{ "id": 256291, "name": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondent-Appellee, v. ALLEN ROBINSON, Petitioner-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Robinson", "decision_date": "2001-09-07", "docket_number": "No. 2 \u2014 00\u20140197", "first_page": "553", "last_page": "557", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "324 Ill. App. 3d 553" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "45 Ill. 2d 94", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2896531 ], "weight": 4, "year": 1970, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "95" }, { "page": "95" }, { "page": "96" }, { "page": "96" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/45/0094-01" ] }, { "cite": "186 Ill. 2d 55", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 243864 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "60" }, { "page": "59-60" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/186/0055-01" ] }, { "cite": "187 Ill. 2d 406", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 1131043 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "410" }, { "page": "417" }, { "page": "415" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/187/0406-01" ] }, { "cite": "305 Ill. App. 3d 333", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 1208061 ], "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "336" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/305/0333-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 535, "char_count": 10650, "ocr_confidence": 0.779, "pagerank": { "raw": 7.974261627908348e-08, "percentile": 0.463301721451714 }, "sha256": "1f639a803ce74655faeb3af749655b07a1c5427c3ea09318ca947faf72ce3eb5", "simhash": "1:abaa488b5344f5f4", "word_count": 1633 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:56:29.143572+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondent-Appellee, v. ALLEN ROBINSON, Petitioner-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "PRESIDING JUSTICE HUTCHINSON\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nOn May 24, 1995, petitioner, Allen Robinson, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to first-degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9 \u2014 1(a)(1) (West 1994)), and he was sentenced to 40 years\u2019 imprisonment. Petitioner appealed his sentence to this court, arguing that his sentence was excessive. This court affirmed. See People v. Robinson, No. 2 \u2014 97\u20140309 (1998) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). Petitioner filed an untimely pro se postconviction petition claiming, among other things, that his plea was not made knowingly and intelligently. The trial court found that the petition was neither frivolous nor patently without merit and appointed counsel to represent petitioner. The State moved to dismiss, and petitioner\u2019s postconviction attorney did not oppose the motion. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss, and petitioner timely appealed to this court. Petitioner\u2019s postconviction appellate counsel moved to withdraw, and this court denied the motion. Petitioner now argues that his postconviction trial counsel did not provide him reasonable representation. Petitioner also claims that the trial court erred when it dismissed his petition because the record revealed that his severe mental disabilities prevented him from filing a timely petition. We reverse and remand with directions.\nThe record is riddled with information concerning petitioner\u2019s severe mental disabilities. The record reveals that petitioner has suffered from debilitating mental problems for most, if not all, of his life. For example, when petitioner was 12 years old, he could not count to 12, and he did not know how many pennies were needed to equal the worth of a nickel. Petitioner could not describe the similarities between a wheel and a ball, did not know what to do if he saw smoke coming from a neighbor\u2019s house, and did not know that he needed to look both ways before crossing the street. At 14 years old, petitioner was still wetting the bed.\nIn the 1980s, petitioner was given an intelligence test, and the test revealed that petitioner had a full-scale IQ of 40. Further tests revealed that 9,997 out of 10,000 adults could read and work math problems better than petitioner. Petitioner was awarded social security benefits when the Social Security Administration found that petitioner was functionally and vocationally unqualified for any type of employment. Given this background, it is not surprising to discover that psychologists evaluated petitioner, who is also illiterate, as functioning at the level of an eight-year-old. Psychologists also noted that \u201c[i]t was apparent that [petitioner] confuses concepts such as before and after. When [petitioner was] asked which school he attended after [he was expelled from one school], he responded with [the name of] a prior school.\u201d\nBefore petitioner pleaded guilty, a fitness hearing was held. At the first fitness hearing, petitioner was found unfit to stand trial. In making this determination, the trial court noted that during the hearing petitioner sat in a catatonic-like state in excess of one hour. The court considered whether petitioner was feigning any type of mental disorder, and the court found that petitioner\u2019s actions were genuine.\nAt the hearing on the State\u2019s motion to dismiss petitioner\u2019s pro se ,postconviction petition, petitioner\u2019s postconviction counsel filed his certificate of compliance with Supreme Court Rule 651(c) (134 Ill. 2d R. 651(c)). The trial court then asked whether petitioner was present. Petitioner\u2019s postconviction counsel, in explaining petitioner\u2019s absence, advised the trial court as follows:\n\u201cI have specifically requested of [petitioner] to provide me with any information or allegation regarding why [the petition] was filed later than 3 years after the date of conviction, specifically quoting to [petitioner] the statutory provision that the Statute of Limitation can be tolled upon the showing that the filing was not due to [petitioner\u2019s] culpable negligence. [Petitioner] has repeatedly informed me that he believes the [p]etition was timely filed, without any explanation as to the timeliness of the filing.\u201d\nThe court specifically asked petitioner\u2019s postconviction counsel if he had any facts that would show that petitioner\u2019s delay in filing his petition was due to something other than petitioner\u2019s own culpable negligence. Petitioner\u2019s attorney said \u201cI do not, Your Honor. I have specifically sent letters to [petitioner] requesting information in that regard from him.