{ "id": 2900308, "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, vs. John Phillip Plecko, Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Plecko", "decision_date": "1970-09-29", "docket_number": "No. 42852", "first_page": "301", "last_page": "305", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "46 Ill. 2d 301" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill.", "id": 8772, "name": "Illinois Supreme Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "22 Ill.2d 146", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2789881 ], "weight": 2, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "149" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/22/0146-01" ] }, { "cite": "23 Ill.2d 216", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2798712 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/23/0216-01" ] }, { "cite": "44 Ill.2d 334", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2891118 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/44/0334-01" ] }, { "cite": "395 U.S. 238", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "U.S.", "case_ids": [ 1771759 ], "weight": 3, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/us/395/0238-01" ] }, { "cite": "23 Ill.2d 131", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2797602 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/23/0131-01" ] }, { "cite": "44 Ill.2d 82", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2888894 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/44/0082-01" ] }, { "cite": "11 Ill.2d 360", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2786129 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/11/0360-01" ] }, { "cite": "39 Ill.2d 545", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2857758 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/39/0545-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 460, "char_count": 7080, "ocr_confidence": 0.799, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.4276806288757968e-07, "percentile": 0.6502469835113939 }, "sha256": "5f7cf9b33f6707bae778143f099e4643ab7e4f827049d66bb43b2fdb88762ee6", "simhash": "1:ddff4e149530c91c", "word_count": 1216 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:56:05.512109+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "The People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, vs. John Phillip Plecko, Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Mr. Justice Crebs\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nDefendant, John Phillip Plecko, entered a plea of guilty in the circuit court of Cook County to the crime of manslaughter and was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of 1 to 20 years. He filed a petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 38, par. 122 \u2014 1 et seq.), the petition was dismissed, and he appeals from this dismissal order pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 651. 43 Ill.2d R. 651.\nIt is first argued that the trial court should have conducted a hearing to determine defendant\u2019s competency to enter the guilty plea. Plecko was indicted for murder and the public defender was appointed to represent him. On December 28, 1964, he was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty. There was apparently a question about his competence to stand trial, and Dr. Philip W. Marg\u00f3les of the University of Chicago Department of Psychology examined him at the request of the public defender. The trial court also ordered an examination by the Behavior Clinic. The report of Dr. Marg\u00f3les dated April 19, 1965, states that Plecko \u201cmanifests a fixed paranoid pattern, which at various times erupts into an acute psychotic paranoid state.\u201d The doctor concluded, however, that defendant \u201cis competent to stand trial and to cooperate with his lawyer.\u201d Dr. William H. Haines, director of the Behavior Clinic, in his report dated May 10, 1965, diagnosed defendant as follows : \u201cSuspected paranoid personality make-up. He knows the nature of the charge and is able to cooperate with his counsel.\u201d On May 25, 1969, defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty.\nIt is well established that the trial court must order a sanity hearing to determine a defendant\u2019s competency to stand trial when facts are brought to the attention of the court which raise a bona fide doubt of defendant\u2019s present sanity (People v. Bortnyak, 39 Ill.2d 545; People v. Burson, 11 Ill.2d 360), and this obligation is not necessarily avoided because a defendant has failed to raise the issue. (People v. Smith, 44 Ill.2d 82.) However, the psychiatric reports of Dr. Marg\u00f3les and Dr. Haines justify the trial court\u2019s conclusion that there was no bona fide doubt of defendant\u2019s competence to stand trial. People v. Bortnyak, 39 Ill.2d 545; see also, Withers v. People, 23 Ill.2d 131.\nDefendant also argues that he was not properly admonished as to the nature of the charge against him. In support of this argument he cites Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 89 S. Ct. 1709. In People v. Williams, 44 Ill.2d 334, we analyzed at length the ruling in Boykin and concluded that the constitutional principles there enunciated are inapplicable where the plea of guilty was entered prior to June 2, 1969.