2023 IL App (5th) 220153-U NOTICE NOTICE Decision filed 03/07/23. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-22-0153 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to not precedent except in the the filing of a Petition for IN THE limited circumstances allowed Rehearing or the disposition of under Rule 23(e)(1). the same. APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIFTH DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Champaign County. ) v. ) No. 18-CF-1239 ) TOTI TATU-COMMIS, ) Honorable ) Randall B. Rosenbaum, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE WELCH delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Moore and Barberis concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: Where the circuit court reasonably credited the testimony of State witnesses contradicting defendant’s contrary version, the court did not err in dismissing his postconviction petition. As any argument to the contrary would lack merit, we grant defendant’s appointed counsel on appeal leave to withdraw and affirm the circuit court’s judgment. ¶2 Defendant, Toti Tatu-Commis, appeals the circuit court’s order denying, following a third- stage hearing, his postconviction petition. Defendant’s appointed appellate counsel, the Office of the State Appellate Defender (OSAD), concludes that no reasonably meritorious argument exists that the court erred. It has filed a motion to withdraw as counsel together with a supporting memorandum (see Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987)). Counsel notified defendant of its motion and this court provided him with an opportunity to file a response, but he has not done so. After reviewing the record and considering OSAD’s motion and supporting memorandum, we 1 agree that this appeal presents no reasonably meritorious issues. Accordingly, we grant OSAD leave to withdraw and affirm the circuit court’s judgment. ¶3 BACKGROUND ¶4 Defendant pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence. During the proceedings, defense counsel told the court that he informed defendant that “he will almost certainly be deported at the end of his sentence.” ¶5 Defendant did not move to withdraw the plea. Instead, in 2020, he filed a pro se postconviction petition in which he alleged that his then-wife, Julie Amba, convinced the victim, S.C., who lived with them, to falsely accuse defendant. He further alleged that the court-appointed translator had a conflict of interest and incorrectly translated statements made by defense counsel and the judge. The petition also alleged that Amba convinced their pastor, Bienvenu Lugano, to state falsely that defendant confessed to him. Defendant claimed that Lugano knew that defendant had a video of Amba beating S.C. and was angry with defendant for refusing to delete it. ¶6 The court appointed counsel who filed an amended petition. The matter proceeded to an evidentiary hearing at which a different translator was used. There, defendant testified as follows. The interpreter for the plea proceedings, Jeanine Bumba, was the godmother of Amba’s cousin. Before he pled guilty, his original counsel, accompanied by Bumba, visited him …
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