In re Interest of J.P.

2019 IL App (1st) 181087, 125 N.E.3d 1229, 430 Ill. Dec. 211
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 1, 2019
Docket1-18-1087
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2019 IL App (1st) 181087 (In re Interest of J.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Interest of J.P., 2019 IL App (1st) 181087, 125 N.E.3d 1229, 430 Ill. Dec. 211 (Ill. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

JUSTICE LAMPKIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

*213 ¶ 1 Respondent-minor, J.P., was adjudicated delinquent for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (UUW) and unlawful possession of a firearm. The trial court merged the unlawful possession count into the aggravated UUW count and sentenced respondent to three years' probation. Additionally, as part of respondent's sentence, *214 *1232 the trial court imposed probation conditions, including school attendance, community service, individual and family counseling, no gang contact, and tattoo removal. On appeal, respondent contends the trial court's probation conditions prohibiting gang contact and requiring tattoo removal are unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. Based on the following, we affirm, but remand for clarification of the trial court's probationary condition regarding tattoo removal. 1

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 At the time of her arraignment, the juvenile court learned that J.P. lived with her mother, who worked at a downtown hotel, and her 17-year-old brother. J.P. had not been in school for five or six months. J.P.'s adult sister attended the arraignment because J.P.'s mother was at work. She reported that J.P. had been expelled from school and had refused to attend her alternative school. J.P.'s sister stated that J.P. had run away from home in the past, had stolen her mother's truck and handgun, had been hospitalized, and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Based on that information, the trial court found an urgent and immediate necessity to hold J.P. in custody.

¶ 4 On a subsequent pretrial court date set for custodial status, J.P.'s mother was in attendance and reported that J.P. was enrolled in school, but refused to attend. J.P.'s mother stated:

"I love my daughter very much, but she needs-she needs help. She doesn't listen. She leaves. She wants to do whatever she wants. In my house there's [ sic ] rules and she doesn't respect them. So then she needs help for alcohol and drugs. I think she needs help so that she can get into a treatment where she gets clean, like a treatment. * * *. So I want, please, to help me with her."

The trial court considered placing J.P. on electronic monitoring on that date. In response, J.P.'s mother asked the court to instruct J.P. that only family members were allowed in their home. J.P.'s mother stated, "When I go to work people would come in. She's been with people that are like 18 and over." The trial court also received a "pretty significant" mental health summary. The court ultimately placed J.P. on electronic monitoring. However, less than one month later, the trial court revoked J.P.'s electronic monitoring in response to the State's motion because J.P.'s whereabouts became unknown. The court issued a juvenile arrest warrant. On the next court date, J.P.'s mother reported that J.P. had left home 10 days prior and had not returned. Approximately one month later, J.P. returned home and was taken into custody and held pending trial.

¶ 5 At trial, Chicago Police Officer English 2 testified that, on December 7, 2017, around 2:11 p.m., he and his partner received a request to assist their police sergeant in pursuing a stolen vehicle. Upon arriving at the designated location, Officer English observed his sergeant's vehicle following a white minivan. When they were approximately 200 feet behind the minivan, the officers activated their emergency lights. According to Officer English, the sergeant pulled his marked police vehicle in front of the minivan and Officer English's partner parked their vehicle behind the minivan. Officer English testified that *1233 *215 he exited his vehicle and approached the passenger side of the minivan from the rear. While approaching, Officer English observed J.P. bend over in the front passenger seat. Officer English testified that, when J.P. "popped up," he alerted his partner, who was approaching the driver's side of the minivan. The sergeant then removed J.P. from the front passenger seat, revealing a black semi-automatic handgun in plain view on the floorboard of the front passenger side. Officer English secured and recovered the handgun, which he maintained until he returned to the police station. J.P. was taken into custody and transported to the police station. Officer English further testified that he spoke to J.P. at the police station. Officer English learned that J.P. did not have a Firearm Owner's Identification Card. J.P. admitted that she brought the handgun into the minivan. Without prompting, J.P. yelled, "the gun is mine. I got in the car with it."

¶ 6 The trial court entered a finding of guilt of aggravated UUW and unlawful possession of a firearm, and continued the matter for a dispositional hearing. The court additionally ordered evaluations due to concerns regarding J.P.'s chronic truancy, peer and family stressors, and mental health history. J.P. remained in detention pending the dispositional hearing.

¶ 7 J.P.'s clinical evaluation revealed she had a learning disability, having low verbal and math skills (additional testing showed she had low cognitive functioning), she had an emotional disability, and she had difficulty controlling her impulsive behavior. J.P.'s medical history demonstrated psychiatric hospitalizations and diagnoses of oppositional defiant disorder, cannabis and alcohol abuse, conduct disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, grandiose and anxious behavior, and bipolar disorder. J.P. had been noncompliant with treatment recommendations. The evaluation reported that J.P. refused to attend school, having skipped her entire freshman year of high school. When she did attend school, J.P. accumulated major rule violations for verbal arguments, physical assault of a peer, malicious destruction of property (writing "Blanca 33M" and drawing a crown in her classroom), and oppositional behavior (writing on walls, cursing at teachers, physical altercations with teachers, and marijuana use on school grounds). J.P. denied running away from home, but J.P.'s mother described the behavior as chronic since 2015. J.P. denied being a gang member, but stated that she liked to spend time with Latin Kings gang members. J.P.'s brother was a member of the Two-Sixers street gang, a rival of the Latin Kings. J.P.'s mother believed J.P. was in a gang based on the crown tattoo above one of her eyebrows. J.P. initially denied having an arrest history, but eventually conceded that she had been arrested four times. According to the report, J.P. "does not seem to think rules apply to her, has been reluctant to seek needed interventions, has actively resisted interventions, and refused to follow directions from her mother, teacher, and other authority figures." The evaluation listed a number of risk factors, including J.P.'s impulsivity and her association with people demonstrating antisocial attitudes. The evaluation recommended supervision for J.P., school assistance, substance abuse treatment, and a mentor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re J.P.
2019 IL App (1st) 181087 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2019 IL App (1st) 181087, 125 N.E.3d 1229, 430 Ill. Dec. 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-interest-of-jp-illappct-2019.