\nPrior to Boykin, we would examine the record and read the court\u2019s explanation required by our Rule 26(3) in a practical and realistic manner. (See People v. Marshall, 23 Ill.2d 216.) For example, in People v. Outten, 22 Ill.2d 146, we said that \u201cIt is obvious that by pleading guilty the defendant is foregoing his right to a trial of any kind, and therefore we have held that the court is not required to refer explicitly to a right of trial by jury.\u201d 22 Ill.2d at 149.\nWith this pre-Boykin approach in mind, we examine what occurred when defendant appeared in court to change his plea:\n\u201cThe Clerk : John Phillip Plecko.\nThe Court : Yes, Mr. Fishman.\nMr. Fishman : Your Honor, I have conferred with the defendant, Mr. John Plecko, and at this time Mr. Plecko wishes to withdraw his plea heretofore entered in the Indictment 64-3753 and enter a plea of guilty to the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter. Is that correct, Mr. Plecko ?\nThe Defendant: Yes, that\u2019s correct.\nMr. Fishman : And you do that free and voluntary?\nThe Defendant: Yes.\nThe Court: Now, Mr. Plecko, you have heard your counsel make that statement, is that correct, sir ?\nThe Defendant: Yes, sir.\u201d\nThe court then went on to explain to defendant the consequences of a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter.\nWe believe that by reading the record in a practical and realistic manner it shows that defendant understood the nature of the charge against him. Section 1x3 \u2014 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1963, ch. 38, par. 113 \u2014 1) provides: \u201cBefore any person is tried for the commission of an offense he shall be called into open court, informed of the charge against him, and called upon to plead thereto.\u201d (Emphasis added.) The record shows that Plecko was arraigned on December 28, 1964, and he pleaded not guilty. The reports of the two doctors who examined him after his arraignment state that he understood the nature of the charge against him. Indeed, Plecko does not allege that he did not understand the nature of the charge, but merely alleges that \u201che was never advised in a meaningful manner of the nature of the charge against him.\u201d The record does not support this assertion.\nIt is also argued that defendant\u2019s confession shows he was either guilty of murder or innocent by reason of insanity and that his constitutional rights were violated when the court accepted his plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Defendant has attached to his post-conviction petition a confession he made to the police on the day of the homicide. The People contend that even if the facts surrounding the homicide indicated murder and not voluntary manslaughter, defendant has not been prejudiced or denied any constitutional right by the trial court allowing him the benefit of pleading guilty to the lesser offense.\nIt is unnecessary for us to decide the issue raised by defendant. In the first place his confession merely gives his version of the homicide which may or may not be accurate. Secondly, the confession simply does not rule out the possibility that the homicide may have been a voluntary manslaughter. He states that when he left home that morning he took his gun. He drove around and finally went to his place of employment. He had a conversation with a Harry Gray. \u201cI don\u2019t recall the conversation and Mr. Gray called me something, but I don\u2019t remember what. He had his hand up in the air and I am pretty sure I shot him, but I don\u2019t know how many times. I remember he was coming at me and I had the gun in my hand, then I shot but I didn\u2019t hear any noise, then I left the building and got in my car.\u201d\nThe judgment of the circuit court of Cook County is accordingly affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.\nMr. Justice Ward took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.", "type": "majority", "author": "Mr. Justice Crebs" } ], "attorneys": [ "Julius Lucius Echeles and Frederick F. Cohn, both of Chicago, appointed by the court, for appellant.", "William J. Scott, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (James B. Zagel, Assistant Attorney General, and Elmer C. Kissane and Joseph Romano, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "(No. 42852.\nThe People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, vs. John Phillip Plecko, Appellant.\nOpinion filed September 29, 1970.\nWard, J., took no part.\nJulius Lucius Echeles and Frederick F. Cohn, both of Chicago, appointed by the court, for appellant.\nWilliam J. Scott, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (James B. Zagel, Assistant Attorney General, and Elmer C. Kissane and Joseph Romano, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People." }, "file_name": "0301-01", "first_page_order": 311, "last_page_order": 315 }