Page 677
Appeal
from the Circuit Court of the 14th Judicial Circuit,
Whiteside County, Illinois. Circuit No. 07-CF-188, Honorable
Trish A. Joyce, Judge, Presiding.
James
E. Chadd, Peter A. Carusona, Nathaniel A. Nieman, of State
Appellate Defenders Office, of Ottawa, for appellant.
Terry
A. Costello, States Attorney, of Morrison (Patrick Delfino
and Thomas D. Arado, of States Attorneys Appellate
Prosecutors Office, of counsel), for the People.
OPINION
SCHMIDT,
PRESIDING JUSTICE
[435
Ill.Dec. 605][¶ 1] Defendant, James R. Todd,
appeals from the Whiteside County circuit courts
Page 678
[435 Ill.Dec. 606] summary dismissal of his pro se
postconviction petition. Defendant argues that the court
erred in dismissing his petition because it presented an
arguable claim of ineffective assistance of appellate
counsel. We affirm.
[¶
2] I. BACKGROUND
[¶
3] On February 25, 2008, defendant entered an open
guilty plea to one count of unlawful delivery of a controlled
substance (720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(A) (West 2006)). The
factual basis for the plea reported that an undercover
officer purchased an ounce of cocaine from defendant for
$1000. The court accepted defendants guilty plea and
released defendant on bond.
[¶
4] Before the sentencing hearing, the State prepared
a presentence investigation report (PSI). The criminal
history section of the PSI stated that defendant had five
prior felony convictions.
[¶
5] On May 27, 2010, defendant appeared with counsel
for the sentencing hearing. Before the court pronounced
defendants sentence, the court found, in aggravation, that
(1) defendant had a significant history of criminal activity
and (2) a prison sentence was necessary to deter others from
committing the same crime. The court further said:
"The other factor that I simply cant ignore is the, is
the, frankly the significant amount of cocaine that was sold
here, and Im not going to ignore it. That, that tells me
that this is something more than just a casual, a casual
deal, and especially in light of the history, and you can
...