People v. Austin

576 N.E.2d 505, 216 Ill. App. 3d 913, 159 Ill. Dec. 836, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1275
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 25, 1991·No. 2-89-0534·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinions

PRESIDING JUSTICE REINHARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Donald Austin, was found guilty in a jury trial conducted in the circuit court of Lake County of two counts of residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 3) and was sentenced to a 30-year term of imprisonment to run consecutively with a 30-year sentence previously imposed for a separate, unrelated offense.

Defendant raises two issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred by refusing to submit jury instructions regarding the offense of criminal trespass to residence (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 4); and (2) whether his sentence was excessive.

The indictment charged defendant, inter alia, with two counts of residential burglary. One count alleged that on or about July 23, 1986, defendant “knowingly and without authority entered into the dwelling place of Mary Jane Sparks, located at 3310 West 29th Street, Zion, Lake County, Illinois, with the intent to commit therein a theft.” The other count was identical except that it alleged that defendant entered the home with the intent of committing an unlawful restraint.

At trial, Mary Jane Sparks testified that on July 22, 1986, after cleaning up following a dinner party, she took a shower because “it was very hot that night.” A sliding glass door at the rear of the home was open to allow air flow through the room, as it was a “very very muggy” night. After taking a shower, she fell asleep on a living room couch at about 1:30 a.m. At about 2:30 a.m., she awoke and sensed a presence near her. Sparks realized that there was a man, who was not a family member, standing next to her. The man’s knees were a few inches from her, and his face was about three feet from her eyes. The man was wearing yellow “Playtex-type” gloves. His right hand was near her mouth, and his left hand was moving toward the switch on a nearby lamp which was on at that time.

Sparks saw the man’s face for about five seconds. While looking at him, she pulled the glove off his right hand and screamed to her husband that a man was in the house. The intruder then fled, exiting through the patio door. Sparks testified that the intruder never touched her, did not take anything from the home, and did not break anything in the home. She identified defendant as the intruder.

Other testimony revealed that a neighbor of Sparks observed a suspicious car parked in the neighborhood, wrote down the car’s license plate number, and later saw a man run to the car, get in, and drive away. When the police arrived at the Sparks home a few minutes later, the neighbor gave them the license plate number of the car, which was registered to defendant. The police found defendant inside the car shortly thereafter about two miles from the Sparks home.

Defendant did not testify or offer any evidence in his behalf. In his opening statement and later in final argument his counsel argued that defendant was misidentified.

At the instructions conference, however, defendant submitted two proposed instructions concerning the offense of criminal trespass to a residence (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 4), a Class A misdemeanor. The first instruction defined the offense. The second instruction stated that to sustain the charge of criminal trespass to residence, the State would have to prove defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court refused to give the instructions because it felt the evidence showed that defendant was either not guilty of any crime or guilty of residential burglary.

Initially, defendant contends that the trial court erred by refusing to submit to the jury his proffered instructions on the offense of criminal trespass to residence.

An accused cannot be convicted of an offense that was not charged unless the offense of which he is found guilty is a lesser-included offense of the one charged. (People v. Schmidt (1988), 126 Ill. 2d 179, 183, 533 N.E.2d 898.) Under Schmidt, an instruction on a lesser uncharged offense may not be given unless it is a lesser-included offense of the offense charged. (People v. Booker (1991), 214 Ill. App. 3d 286, 288.) A lesser-included offense is one whose elements are subsumed in the greater offense so that it is impossible to commit the greater offense without committing the lesser-included one. (People v. Melmuka (1988), 173 Ill. App. 3d 735, 736, 527 N.E.2d 982.) A person commits the offense of residential burglary if he or she knowingly and without authority enters another person’s dwelling place to commit a theft or felony (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 3; People v. Monigan (1990), 204 Ill. App. 3d 686, 688, 561 N.E.2d 1358) whereas a person commits the offense of criminal trespass to residence when without authority he or she knowingly enters or remains within any residence (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 4). Thus, because the elements of criminal trespass to residence are subsumed in the offense of residential burglary, we conclude that criminal trespass to residence is a lesser-included offense of residential burglary.

However, although criminal trespass to residence is a lesser-included offense of residential burglary, the trial court is not necessarily required to give the tendered instructions. In People v. Moore (1990), 206 Ill. App. 3d 769, 565 N.E.2d 154, the defendants, who were convicted of residential burglary, argued that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass to residence. In Moore, the appellate court, in affirming the circuit court, stated the appropriate rule as follows:

“Although a defendant is entitled to instructions on lesser included offenses (People v. Cramer (1981), 85 Ill. 2d 92, 421 N.E.2d 189), those instructions will be permitted only if the trier of fact can rationally determine that the evidence is insufficient to support a finding of not guilty of the greater offense, but sufficient for a finding of guilty of the lesser included offense. (People v. Balls (1981), 95 Ill. App. 3d 70, 419 N.E.2d 571.) It is equally true that where the evidence shows that defendants are either guilty of the higher offense or not guilty of any offense, an instruction on the lesser included offense is unnecessary and properly refused. People v. Thompson (1976), 35 Ill. App. 3d 773, 776, 342 N.E.2d 445.” Moore, 206 Ill. App. 3d at 774, 565 N.E.2d at 157.

Similarly, our supreme court has stated that “an included-offense instruction is required only in cases where the jury could rationally find the defendant guilty of the lesser offense and not guilty of the greater offense.” People v. Perez (1985), 108 Ill. 2d 70, 81, 483 N.E.2d 250.

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People v. Austin, 576 N.E.2d 505, 216 Ill. App. 3d 913, 159 Ill. Dec. 836, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1275 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

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