{
  "id": 2765633,
  "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Respondent-Appellee, v. Edward Lee Lyons, Petitioner-Appellant",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Lyons",
  "decision_date": "1972-11-16",
  "docket_number": "No. 56819",
  "first_page": "647",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T14:39:49.359959+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "The People of the State of Illinois, Respondent-Appellee, v. Edward Lee Lyons, Petitioner-Appellant."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. JUSTICE DEMPSEY\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nIn April 1969 Edward Lyons pleaded guilty to three charges of armed robbery and one of attempted armed robbery. He was sentenced to five to eight years in the penitentiary. A notice of appeal was filed but the public defender, appointed to represent him, was granted leave to withdraw on the ground that the appeal would have been frivolous. People v. Lyons (1970), 121 Ill.App.2d 311, 257 N.E.2d 506.\nLyons filed a petition seeking post-conviction relief, alleging that he agreed to waive his right to a jury trial and to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, in return for a sentence of not less than two nor more than three years. The State\u2019s motion to dismiss the petition was denied. At a subsequent hearing upon the merits of the petition, Lyons testified that his attorney Stanton Bloom, an assistant public defender, induced his plea of guilty by misrepresenting the sentence he would receive. His testimony was corroborated by Donald Huggins, a co-defendant. Bloom denied making any false representation. The trial judge, who had presided at Lyons\u2019 trial and accepted his guilty plea, found that he failed to prove his case.\nBefore the commencement of the hearing, the trial judge, upon learning that Bloom would be a witness, stated that Bloom had served in his courtroom for several months and suggested that the case be transferred to another judge. Lyons now complains that this was not done. He asserts that the judge had a preconceived opinion concerning Bloom\u2019s credibility, thus denying him due process of law.\nPrior to ruling upon the State\u2019s motion to dismiss the petition, the judge inquired whether he was not to take notice of the fact that Bloom entered the smallest number of guilty pleas \u201cof any Public Defender in this building.\u201d The assistant State\u2019s Attorney answered, \u201cyou are,\u201d and Lyons\u2019 counsel stated, \u201cI think you will.\u201d The judge then continued:\n\u201cBut if I am to put my blinders on and overlook what I know insofar as Mr. Bloom is concerned, then I think we should all understand each other. Because in evaluating this I can\u2019t disregard that, unless you people tell me you can\u2019t think about that, in which case I would have to send it to another judge.\u201d\nLyons\u2019 attorney replied, \u201cI understand that,\u201d and offered no objection to the judge hearing the case.\nIn People v. Wilson (1967), 37 Ill.2d 617, 230 N.E.2d 194, the defendant filed a post-conviction petition which was assigned to the judge who had accepted his guilty plea, and the petitioner moved for a change of venue. On appeal it was held that although the right to a change of venue is not absolute in post-conviction proceedings, a trial judge should recuse himself if it appears that he might be a potential witness or be biased. In the present case, no motion for a change of venue was ever presented. The post-conviction petition contained no allegation of involvement by the trial judge in the purported agreement between the State and Lyons, in which Lyons was allegedly offered a two to three-year sentence in return for pleading guilty. In a case where the defendant neither moved for a change of venue nor alleged that he had been induced to plead guilty by any action of the trial judge, it was held that no error was committed, by the judge\u2019s failure to disqualify himself from presiding at a post-conviction proceeding. People v. Hayes (1971), 49 Ill.2d 298, 273 N.E.2d 838.\nThe trial judge candidly disclosed his awareness of the small number of guilty pleas entered by Bloom, and he was considerate of the defendant\u2019s rights in offering to transfer the proceedings to another judge if the attorneys for Lyons and the State thought it advisable. Lyons\u2019 attorney acquiesced in the judge presiding at the post-conviction hearing; consequently, his failure to object waives this issue on appeal. Dever v. Bowers (1950), 341 Ill.App. 444, 94 N.E.2d 518; People ex rel. Harmon v. Thompson (1945), 327 Ill.App. 161, 63 N.E.2d 624.\nIt must be noted also that the trial judge made every effort to provide the defendant with a fair hearing. He denied the State\u2019s motion to dismiss the petition and ordered that Lyons and a corroborating witness be brought from the penitentiary to testify so that the defendant\u2019s allegations could be fully aired. The witnesses were thoroughly questioned at the hearing, and a document purportedly signed by Lyons was introduced in which he stated that he wished to plead guilty in consideration for a five to eight-year sentence. The issue at the hearing was not whether Bloom entered few or many guilty pleas, but the character of the representations made by him to the defendant. The judge\u2019s statements concerning Bloom\u2019s practice and reputation were wholly insufficient to show either a preconceived opinion of his credibility or a bias in his favor so as to deprive Lyons of a fair hearing. The judgment is affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.\nMcGLOON, P. J., and McNAMARA, J., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. JUSTICE DEMPSEY"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Kenneth E. Steffan, of Chicago, for appellant.",
      "Edward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (Robert A. Novelle and Nicholas A. DeJohn, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "The People of the State of Illinois, Respondent-Appellee, v. Edward Lee Lyons, Petitioner-Appellant.\n(No. 56819;\nFirst District \u2014\nNovember 16, 1972.\nKenneth E. Steffan, of Chicago, for appellant.\nEdward V. Hanrahan, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago, (Robert A. Novelle and Nicholas A. DeJohn, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel,) for the People."
  },
  "file_name": "0647-01",
  "first_page_order": 669,
  "last_page_order": 671
}