People v. Beverly

663 N.E.2d 1061, 278 Ill. App. 3d 794, 215 Ill. Dec. 547, 1996 Ill. App. LEXIS 175
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 28, 1996
Docket4 — 94 — 0878
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 663 N.E.2d 1061 (People v. Beverly) 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. Beverly, 663 N.E.2d 1061, 278 Ill. App. 3d 794, 215 Ill. Dec. 547, 1996 Ill. App. LEXIS 175 (Ill. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

JUSTICE KNECHT

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Terry Beverly appeals his conviction after a jury trial in the circuit court of McLean County of one count of possession of less than one gram of a controlled substance containing cocaine with intent to deliver, a violation of section 401(d) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Act) (720 ILCS 570/401(d) (West 1992)). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant’s trial occurred in July 1994. Bloomington police officer Richard Barkes, a detective for seven or eight years, was assigned to driving-under-the-influence-of-alcohol patrol the early morning of April 15, 1994. While parked in a marked squad car in Bloomington, he saw a vehicle traveling through an alley. Barkes began to follow it. The car speeded up and almost hit a truck. The car also turned without a signal. Barkes flashed his overhead lights, and the car pulled over. Barkes could see the silhouettes of two people in the car.

Defendant exited from the driver’s side of the car before Barkes had a chance to call in his report. Barkes ordered defendant to stay in front of the police car. Instead, defendant kept moving from side to side with his hands behind his back. Defendant never turned his back to Barkes. Barkes again ordered defendant to stay in front of the police car, but defendant walked around to the passenger side of the police car, almost to the passenger door. Barkes got out of the squad car, approached defendant, grabbed his arm and brought him to the front of the police car. He had him put his hands on the police car and handcuffed him.

Barkes then looked around the side of the police car where defendant had been and saw a clear plastic bag laying on the ground. He picked it up. It contained six smaller plastic bags, each made from a corner of a larger plastic bag. Each smaller bag contained an amber-colored rock-like substance which looked like crack cocaine. Barkes told defendant he was being arrested for possession of cocaine. Defendant became belligerent and started yelling and screaming "you didn’t find this crack cocaine, you didn’t find the drugs on me.” Defendant also stated Barkes was trying to frame him.

When defendant was brought to the jail and his personal items inventoried, he was found in possession of $427 in cash. A $100 bill was found in his shirt pocket, a $5 bill and two $1 bills were found in his pants pocket, and three $100 bills and a $20 bill were found inside his right sock.

Barkes has been trained in undercover narcotics investigation and worked as an undercover drug buyer for three years. In his experience, when a large crack cocaine rock is broken up into smaller rocks for sale, it is packaged by placing a small rock in each corner of a plastic bag and then tying that corner off and cutting it from the larger bag. In his experience, crack cocaine packaged in the amount and method as in the case at hand was always packaged for distribution and never for personal consumption. An individual rock would be sold for between $20 to $50, and a bag containing roughly 12 rocks would be sold for about $300. Also in his experience, a typical user would possess only one or two rocks packaged together at any one time.

Barkes did not see defendant holding the bag, nor did he see defendant throw the plastic bag. There were no lights shining on the passenger side of the car, and he did not see that area of the street before he found the bag. He also admitted six rocks of crack cocaine costing a total of $150 could be used by an individual within a day or a week, but it would be a rare situation. This amount of crack cocaine would be an "exorbitant” amount for an individual to use within one day. Further, the area where defendant was arrested is a high crime area.

Denise Vaughn, a forensic scientist specializing in drug chemistry and employed by the Illinois State Police Bureau of Forensic Science, tested the substance found by Barkes. The off-white rocks contained a total of .9 grams of a substance testing positive for cocaine.

Mary Esther Shadowens, the passenger riding in the car driven by defendant when he was arrested, was accompanying defendant as a favor for a friend who was concerned about defendant borrowing her car. Shadowens’ friend told her defendant wanted to go to the store. The route defendant was driving was not a route to any store. After the police car flashed its overhead lights, defendant tried to hand Shadowens a plastic bag. She could not see if anything was inside the bag, but she refused to take it, telling him she would not take it because she did not want to go to prison. She assumed defendant then put the plastic bag in his pocket because she heard the plastic make a crinkling sound and she did not see a plastic bag anywhere else in the car.

Testifying in defendant’s behalf, Denise Klaus was the representative payee of defendant’s disability payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA). He receives the payments because of a learning disability. Klaus’ duty is to help defendant manage his money. Defendant received a $2,652 lump-sum payment on April 12 of that year. She presented a copy of the SSA check to verify her testimony. She opened an account for defendant with the check and then withdrew $2,650 from the account so defendant could buy a car. She called a phone number defendant showed her on the side of a car parked in town and arranged for defendant to speak with the owner. She could not remember the owner’s name, his phone number, or where he lived. She dropped defendant off on a street corner where he was supposed to meet with the car’s owner. Defendant had the $2,650 in cash with which to buy the car as well as obtain car insurance. Klaus did not hear from defendant until several days later. To her knowledge, defendant never bought the car, and she has no idea what happened to the money.

The jury found defendant guilty on both possession and possession with intent to deliver. The trial court entered a conviction only on the count regarding possession with intent to deliver because possession was an included offense of possession with intent to deliver. In September 1994, the trial court sentenced defendant to six years’ imprisonment. Defendant now appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence.

II. ANALYSIS

Defendant first argues the evidence is insufficient to prove he possessed the cocaine. This argument is without merit. A criminal conviction will not be set aside unless the evidence is so improbable or unsatisfactory that it creates a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt. People v. Collins, 106 Ill. 2d 237, 261, 478 N.E.2d 267, 276 (1985). When presented with a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, a reviewing court will sustain a criminal conviction if, " 'after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Collins, 106 Ill. 2d at 261, 478 N.E.2d at 277, quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 573, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
663 N.E.2d 1061, 278 Ill. App. 3d 794, 215 Ill. Dec. 547, 1996 Ill. App. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-beverly-illappct-1996.