Contract Law and its Potential Impact on Parole and Probation Searches

When considering a defendant's motion to reconsider his sentence or motion to reduce his sentence, Illinois courts apply principals of contract law to hold the defendant to his negotiated plea agreement. However, courts only utilize contract law to enforce the sentence length and not other material terms of a negotiated plea. Specifically, Illinois courts have not enforced search conditions in probation or parole orders when challenged through a motion to quash and suppress. The failure to extend the use of contract principals to the search term of a sentence could create a conflict with how courts enforce negotiated pleas.

In addition, a court's failure to uphold the search condition of a parole or probation term may have a negative impact on the State's willingness to enter into a plea agreement.