People v. Carpentier

314 N.E.2d 647, 20 Ill. App. 3d 1024, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 2546
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 18, 1974
Docket73-177
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 314 N.E.2d 647 (People v. Carpentier) 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. Carpentier, 314 N.E.2d 647, 20 Ill. App. 3d 1024, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 2546 (Ill. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE ALLOY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Todd Carpentier appeals from a conviction for unlawful delivery of controlled substances, less than 30 grams of heroin and less than 30 grams of LSD, in the Circuit Court of Rock Island County. Defendant pleaded not guilty and was convicted following a jury trial and sentenced to the term of 3 to 9 years on each of two counts with the sentences to run concurrently.

On appeal in this court, defendant asserts that the trial court committed reversible error by refusing to instruct the jury on entrapment, and, also, contends that the conviction was based on a statute which violates due process and equal protection of the laws and is, therefore, unconstitutional.

On the issue as to unconstitutionality, we have considered the issues raised by defendant in a number of recent cases. (People v. Kadlec (1974), 21 Ill.App.3d 289; People v. Campbell (1974), 16 Ill.App.3d 851, 307 N.E.2d 395; People v. Kline (1974), 16 Ill.App.3d 1017, 307 N.E.2d 398; People v. Peterson (1974), 16 Ill.App.3d 1025, 307 N.E.2d 405.) In the cases referred to, we have already determined that there is no substance to the arguments raising the issue of unconstitutionality in the instant case.

The contention as to the failure to instruct on entrapment, however, creates a problem different in character which must be analyzed in light of the facts in this cause. It appears from the record that the defendant Carpentier’s defense at his jury trial was entrapment. Defendant requested an entrapment instruction. This was refused by the trial court. It appears from the record that defendant stated that one Joe Waterman, a friend, tried on four occasions in approximately a 1-imonth period to persuade defendant to commit the offense in question by procuring and selling to Waterman certain controlled substances. Waterman was actually a convicted felon who was a special employee-informer for the Illinois Bureau of Investigation. The informer first solicited Carpentier to violate thé law at a gas station where Carpentier was working, at which time the informer tiled to sell Carpentier some marijuana, but Carpentier did not agree to this request. On a second occasion, the informer tried to talk to Carpentier at a night club and stated that he had recently been robbed of all the informer’s marijuana and that the informer was in trouble because of this loss. He then asked Carpentier to help him by obtaining some LSD which the informer could sell to recover his loss. Carpentier responded that he would “check around” and gave the informer two telephone numbers where the informer could reach him. He apparently did nothing to obtain the requested narcotics for the informer at this time. A short time later, the informer told Carpentier that the informer’s girl friend was addicted to heroin and needed some and asked Carpentier to help him out by obtaining some heroin for her. Carpentier did not obtain such narcotics.

The informer, on a fourth occasion, telephoned Carpentier and asked him for narcotics and Carpentier thereupon called a source in Davenport and obtained the desired narcotics for the informer. Defendant made two separate deliveries, one inside the restaurant to the informer, with no money being exchanged, and the other in defendant’s car, where $30 was given to the defendant. Defendant boasted that very few white men were able to obtain the narcotics from the particular place in Davenport where defendant had obtained them and, also, defendant offered to sell the informer hashish, needles or syringes. The testimony was also to the effect that the defendant had paid some $100 to buy narcotics from the place where he had obtained them for the informer. Defendant was arrested 7 months later.

The defense of entrapment was raised during the trial and defendant requested that an entrapment instruction be given. As indicated, the trial court refused the instruction. Defendant contends that under the precedents, very slight evidence of entrapment is sufficient to raise a question of fact for the jury. The case of People v. Kharnis, 411 Ill. 46, 103 N.E.2d 133, 136, is cited in support of such contention. In that case, the Supreme Court of Illinois pointed out that the court does not weigh the evidence upon a question of whether any instruction is proper on a certain theory, but that very slight evidence on a given theory of the case will justify the giving of an instruction. (See also People v. Matter, 371 Ill. 333, 20 N.E.2d 600, 602, and People v. Papas, 381 Ill. 90, 44 N.E.2d 896, 898.) In the United States Supreme Court it was determined that, unless the court could decide the issue as a matter of law, the factual issue of whether a defendant has been unlawfully entrapped is for the jury as part of its function of determining the guilt or innocence of the accused. Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 377, 2 L.Ed.2d 848, 854, 78 S.Ct. 819 (1958).

The issue, therefore, before the court was whether the evidence against entrapment was so clear and convincing that it could be said as a matter of law that there was no entrapment. When we review all of the testimony of defendant in a light most favorable to the defendant, we cannot say that there is no evidence in favor of entrapment. It is not contended by defendant that the evidence presented at the trial is sufficient to constitute entrapment as a matter of law. Defendant contends solely that there was enough evidence to entitle him to the benefit of an entrapment instruction to the jury.

In approaching this issue, we note that the Illinois Criminal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1971, ch. 38, § 7 — 12) defines entrapment as follows:

“A person is not guilty of an offense if his conduct is incited or induced by a public officer or employee, or agent of either, for the purpose of obtaining evidence for the prosecution of such person. However, this Section is applicable if a public officer or employee, or agent of either, merely affords to such person the opportunity or facility for committing an offense in furtherance of a criminal purpose which such person has originated.”

In the Committee Comments which follow the statutory language (S.H.A. (1972), ch. 38, § 7 — 12, at 439), it is stated:

“Section 7 — 12 states the defense of entrapment in general terms in essentially the language which the Illinois Supreme Court has used in cases citing with approval the Sorrells case [Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 77 L.Ed. 413, 53 S.Ct. 210 (1932)]. A more detailed definition does not seem feasible at the present * * * since the existing court opinions do not sufficiently outline its scope or settle various problems which would affect the expression of a detailed definition. * * *”

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Bluebook (online)
314 N.E.2d 647, 20 Ill. App. 3d 1024, 1974 Ill. App. LEXIS 2546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-carpentier-illappct-1974.