People v. Agee

562 N.E.2d 545, 205 Ill. App. 3d 146, 150 Ill. Dec. 15, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 5, 1990
Docket1-87-1202
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 562 N.E.2d 545 (People v. Agee) 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
People v. Agee, 562 N.E.2d 545, 205 Ill. App. 3d 146, 150 Ill. Dec. 15, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE LORENZ

delivered the opinion of the court:

After a bench trial, defendant was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 8 — 4, 9 — 1) and one count of aggravated battery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 12— 4(b)(1)). Defendant now appeals, and we address the following issues: (1) whether evidence of the victim’s character should have been admitted to support defendant’s claim of self-defense; (2) whether the State proved defendant intended to kill the victims to support the attempted murder convictions; and (3) whether defendant’s conviction for aggravated battery should be vacated because it was a lesser included offense of attempted murder. We affirm in part and vacate in part.

At trial, the State presented the testimony of three eyewitnesses, Sherron Sullivan, Stanley Miles, and Virginia Hall. Sullivan testified that on August 3, 1985, at approximately 9:30 p.m., she was walking across the street from her house with her two-year-old daughter. Defendant, who lived directly across the street from Sullivan, passed her on the sidewalk and entered the gangway next to his house. Sullivan crossed the street and walked up the steps to her house. Miles, who lived two houses away, was on the steps, and Hall, who was Sullivan’s tenant, was sitting on the porch. Sullivan heard a gunshot and saw a flash coming from the gangway across the street. She ran up the steps with her daughter and felt two shots hit in her legs. She saw defendant with a gun in his hands running across the street toward her house. He came up to the curb of her house, which was 15 to 20 feet from the porch. Sullivan heard a total of five shots. Defendant then turned and ran back to the gangway. Sullivan did not see a weapon in Miles’ hands. When defendant’s attorney asked Sullivan about Miles’ reputation in the neighborhood, the trial judge sustained the State’s objection.

Miles testified that he was on the steps of Sullivan’s porch when he saw defendant run from the gangway across the street toward the porch. Defendant fired five shots within a matter of seconds and Miles ran inside the house. Miles testified that he was not carrying a weapon at the time. On cross-examination, Miles admitted he and defendant had a fist fight the night before the shooting. Miles also saw defendant in the morning of the day of the shooting, but he testified he did not say anything to him.

Hall testified that she saw defendant in the gangway and told Miles to “watch out” because she knew they had had an argument the night before. Defendant then came out of the gangway, shooting a gun. Hall heard one shot and fell down on the porch. Defendant asked Hall whether she knew of Miles’ reputation in the neighborhood and the State objected. The objection was sustained.

The State rested its case against defendant.

William Thomas, who was married to defendant’s niece, testified that on August 2, 1985, the day before the shooting, he saw defendant attempt to stop a fight between Miles and Albert Brown, who was defendant’s nephew. Miles stabbed defendant in the chin with a knife. Thomas testified that he saw Miles with a gun “quite a few times” in the four years he had known Miles. On the State’s objection, the trial judge would not allow Thomas to testify as to Miles’ reputation in the neighborhood.

Defendant testified that the day before the shooting, at about 5:30 p.m., Miles offered to sell him cocaine. When defendant declined, Miles threatened to put a “death violation” on him, which is a gang term meaning Miles would either kill defendant himself or have someone kill defendant. Defendant walked away. An hour later, defendant saw Miles again and Miles asked whether he was ready to buy some cocaine. Defendant ignored him. At approximately 8:30 p.m., defendant saw Miles a third time and Miles again asked whether defendant was ready. Defendant refused, and Miles said he would “whip [defendant’s] ass” if he did not buy some cocaine. Defendant ignored Miles, and Miles slapped a can of soda pop from his hands. A struggle ensued, and Miles stabbed defendant in the chin. Miles ran away and said he would get defendant again. Defendant telephoned the police, but they did not come to his house. Defendant did not go to the hospital for his injuries.

The next evening, at approximately 8:30 p.m., defendant saw Miles with two other men. Miles pulled a gun from his jacket and defendant ran away. Miles chased defendant, but he was able to escape through a gangway. When defendant arrived home, he telephoned the police who again did not arrive. He received a response from Detective Harris, who told him that he should call again if he had any other problems.

The same evening, at approximately 9:15 p.m., defendant was sitting on his porch and heard voices in the gangway. He recognized Miles’ voice. Defendant testified that he heard Miles and another person say, “[G]et him, get him, he is right there. Shoot him. Shoot him.” Defendant went in his house to get a gun and came outside again. Defendant testified that the police would not respond to his calls and he was afraid for his life. He saw Miles and another man walking toward him on the same side of the street. Miles had his right hand in the waist band of his pants. When Miles crossed the street to the other side, defendant “fired a couple of shots in his direction to let [Miles] know that [defendant] had a pistol, too.” Defendant admitted he fired five shots. After the shooting, defendant threw the gun in a sewer. Defendant testified he did not intend to shoot anyone, rather, he intended to scare Miles away from him. Defendant stated he feared Miles.

The trial judge found defendant guilty of aggravated battery of Sullivan and attempted murder of both Sullivan and Miles. Defendant’s written post-trial motion was denied; however, that motion is not in the record. Defendant received concurrent sentences of five years’ imprisonment for aggravated battery and 12 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder. 1 Defendant now appeals.

Opinion

Initially, we note that defendant’s written post-trial motion was not included in the record on appeal although the record indicates it was tendered to the trial judge. At oral argument for this appeal, defendant’s attorney stated that the motion was lost. Without the post-trial motion it cannot be determined whether defendant preserved each of the issues raised on appeal; however, the State does not contend that defendant failed to raise the issues in the trial court. We will, therefore, consider each of the issues defendant raises on appeal.

Defendant first argues that he should have been allowed to present evidence of Miles’ aggressive and violent character to support his claim of self-defense. At trial, defendant attempted to introduce evidence of Miles’ reputation in the neighborhood through the testimony of Sullivan, Hall, and Thomas. The trial judge sustained the State’s objection to such questioning.

Section 7 — 1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 7 — 1) provides the factors for self-defense:

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630 N.E.2d 878 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
562 N.E.2d 545, 205 Ill. App. 3d 146, 150 Ill. Dec. 15, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-agee-illappct-1990.