People v. Bingham

2017 IL App (1st) 143150, 73 N.E.3d 39
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 10, 2017
Docket1-14-3150
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2017 IL App (1st) 143150 (People v. Bingham) 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. Bingham, 2017 IL App (1st) 143150, 73 N.E.3d 39 (Ill. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

2017 IL App (1st) 143150

SIXTH DIVISION

February 10, 2017

No. 1-14-3150

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County ) v. ) No. 14 CR 11336 ) JEROME BINGHAM, ) Honorable ) Bridget Jane Hughes, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE ROCHFORD delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Hoffman and Justice Cunningham concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Following a bench trial in September 2014, the trial court convicted defendant, Jerome

Bingham, of theft, which was elevated to a Class 4 felony due to a previous retail theft

conviction, and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. Defendant had a prior conviction in

1983 for attempted criminal sexual assault for which he had not been required to register as a sex

offender because the conviction occurred prior to enactment of the Sex Offender Registration

Act (Act) (730 ILCS 150/1 et seq. (West 2012)), in 1986. Under section 3(c)(2.1) of the Act (730

ILCS 150/3(c)(2.1) (West 2012)), as amended in 2011, defendant’s 2014 felony theft conviction

in this case required him to register as a sex offender for the 1983 attempted criminal sexual

assault. On appeal, defendant contends (1) the Act is unconstitutional as applied to him; (2) the

Act violates the ex post facto clauses of the United States and Illinois Constitutions; (3) his theft

conviction was improperly elevated from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class 4 felony, and the

trial court improperly imposed an enhanced three-year sentence for the Class 4 felony

conviction; and (4) the trial court erroneously imposed a DNA analysis fee and failed to apply

the $5 per day credit for presentence incarceration to several charges that qualify as fines. We No. 1-14-3150

affirm defendant’s conviction, three-year sentence, and the requirement that he register as a sex

offender. We vacate his DNA analysis fee, credit him with $65 as against his fines, and direct the

clerk of the circuit court to modify the fines and fees order accordingly.

¶2 I. Defendant’s Theft Conviction

Defendant was charged with theft after a surveillance camera recorded him taking several pallets

from the unfenced yard of a Kmart in Norridge, Illinois at approximately 6:30 p.m. on May 3,

2014. The indictment alleged that defendant committed theft “in that he, knowingly obtained or

exerted unauthorized control over property, to wit: pallets, of a value less than five hundred

dollars, the property of Kmart, intending to deprive Kmart, permanently of the use or benefit of

said property, and the defendant has been previously convicted of the offense [of] retail theft

under case number 00125524901, in violation of Chapter 720 Act 5 section 16-1(a)(1) of the

Illinois Compiled Statutes 1992 as amended.”

¶3 The cause proceeded to a one-day trial on September 11, 2014. At trial, Ali Sahtout

testified he works as a security guard at the Kmart at 4201 North Harlem Avenue in Norridge. At

approximately 6:30 p.m. on May 3, 2014, Mr. Sahtout was in the Kmart security office

monitoring the video cameras when he saw defendant drive his truck to the receiving area in the

back of the store, where storage units and pallets belonging to Kmart are located. Defendant

exited his truck, grabbed a total of six pallets (two pallets at a time), and put them on the back of

his truck. Then he drove away. The pallets were valued at $12 each. Defendant was never given

permission to take the pallets.

¶4 Mr. Sahtout contacted the Norridge police department. About five minutes later, the

police called him back and asked him to come to a location a half block from the receiving area

-2­ No. 1-14-3150

of the store. Mr. Sahtout went there and saw that the officers had pulled defendant over and

placed him in a squad car.

¶5 Mr. Sahtout identified People’s exhibit No. 1 as the video depicting defendant taking the

pallets and putting them in the back of his truck. Mr. Sahtout identified People’s exhibits Nos. 2

through 5 as photographs truly depicting how defendant’s truck appeared on May 3, 2014.

¶6 Officer Peter Giannakopoulos of the Norridge police department testified that at

approximately 6:30 p.m. on May 3, 2014, he was patrolling the 4200 block of Harlem Avenue.

He was dispatched to the Kmart store a half block away because there was a report that an

African-American man in a black pickup truck with registration plate 1129940 B had taken some

pallets from the rear of the property.

¶7 Officer Giannakopoulos arrived at the Kmart receiving area about two minutes later, and

he saw a black pickup truck with registration plate 1129940 B leaving the area. Defendant was

the driver. The officer curbed the truck and saw several pallets on the truck’s open bed.

¶8 Officer Giannakopoulos asked Mr. Sahtout to come to his location to make an

identification. Mr. Sahtout came and identified defendant as the person who had taken the pallets

from the rear of the Kmart. Defendant was placed under arrest.

¶9 Following the testimony of Officer Giannakopoulos, the parties stipulated that defendant

had a previous conviction for retail theft in case No. 00125524901. The State entered its exhibits

into evidence, and the trial court viewed the video depicting defendant taking the pallets from the

Kmart receiving area. The State then rested.

¶ 10 Defendant testified he was a retired truck driver, who now works as a metal scrapper, and

that, about six months before the incident at issue, he had a conversation with a person who was

driving a forklift in the back of the Kmart at 4201 North Harlem Avenue. The forklift driver told

-3­ No. 1-14-3150

defendant that it would be okay for him to take broken pallets from behind the Kmart for

scrapping purposes. Pursuant to this conversation with the forklift driver, defendant took several

broken pallets from the Kmart receiving area on May 3 and was subsequently pulled over by the

police. Defendant testified he believed he had permission from the forklift driver to take the

broken pallets, and therefore he did not believe he was guilty of theft.

¶ 11 On September 11, 2014, following defendant’s testimony, the trial court convicted

defendant of theft. The cause proceeded to sentencing. The presentence investigation report (PSI)

detailed defendant’s prior criminal history, including attempted criminal sexual assault in 1983,

possession of a controlled substance in 1993 and 1996, violation of an order of protection in

1999, retail theft of less than $150 in 1999, possession of a stolen vehicle in 2000, two retail

thefts in 2000, theft in 2004, and possession of a controlled substance in 2005 and 2007. At

sentencing, the State presented evidence that on May 2, 2014 (the day before the theft of which

he was convicted here), defendant had stolen additional pallets from the Kmart located at 4201

North Harlem Avenue.

¶ 12 The trial court sentenced defendant to three years’ imprisonment on his theft conviction,

which was elevated to a Class 4 felony due to his previous conviction for retail theft, plus $699

in various fines, fees, and costs.

¶ 13 II. Defendant’s Sex Offender Registration

¶ 14 The PSI indicated that defendant was convicted of attempted criminal sexual assault in

1983 and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.

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Related

People v. Bingham
2018 IL 122008 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2018)
People v. Zetterlund
2018 IL App (3d) 150435 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2018)
People v. Bingham
2017 IL App (1st) 143150 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 IL App (1st) 143150, 73 N.E.3d 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bingham-illappct-2017.