2014 IL App (3d) 120680
Opinion filed September 30, 2014
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IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
THIRD DISTRICT
A.D., 2014
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
ILLINOIS, ) of the 14th Judicial Circuit,
) Rock Island County, Illinois.
Plaintiff-Appellee, )
) Appeal No. 3-12-0680
v. ) Circuit No. 11-CF-785
)
RAYMOND E. GOOSSENS, ) The Honorable
) Michael F. Meersman,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.
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JUSTICE O'BRIEN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Justice Carter concurred in the judgment and opinion.
Justice Wright specially concurred, with opinion.
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OPINION
¶1 The defendant, Raymond E. Goossens, appeals from his conviction for
intimidation, challenging the condition of his probation order that he become current on
child support. We affirm.
¶2 FACTS
¶3 The defendant, Raymond E. Goossens, was convicted of intimidation (720 ILCS
5/12-6(a)(6) (West 2010)) after he, as a sergeant of the Cordova police department,
threatened to not respond to 911 calls from the Cordova Dragway while two former
police officers worked there. The defendant was sentenced to a term of two years’
probation. The order of probation contained 21 conditions, one of which was that the
defendant become current on his child support. The defendant appealed, arguing that the
trial court lacked the authority to include the child support condition in the probation
order and asking this court to vacate that condition.
¶4 ANALYSIS
¶5 The defendant argues that the child support condition was unauthorized because it
made the probation an indeterminate term, thereby in violation of the maximum 30-
month term authorized by section 5-4.5-40(d) of the Unified Code of Corrections (the
Code) (730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-40(d) (West 2010)). The defendant also argues that the
condition was not authorized under section 5-6-3 of the Code (730 ILCS 5/5-6-3 (West
2010)) because child support payments did not reasonably relate to the offense of
intimidation. The State argues that the trial court had specific statutory authority to
impose the child support condition. Whether or not the sentence is authorized by statute
is a question of law that we review de novo. People v. Thompson, 209 Ill. 2d 19, 22
(2004).
¶6 The defendant was convicted of intimidation, a Class 3 felony. 720 ILCS 5/12-
6(a)(6) (West 2010). Section 5-4.5-40(d) of the Code provides that the period of
probation or conditional discharge for a Class 3 felony shall not exceed 30 months. 730
ILCS 5/5-4.5-40(d) (West 2010). The defendant cites no case law in support of his
position that a condition of probation somehow increases the term of probation. The
defendant could make the same argument with regard to any fines or fees imposed as
conditions of probation that he fails or refuses to pay during the term of probation. The
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trial court has jurisdiction to revoke or modify during the term of the probation, but is
generally limited to contempt proceedings to enforce unfulfilled conditions of probation
after the probation period has expired. People v. Budzynski, 333 Ill. App. 3d 433, 436
(2002). We find that the inclusion of the child support probation term did not convert the
defendant’s probation term to an indeterminate term.
¶7 Our goal in interpreting the language of a statute is to determine and give effect to
the intent of the legislature. Taddeo v. Board of Trustees of the Illinois Municipal
Retirement Fund, 216 Ill. 2d 590, 595 (2005). Legislative intent is best derived from the
language of the statute itself, which, if unambiguous, should be enforced as written. Id.
¶8 Section 5-6-3(a) of the Code lists several mandatory conditions of probation. 730
ILCS 5/5-6-3(a) (West 2010) (the conditions of probation and of conditional discharge
"shall be"). Section 5-6-3(b) of the Code lists other conditions that a court may impose at
its discretion. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3(b) (West 2010). Section 5-6-3(b)(6) of the Code
provides:
“(b) The Court may in addition to other reasonable conditions relating to
the nature of the offense or the rehabilitation of the defendant as determined for
each defendant in the proper discretion of the Court require that the person:
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(6) support his dependents[.]” 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3(b)(6) (West 2010).
¶9 The State argues that this provision provided clear statutory authority to impose
payment of child support as a condition of probation. We agree. We read section 5-6-
3(b) of the Code as specifically allowing the enumerated conditions, but if the trial court
seeks to impose additional, unlisted, conditions, they must be reasonably related to the
charged offense. See People v. Meyer, 176 Ill. 2d 372, 378 (1997) (recognizing that
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section 5-6-3(b) of the Code contained several permitted conditions, but also gave the
trial court discretion to impose additional conditions provided that they were reasonable
and related to the nature of the offense or rehabilitation of the defendant; sign
proclaiming the defendant a violent felon was unreasonable); see also People v.
Whittington, 87 Ill. App. 3d 504 (1980) (probation condition not specifically enumerated
in earlier version of section 5-6-3(b) of the Code was permissible because it was
reasonably related to the underlying offense). In so holding, we acknowledge our
disagreement with the Fourth District’s holding in People v. Campbell, 325 Ill. App. 3d
569, 571 (2001), that the plain meaning of section 5-6-3(b) of the Code is that all
conditions of a sentence of probation or conditional discharge must be related to the
specific offense for which the defendant is sentenced. Thus, we hold that since the
condition that the defendant support his dependents is specifically enumerated in section
5-6-3(b) of the Code, the trial court's imposition of the condition that the defendant
become current on his child support was authorized by statute, without a finding that the
condition was reasonably related to the underlying offense.
¶ 10 CONCLUSION
¶ 11 The judgment of the circuit court of Rock Island County is affirmed.
¶ 12 Affirmed.
¶ 13 JUSTICE WRIGHT, specially concurring.
¶ 14 I agree with the majority and write separately to clarify that the trial court can
order defendant to support his dependents beginning on the first day of the term of
probation.
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¶ 15 If defendant is current in his support obligation on the last day of his probation
term, probation would be successfully terminated. Therefore, the sentence is definite and
not indeterminate.
¶ 16 In the event defendant has not complied with his support obligation at any point
during the original term of probation, he risks a violation of probation and the imposition
of a new term of probation. Again, this does not make his sentence indeterminate.
¶ 17 On the other hand, if defendant is not current in his support on the last day of the
term of his probation and the State does not file a petition alleging a violation of
probation, then as the majority notes, the trial court may require defendant to pay the
mandated support which accrued during the term of probation by resorting to the court’s
power of contempt. Again, this contempt process would not make the sentence
indeterminate because the court can only exercise the powers of contempt with respect to
the amount due during the term of probation.
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