People v. Barcik

CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 19, 2006
Docket2-03-1045, 2-04-0476 cons. Rel
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Barcik (People v. Barcik) 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. Barcik, (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

Nos. 2--03--1045 & 2--04--0476 cons. filed 4/19/06 ______________________________________________________________________ ________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________ ________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Du Page County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 03--CF--621 ) VICTOR M. BARCIK, ) Honorable ) Michael J. Burke, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. _________________________________________________________________________ _____

JUSTICE BOWMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Victor M. Barcik, was convicted of two counts each of

aggravated driving under the influence (DUI) (625 ILCS 5/11--501(a)(2), (c--1)(3) (West 2002)) and

enhanced driving while his license was revoked (DWLR) (625 ILCS 5/6--303(a), (d) (West 2002)).

He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for DUI to run concurrently with the six years he

was given for DWLR.

Defendant filed a consolidated appeal, arguing that (1) his multiple convictions for each of

his crimes violated the one-act, one-crime rule; (2) his extended sentence for DWLR was improper;

and (3) the trial court erred in summarily dismissing a petition that he had filed pursuant to the Post-

Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122--1 et seq. (West 2002)), in which he claimed that he

was denied the effective assistance of counsel. We vacated one of defendant's convictions of both Nos. 2--03--1045 & 2--04--0476 cons.

DUI and DWLR and remanded his case for resentencing on the remaining count of DWLR. People

v. Barcik, 357 Ill. App. 3d 1043, 1044-45 (2005). At the same time, we dismissed his appeal from

the dismissal of his postconviction petition, because we found that we lacked jurisdiction to consider

the substance of that matter. Barcik, 357 Ill. App. 3d at 1047-48. But the supreme court, in the

exercise of its supervisory authority, directed us to vacate the portion of our decision in which we

found jurisdiction lacking and to resolve defendant's postconviction appeal on the merits. People v.

Barcik, 217 Ill. 2d 569 (2005). We do so now.

I. BACKGROUND

Much of the facts and procedure of this case is detailed in our earlier decision (see Barcik,

357 Ill. App. 3d 1043) and is repeated here only as necessary to an understanding of defendant's

postconviction petition.

According to Sgt. Charles Yanz of the Wheaton police department, defendant was pulled

over shortly after midnight on March 1, 2003, after the car he was driving, which had one headlight

out, veered off the road, went onto a curb, went over the curb, and then crashed back down onto the

road. When Sgt. Yanz approached defendant's car, he smelled an "extremely strong" odor of alcohol

coming from the driver's side window. In the car with defendant were his fiancée, Anita Mazzochi,

and Duane and Brian Besch. Although defendant's speech was normal, his eyes were glassy and

bloodshot. As Sgt. Yanz neared, defendant told his companions: "I'm fucked, I'm going to jail."

This was the first time Sgt. Yanz had met defendant. When Sgt. Yanz asked him for his

driver's license, defendant replied that he had a Wisconsin driver's license, but he did not have it

with him. He did, however, have an Illinois identification card, which he handed to Sgt. Yanz.

After receiving the identification card and an insurance card, Sgt. Yanz returned to his police

vehicle. There, he called for a second officer, which is customary in suspected DUI encounters. A

-2- Nos. 2--03--1045 & 2--04--0476 cons.

few minutes later, Wheaton police officer James Craig arrived. At that point, Sgt. Yanz went back

over to defendant and instructed him to walk over to Officer Craig so that he, defendant, could

perform some field sobriety tests. Defendant did so. Then, when defendant reached Officer Craig,

defendant turned around and put his hands behind his back as if preparing to be handcuffed.

On cross-examination, Sgt. Yanz admitted that, prior to pulling defendant over, he, Sgt.

Yanz, had not observed defendant committing every traffic violation associated with drunk driving.

For example, Sgt. Yanz admitted that he had not seen defendant brake erratically, straddle the road's

center line, or swerve in his lane. Sgt. Yanz conceded that, before observing defendant hit the curb,

he, Sgt. Yanz, had observed only one traffic violation, namely, the nonfunctioning headlight. And

Sgt. Yanz acknowledged that, when he initially made contact with defendant, defendant did not slur

his words or gesture wildly. Sgt. Yanz further acknowledged that defendant had no trouble

retrieving his identification. In addition to these concessions, Sgt. Yanz admitted that, when he filed

a report after defendant's arrest, he, Sgt. Yanz, did not specifically indicate that he had smelled

alcohol coming from the driver's side window of the car; rather, he said only that he had smelled

alcohol coming from the car. (When he smelled this, however, Sgt. Yanz had been standing by the

driver's side of the car.) Sgt. Yanz also acknowledged that, when defendant stepped out of the car,

he did not fall down, stumble, or lean on the car for support. Nor did he urinate in his pants. In

short, defendant had no difficulty getting out of the car. Also, when he walked over to Officer

Craig, defendant walked like a "normal" person.

After defendant walked over to Officer Craig, Sgt. Yanz spoke with the other people in the

car defendant had been driving. The car belonged to defendant's fiancée, and Sgt. Yanz determined

that she and the other two passengers were too drunk to drive.

-3- Nos. 2--03--1045 & 2--04--0476 cons.

Meanwhile, Officer Craig prepared to administer field sobriety tests to defendant. According

to Officer's Craig's testimony, at the time, he was standing on the sidewalk, about five feet behind

defendant's fiancée's car. The weather was cool, but not cold. It was "long sleeves" weather. The

night was clear and the ground was dry.

When defendant reached Officer Craig, defendant placed his hands behind his back, but

Officer Craig informed defendant that he was not under arrest. That said, Officer Craig noticed that

defendant's eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage

on defendant's breath. Also, defendant's speech was "slightly" slurred. Officer Craig recognized the

slight slurring because, unlike Sgt. Yanz, Officer Craig had had prior contact with defendant and

knew what he normally sounded like. Officer Craig asked defendant where he had been that

evening. Defendant said he had been at the Wheaton Bowl, a local bowling alley, restaurant, and

bar. He also said that, while there, he drank only one beer. After receiving this answer, Officer

Craig was ready to start the field sobriety testing.

This was not Officer Craig's first time administering field sobriety tests. In fact, after

receiving extensive training in such testing, Officer Craig had performed field sobriety tests on

"probably close to a hundred" people.

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People v. Barcik
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People v. Barcik, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-barcik-illappct-2006.