People v. Phipps

State: Illinois

Court: 2nd District Appellate

Docket No: 2-06-0423 Rel

Case Date: 05/29/2008

Preview:No. 2--06--0423 Filed: 5-29-08 ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Winnebago County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 04--CF--1092 ) CRAVEN F. PHIPPS, ) Honorable ) Ronald J. White, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE GILLERAN JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the court: The defendant, Craven F. Phipps, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence (aggravated DUI) (625 ILCS 5/11--501(d)(1)(F) (West 2004)) and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Following the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, the defendant filed a timely notice of appeal. On appeal, the defendant argues that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel at the plea proceedings. We reverse and remand for additional proceedings. On April 5, 2004, the defendant drove a car that collided with a car driven by MaLocka Gille. Gille died as a result of the collision. Immediately following the collision, the defendant was ticketed for violating a local traffic ordinance and for one count of driving under the influence (625 ILCS 5/11--501(a)(2) (West 2004)). On April 28, 2004, the defendant was charged by indictment with one count of reckless homicide (720 ILCS 5/9--3(a) (West 2004)). The indictment indicated that the charge was a Class 2 felony, subject to special sentencing.

No. 2--06--0423 We note that, prior to 2003, section 9--3 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Criminal Code) generally classified reckless homicide as a Class 3 felony, punishable by two to five years in prison (720 ILCS 5/9--3(d)(2) (West 2002); 730 ILCS 5/5--8--1(a)(6) (West 2002)). In addition to that general classification, section 9--3(e) provided in pertinent part as follows: "[I]n cases involving reckless homicide in which the defendant was determined to have been under the influence of alcohol or any other drug or drugs as an element of the offense, or in cases in which the defendant is proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have been under the influence of alcohol or any other drug or drugs, the penalty shall be a Class 2 felony, for which a person, if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, shall be sentenced to a term of not less than 3 years and not more than 14 years." 720 ILCS 5/9--3(e) (West 2002). Effective July 18, 2003 (approximately nine months prior to the defendant committing the instant offense), the legislature amended section 9--3 of the Criminal Code (Pub. Act 93--213,

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