\u201d The trial court granted the State\u2019s motion to dismiss, and petitioner appealed. On appeal, this court denied petitioner\u2019s postconviction appellate counsel\u2019s motion to withdraw, and this appeal followed.\nThe question with which we are presented is whether a petitioner in a postconviction cause can be found culpably negligent for failing to file a timely petition when the petitioner is severely mentally challenged. A necessary corollary to this inquiry is whether the petitioner\u2019s postconviction counsel acted unreasonably when he failed to advise the trial court about petitioner\u2019s mental condition and never advanced the petitioner\u2019s mental inabilities as the reason for the late filing of the petition.\nel Petitioner first claims that the trial court should have reviewed the record before it granted the State\u2019s motion to dismiss petitioner\u2019s postconviction petition. Petitioner claims that, if the trial court had examined the record, the court would have understood that petitioner\u2019s mental condition may have prevented petitioner from fifing a timely postconviction petition. We conclude that the trial court is under no such obligation to search the record for a basis upon which to find an excuse for the late fifing of a petitioner\u2019s postconviction petition. In reaching this conclusion, we note that the petitioner bears the burden of establishing that his delay in filing a postconviction petition was not the result of his own culpable negligence. See People v. Van Hee, 305 Ill. App. 3d 333, 336 (1999).\n\u20222 Petitioner next argues that his postconviction trial counsel did not provide him reasonable assistance. The right to counsel in post-conviction proceedings is entirely statutory. See 725 ILCS 5/122 \u2014 4 (West 2000). Thus, postconviction petitioners are entitled to only the level of assistance that is provided for in the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (the Act) (725 ILCS 5/122 \u2014 1 et seq. (West 2000)). People v. Turner, 187 Ill. 2d 406, 410 (1999). The Act requires postconviction counsel to provide \u201creasonable assistance\u201d to a petitioner. People v. Williams, 186 Ill. 2d 55, 60 (1999). In that regard, Supreme Court Rule 651(c) delineates the specific duties that postconviction counsel should complete when representing a petitioner. See 134 Ill. 2d R. 651(c). Rule 651(c) requires postconviction counsel to (1) consult with the petitioner either by mail or in person and ascertain upon what basis the petitioner claims a constitutional deprivation, (2) examine the record of the trial court proceedings, and (3) make any necessary amendments to the petitioner\u2019s pro se postconviction petition. 134 Ill. 2d R. 651(c). The dismissal of a postconviction petition without an evidentiary hearing is reviewed de nova. Williams, 186 Ill. 2d at 59-60.\nIn People v. Montgomery, 45 Ill. 2d 94, 95 (1970), the petitioner argued that his delay in filing his postconviction petition was due to the petitioner\u2019s mental illness. In support of this contention, the petitioner attached to his petition reports that various psychiatrists wrote regarding the petitioner\u2019s mental condition while incarcerated. Montgomery, 45 Ill. 2d at 95. The trial court found that the petitioner\u2019s mental condition did not excuse the petitioner\u2019s delay in filing the petition. Nevertheless, the trial court examined the allegations advanced in the petitioner\u2019s petition and dismissed the petition on the merits. Our supreme court affirmed, noting that the petitioner\u2019s mental condition did not suggest that the delay in filing the petition was due to something other than the petitioner\u2019s own culpable negligence. Montgomery, 45 Ill. 2d at 96. More specifically, the court noted that \u201c[t]he [psychiatric] reports generally indicate a condition of mental disturbance, but it does not appear that [petitioner] was incapable of exercising reasonable diligence in his pursuit of relief.\u201d Montgomery, 45 Ill. 2d at 96.\n\u20223 Here, petitioner\u2019s postconviction trial counsel never argued that petitioner\u2019s severe mental condition perhaps excused the late filing of petitioner\u2019s postconviction petition. In contrast to Montgomery, it is possible that here petitioner\u2019s severe mental problems, which arose well before petitioner was incarcerated and which are alluded to at various times throughout the record, could have prevented petitioner from filing his petition on time. This is particularly probable when one considers the fact that petitioner confused the concepts of before and after. The record revealed that petitioner\u2019s postconviction trial counsel attempted to explain to petitioner why the petition was not filed timely, and the attorney read the relevant portions of the statute to petitioner. Despite the attorney\u2019s efforts to explain the statute, petitioner insisted that the petition was filed timely. Although we express no opinion on the success of this argument in the trial court (see Turner, 187 Ill. 2d at 417), we determine that petitioner\u2019s post-conviction trial counsel should have, at a minimum, advised the trial court that petitioner\u2019s mental condition may have caused petitioner to file the petition late. Postconviction trial counsel\u2019s failure and omission in this regard demonstrated that counsel provided no representation and merely represented petitioner in name only. See Turner, 187 Ill. 2d at 415.\nFor these reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Winnebago County that dismissed petitioner\u2019s postconviction petition is reversed. This cause is remanded so that petitioner may answer the State\u2019s motion to dismiss with the assistance of counsel.\nReversed and remanded with directions.\nBOWMAN and BYRNE, JJ., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "PRESIDING JUSTICE HUTCHINSON" } ], "attorneys": [ "G. Joseph Weller, of State Appellate Defender\u2019s Office, of Elgin, and Deborah L. Mahoney, of Chicago, for appellant.", "Paul A. Logli, State\u2019s Attorney, of Rockford (Martin P Moltz, of State\u2019s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor\u2019s Office, of counsel), and Catherine A. Voigt, of Glen Ellyn, for the People." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondent-Appellee, v. ALLEN ROBINSON, Petitioner-Appellant.\nSecond District\nNo. 2 \u2014 00\u20140197\nOpinion filed September 7, 2001.\nG. Joseph Weller, of State Appellate Defender\u2019s Office, of Elgin, and Deborah L. Mahoney, of Chicago, for appellant.\nPaul A. Logli, State\u2019s Attorney, of Rockford (Martin P Moltz, of State\u2019s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor\u2019s Office, of counsel), and Catherine A. Voigt, of Glen Ellyn, for the People." }, "file_name": "0553-01", "first_page_order": 571, "last_page_order": 575 }