Court denied Defendant's amended motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Court admonished Defendant, along with other defendants who had proposed pleading guilty, as a group, telling them that by pleading guilty they would be giving up certain constitutional rights. Court did not, at that time, ask the group of defendants if they understood those admonitions. Later, court gave further admonitions to Defendant, and asked him if he understood the rights the court had discussed earlier. Court's admonitions were not clearly or obviously, and thus doctrine of plain error does not avert Defendant's procedural forfeiture resulting from his omission of this issue from his amended motion. No ineffective assistance of counsel in failure to object to the admonitions, as Defendant's critique of these admonitions is debatable. (HARRIS and HOLDER WHITE, concurring.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Guilty Pleas