5 — 5—3(c)(8) of the Unified Code (
On January 25, 1996, in a consolidated appeal, we upheld the convictions and sentences in Harpers I and II. People v. Harper, Nos. 4-94-0563, 4-94-1040 cons. (January 25, 1996) (unpublished order pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 23).
On November 6, 1996, defendant filed, pro se, a petition for post-conviction relief from the judgments in Harpers I and II. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition as frivolous and patently without merit, and defendant appealed. In his appeal from the dismissal of his рostconviction petition, he argued, inter alia, that the 30-year aggregate maximum of the consecutive sentences in Harpers I and II exceeded the 28-year aggregate maximum allowable under
On April 17, 2001, defendant filed, pro se, a document entitled “Motion to Vacate [a] Void Sentence and for Resentencing,” in which he requested, on the authority of People v. Pullen,
On October 15, 2001, construing defendant’s motion as a post-conviction petition, the State filed a motion to dismiss it on the following grounds: (1) instead of alleging a substantial denial of a constitutional right, he alleged only a violation of a state statute; (2) the present petition was untimely (see
On January 15, 2002, in Harper I, the trial court entered an order еntitled “Judgment Dismissing [the] Request for [Postconviction] Sentencing Relief.” In that order, the court noted that the 20-year term of imprisonment it had imposed in Harper I was “within the statutory [range] for Class X sentencing pursuant to the recidivist provisions of [
On January 16, 2002, in Harper II, the trial court entered an order entitled “Order Denying [the] State’s Motion to Dismiss.” In that order, the court determined its sentence was void:
“[T]he [10-]year sentence in this case is consecutive to the 20[-] year sentence in [Harper I].
The 30[-]year total exceeds the maximum length of consecutive sentences [that] may be imposed on [defendant] fоr the burglary offenses. See [Pullen]. Consequently, the sentence in this case is void.”
Accordingly, the court denied the State’s motion to dismiss in Harper II and set defendant’s “Motion to Vacate [a] Void Sentence and for Resentencing” for hearing on February 8, 2002, “to determine the nature of the relief to be allowed.”
On February 8, 2002, defendant filed a “Motion to Reconsider [the] Judgment Dismissing [His] Request for [Postconviction] Sentencing Relief” in Harper I. He
On February 13, 2002, defendant filed a notice of appeal in Harper I and in that case alone. That is the appeal now before us.
II. ANALYSIS
A. Defendant’s Right To Challenge a Void Sentence “at [A]ny [T]ime”
1. Statutory Violаtion, as Opposed to a Constitutional Issue
The State construes defendant’s “Motion to Vacate [a] Void Sentence and for Resentencing” as a petition for postconviction relief. The Act remedies only substantial deprivations of constitutional rights, not deprivations of statutory rights.
The State also reminds us that in Harper, No. 4-96-1008, we rejected the very argument defendant is making now — that the total period of imprisonment in his consecutive sentences exceeds that which
Defendant responds that the appellate court can correct a void sentence “at any
“If a trial court imposes a sentence greater than that permitted by statute, the excess portion of the sentence is void.” People v. Harvey,
In Arna, 168 Ill. 2d at Ill.
The supreme court held:
“A sentence which does not conform to a statutory requirement is void. [Citations.] Because the order imposing concurrent terms was void, the appellate court had the authority to correct it at any time [citation], and the actions of the appellate court were not barred by our rules which limit the State’s right to appeal and which prohibit the appellate court from increasing a defendant’s sentence on review.” Arna,168 Ill. 2d at 113 ,658 N.E.2d at 448 .
In Harvey,
Instead of discussing in detail every case the State cites, we will choose, from among them, only a few illustrative cases. In
“A careful examination of the lengthy [postconviction] petition filed by the defendant reveals that many of his allegations pertain, not to constitutional rights, but rather to rights conferred by statute. *** [T]he *** Act is limited to those errors which are of constitutional magnitude. A statute does not confer constitutional rights[,] and the greater part of defendant’s petition ignores the distinction between these two categories of rights. [Citation.] *** [T]hose portions of the petition which refer to alleged stаtutory irregularities with reference to his arrest and detention prior to the return of the indictment charging him with larceny and burglary do not present issues of constitutional magnitude, and therefore the trial court was correct in dismissing those allegations.”
In Shaw,
“There is no constitutional requirement that sentences to the penitentiary be indeterminate. *** The right which defendant claims was violated is *** statutory and not constitutional. The *** Act is limited to those errors which are of constitutional magnitude.” Shaw,49 Ill. 2d at 311 ,273 N.E.2d at 817 .
In Thompson,
Actually, we had not “consistently held” that sentences that violated the Unified Code were unassailable in postconviction proceedings. In People v. Rankin,
“In [Arna,168 Ill. 2d at 113 ,658 N.E.2d at 448 ], the supreme court stated that a sentence that does not conform to statutory requirements is void and may be corrected at any time. See also People v. Wade,116 Ill. 2d 1 , 5-6,506 N.E.2d 954 , 955 (1987) (‘[a] void judgment may be attacked at any time, either directly or collaterally’). In People v. Perruquet,181 Ill. App. 3d 660 , 663-64,537 N.E.2d 351 , 353-54 (1989), the court accepted the defendant’s post-conviction petition and directed that an improper extended-term sentence be reduced,holding that the excess portion of the defendant’s sentence was void. Because we conclude that defendant’s extended-term sentence did not conform to statutory requirements, we hold that he did not forfeit this issue and that he properly raised it in this proсeeding under the Act.” Rankin, 297 Ill. App. 3d at 821 ,697 N.E.2d at 1248 .
Arna, Harvey, and Rankin do not purport to change the longstanding rule that only issues of constitutional magnitude are cognizable under the Act. Because of the limiting language of
A court of review has not only the power to correct a void sentence sua sponte, it has a duty to do so. A court should not knowingly tolerate the continued existence of a void sentence. As we held in People v. Childs,
Our decision in Thompson was sound in light of Shaw, but, after Arna and Harvey, we conclude the supreme court would no longer content itself with the analysis in Shaw. We conclude the supreme court would continue to hold, as it has always held, that mere violations of statutory law have no remedy under the Act; but because void sentences can be challenged at any time, either directly or collaterally (Wade,
2. Res Judicata and Waiver
The State further argues that our Rule 23 order in Harper, No. 4— 96 — 1008, is res judicata and defendant has “waived,” or forfeited, his argument by failing to raise it in his postconviction petition in that case. We disagree. Res judicata will not bar the relitigation of a claim if fundamental fairness requires relitigation. Perruquet,
B. No “Aggregate of Consecutive Sentences” in Harper I
Having determined that defendant’s “Motion to Vacate [a] Void Sentence and for Resentencing” is cognizable under
In the present appeal, defendant challenges his sentence in Harper I. The trial court imposed a consecutive sentence in Harper II, not in Harper I. Because the trial court imposed no consecutive sentence at all in Harper I,
If the trial court violated
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.
Affirmed.