Background
James Mosley Jr. pleaded guilty to aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony, and received 60 days in county jail followed by 30 months of probation. The court correctly advised him at the plea hearing that a prison sentence of three to seven years would be followed by four years of mandatory supervised release.
The State later sought to revoke Mosley’s probation after he failed to report to court services following his release. Mosley admitted the violation. Before accepting the admission, however, the trial court advised him that a prison sentence would be followed by 12 months of mandatory supervised release, rather than the applicable 48 months. The court later sentenced him to four years in prison and four years of mandatory supervised release.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth District vacated the probation-revocation judgment and remanded. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 402A requires substantial compliance before a court accepts an admission to a probation violation, including an affirmative record showing that the defendant understood the sentencing range for the underlying offense.
The trial court’s statement that imprisonment would carry only 12 months of mandatory supervised release was incorrect. Because Mosley admitted the violation after that erroneous admonition, the record did not affirmatively establish that he understood the actual sentencing consequences of waiving a revocation hearing. The error was inherently prejudicial; the court could not presume Mosley would have waived his rights had he understood the correct maximum sentence.
Key Takeaways
- Rule 402A requires a clear, substantially correct explanation of the sentencing range before accepting a probation-violation admission.
- An incorrect mandatory-supervised-release term prevents substantial compliance when it leaves no affirmative record that the defendant understood the actual consequences.
- A Rule 402A admonishment claim is not forfeited by the absence of a contemporaneous objection or inclusion in a postsentencing motion.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that sentencing admonitions in probation-revocation proceedings must cover all material parts of the available sentence, including mandatory supervised release. Even when a defendant was properly advised at the original guilty plea, a later incorrect admonition before a revocation admission can require reversal.
On remand, Mosley must be allowed to withdraw his admission, and the circuit court must conduct further revocation proceedings consistent with the appellate court’s ruling.