People v. Suarez

── People v. Suarez ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 241788-U No. 1-24-1788 Order filed June 4, 2026 Fourth Division NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. 13 CR 21572 ) JOSE SUAREZ, ) Honorable ) Jennifer Frances Coleman, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. JUSTICE LYLE delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Navarro and Justice Ocasio concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: The summary dismissal of defendant’s pro se postconviction petition is affirmed where he waived his claim of ineffective assistance of plea counsel by not including it in his petition and raising it for the first time on appeal. ¶2 Defendant Jose Suarez, who pled guilty to solicitation of murder in exchange for a sentence of 17 years in prison, appeals from the first-stage summary dismissal of his pro se petition for relief filed pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2024)). On appeal, Mr. Suarez contends that summary dismissal was improper where he raised an No. 1-24-1788 arguable claim that his plea counsel was ineffective for failing to recognize and raise the defense of improper venue. We conclude that Mr. Suarez has waived this argument because he did not raise it in his petition and, accordingly, affirm. ¶3 Following a 2010 bench trial, Mr. Suarez was found guilty of possessing 900 grams or more of cocaine with intent to deliver and sentenced to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Mr. Suarez’s conviction was based on evidence showing that, on April 7, 2010, he was found sitting inside a parked minivan with codefendant Luis Sanchez holding a lidless box containing a large plastic bag of cocaine. We affirmed Mr. Suarez’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal (People v. Suarez, No. 1-10-3070 (2010) (unpublished order under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23) and affirmed the summary dismissal of his subsequent postconviction petition challenging that conviction under the Act (People v. Suarez, 2014 IL App (1st) 121720-U). ¶4 On November 12, 2013, the State filed a four-count indictment charging Mr. Suarez with (I) solicitation of murder for hire based on an allegation that he solicited Juan Carrillo; (II) solicitation of murder for hire based on an allegation that he solicited Jimmie Tolbert; (III) solicitation of murder based on an allegation that he solicited Mr. Carrillo; and (IV) solicitation of murder based on an allegation that he solicited Mr. Tolbert. ¶5 On September 24, 2015, Mr. Suarez pled guilty to count IV in exchange for a sentence of 17 years in prison, to be served at 85%, and to run consecutively to his 15-year