In Re Morgan

341 N.E.2d 19, 35 Ill. App. 3d 10, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 3447
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 10, 1975
Docket60125
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 341 N.E.2d 19 (In Re Morgan) 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 Morgan, 341 N.E.2d 19, 35 Ill. App. 3d 10, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 3447 (Ill. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE JOHNSON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Terry Morgan was charged with burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 38, § 19 — 1). After the court found him to be a delinquent, he was recommitted to the custody of the youth authorities. On appeal, he contends that his statement to the police and the evidence discovered as a result of it should have been suppressed, and that his recommitment to the department of corrections without a hearing was improper.

At the hearing held on September 26, 1973, the following facts were established. On September 12, 1973, Officer Restis and his partner were in plain clothes in an unmarked squad car near 4600 North Broadway, when two young men emerged from an alley. The youths were carrying suitcases and boxes of merchandise down Broadway when the officer stopped them. He approached the youths, determined that they were curfew violators, placed them in custody, and read them their rights from the standard card. The facts, however, are in dispute as to specifically what was said after the juveniles were Mirandized. According to the officer, the youths said they understood the rights explained to them, and that they wanted to tell Officer Restis about the merchandise that was in their possession. The defendant told the officer that a boy named Smith informed him that the merchandise had been stolen that morning and that it was hidden in the bushes at the rear of the store. Officer Restis was directed to the rear of the store and he noticed that the bars on the window had been pulled out of position and that the rear door was damaged. The officer took the youths and the stolen merchandise to the police station.

Joseph Muncey testified that he closed his store at 1 a.m. on September 12, 1973, and at 5 a.m. he was called by the police and asked to return. Upon arrival, he discovered that the door was broken, that the bars had been pried from a rear window, and that certain merchandise was missing from the premises. Shortly thereafter, he identified his property at the police station.

After the prosecution rested, defense counsel moved to suppress the defendant’s statement and a hearing was held on the motion. The defendant testified that he was 15 years old and in the ninth grade at Attucks School. He denied being apprised of his rights, and stated that he did not understand what it meant to consult with an attorney, or to have an attorney appointed. On the other hand, he admitted knowing what a trial was, what a lawyer was, and what it meant to have evidence brought into court against an accused. The witness testified that other officers had told him he had the right to remain silent and anything he said could be used against him in court. However, the defendant stated that the only thing the officer said was “get in the car before I bust your head.”

Winslow Jeffries, a family youth counselor with the Illinois Department of Corrections, was called to support defense counsel’s motion. He testified that he had known Morgan since 1971, and that defendant had a low reading and comprehension score. With these problems in mind, Mr. Jeffries had the defendant transferred to a primary vocational school.

When the hearing ended, the motion to suppress the statement was renewed but denied. There was a finding of delinquericy and the defendant, who was on parole, was recommitted to the department of corrections.

Defendant argues that the trial court’s denial of the motion to suppress his statement was improper because he was not Mirandized. The State did not prove that the defendant was advised of his rights or that he knowingly waived these rights. Defendant submits that the State’s case consisted of the testimony of Officer Restis that he read the accused his rights, while the defendant denied that this was done.

In Illinois the trial court makes the preliminary inquiry as to whether the defendant was properly warned and whether he knowingly waived his rights. When making this determination, the court need not be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, and its findings will not be disturbed unless it can be said that they are against the manifest weight of the evidence. (People v. Torres (1973), 54 Ill.2d 384, 297 N.E.2d 142; People v. Burbank (1972), 53 Ill.2d 261, 266, 291 N.E.2d 161.) The defendant argues that the testimony of the State’s occurrence witness is the only evidence the State had, and that it conflicted with the defendant’s testimony. Although this may be so, courts deciding cases without juries have always made determinations about the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony, (People v. Mann (1963), 27 Ill.2d 135, 139, 188 N.E.2d 665, cert. denied, 374 U.S. 855, 10 L.Ed.2d 1075, 83 S.Ct. 1923; People v. Pigrenet (1962), 26 Ill.2d 224, 227, 186 N.E.2d 306), and this rule applies to the testimony of the accused (People v. Hendrix (1974), 18 Ill.App.3d 838, 841, 310 N.E. 2d 798), as wefl as to the testimony of the complaining witness. (People v. Brinkley (1965), 33 Ill.2d 403, 405-06, 211 N.E.2d 730.) It is within the jury’s province to accept the testimony that they befieve and reject the testimony that they disbefieve. (People v. Krueger (1968), 99 Ill.App.2d 431, 442, 241 N.E.2d 707.) The trial judge chose to believe the officer’s testimony that the defendant was Mirandized, and this court will not interfere with the trial court’s findings merely because there were conflicts in testimony. (People v. Mundorf (1968), 97 Ill.App.2d 130, 239 N.E.2d 690.) Therefore, we hold that the findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. (See People v. Scott (1975), 26 Ill.App.3d 857, 326 N.E.2d 58.) The defendant also complains because the officer failed to reduce the statement in question to writing or to obtain a written statement that he waived his Miranda rights. However, he cites no case or statutory authority mandating that these statements be reduced to writing. Therefore, we find this complaint to be of no .consequence.

Next, the defendant wants us to assume that he was properly admonished, which we have, and to determine if he made a knowing waiver of his rights. He argues that the Miranda warnings are not a ritual of words, but require meaningful advice to the unlettered and unlearned, in language which he can comprehend and on which he can knowingly act. (Coyote v. United States (10th Cir. 1967), 380 F.2d 305, 308.) Coyote states that courts should use the following test: e whether the words in the context used, considering the age, background and intelligence of the individual being interrogated, impart a clear, understandable warning of all of his rights.” (380 F.2d 305, 308.) The first two considerations in the Coyote test are age and background.

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Related

People v. Wade
366 N.E.2d 528 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
People v. Sandoval
353 N.E.2d 715 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
341 N.E.2d 19, 35 Ill. App. 3d 10, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 3447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-morgan-illappct-1975.