People v. Casas

601 N.E.2d 798, 234 Ill. App. 3d 847, 176 Ill. Dec. 100, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 679
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 1, 1992
Docket1-89-2121
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 601 N.E.2d 798 (People v. Casas) 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. Casas, 601 N.E.2d 798, 234 Ill. App. 3d 847, 176 Ill. Dec. 100, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 679 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE McNULTY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, defendant Nicholas Casas was convicted of two counts of possession of more than 15 grams of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and sentenced to concurrent terms of 10 years’ imprisonment. The issues on appeal are: (1) whether the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver; (2) whether the trial court erred when it denied defendant’s request for a Franks hearing (Franks v. Delaware (1978), 438 U.S. 154, 57 L. Ed. 2d 667, 98 S. Ct. 2674); and (3) whether the trial court erred in allowing the admission of hearsay testimony.

The relevant facts are as follows. Chicago police officer Brad Williams testified that at approximately 10 p.m. on February 23, 1988, he helped to execute a search warrant in the rear apartment at 378 East Kensington in Chicago, Illinois. The search warrant authorized the search of “a male white hispanic known as Nick.” Officer Williams described the building as a boarded-up, “mom and pop” grocery store in front and an apartment in the rear. The main entrance to the apartment was in the rear of the building, but a side entrance also led to the apartment. The store in the front was not used, and its front door was boarded up.

Officer Williams testified that he entered the building’s side door, which led him to the apartment’s kitchen. After an Hispanic female let him enter the apartment, he noticed defendant leaning on the kitchen wall next to the rear bedroom doorway. When Officer Williams searched the rear bedroom, he discovered a scale, bagging materials and an automatic weapon in a dresser. He discovered cocaine and heroin in two separate thermos jugs in a plastic bag hanging on a nail on the closet doorjamb. He found a revolver in a crib in the bedroom. There were adult male and female clothes in the bedroom closet, on the closet door and strewn throughout the rear bedroom. He also discovered money. In the front room were two teenagers and three or four toddlers.

Defendant was then arrested. He took a coat hanging on the doorknob in the rear bedroom. The thermoses were discovered approximately two feet from where defendant retrieved his coat.

On cross-examination, Officer Williams testified that the search warrant described Nick as approximately 27 years old, 6 feet 0 inches tall, 165 pounds, and curly hair. When he asked who “Nick” was, the defendant said that he was “Nick.” None of the evidence was dusted for fingerprints. Defendant’s hair was straight at trial but was not straight on the day of his arrest. The parties stipulated that defendant was 38 years old on the day of his arrest. Officer Williams admitted that he had not taken any of the clothing found in the rear bedroom apartment and that he did not find any proof of defendant’s residency.

Officer Williams testified that there was a door that connected the rear apartment to the storefront. He stated that in the storefront he saw a bed and a chair. Officer Williams testified the officers could not enter the front of the building because it was boarded up. He could not remember hearing the name Ignacio Aguirre during the investigation.

Chicago police officer June Evans testified that she helped execute the search warrant on the night in question. She initially watched the back door and then entered through the building’s side door. When she entered the kitchen, she saw defendant being searched by Officer Williams.

Officer Evans then entered the vacant storefront. Two boards were nailed across the front door to prevent entry from the outside. The door to the store opened into the kitchen, and she did not recall seeing any locks on the store side of the door. Officer Evans testified that there was a door in the storefront that led down to the basement, but there was no door leading from the basement to the outside. The only way to get out of the storefront was to go into the rear apartment. In the old store was a bed, clothing rack, stereo, small desk with books and papers and a couch. The store did not contain a kitchen, bathroom or running water. Officer Evans testified that the bed in the storefront was a single bed. The books were school books. The clothing was that which a male teenager would wear. The tapes were the kind teenagers would have, and Officer Evans recognized “Journey” but did not recognize the others.

When Officer Evans was getting a drink of water in the kitchen, there was a knock at the door. When she asked who it was, a male voice responded, “I am looking for Nick.” On cross-examination, Officer Evans testified she wrote down the names of the people who knocked on the door, but she lost the paper. Officer Evans testified that these people were present during a portion of the search but no one else took their names. The State stipulated that no reference to these people appeared in the police report.

The defense presented the testimony of Gustavo Bautista, who testified that he was 14 years old and lived in the rear apartment at the time of the search. He lived there with his mother, Maria, his brothers, Hortencio, Armando, and Roberto, his sister, Veronica, and his uncle, Ignacio Aguirre. Gustavo testified that defendant was a friend of the family and that defendant did not live with them, but defendant did live in the storefront apartment. Defendant used only the bathroom in the rear apartment. Gustavo testified that Ignacio Aguirre was 23 years old, had curly hair, and was taller than defendant. On the date of trial Ignacio was in Mexico because he did not want to go to jail on a drug charge in Will County.

Gustavo testified that he slept in the rear bedroom with his brother, Hortencio and his uncle, Ignacio. His other brothers and sister slept with his mother in the front bedroom. Gustavo testified that on the day in question, after the police entered the apartment, they started searching and asking him where “Nick” was. Gustavo said Nick was not present and did not live there. Gustavo then heard defendant, Maria, and Armando come in from the grocery store. Defendant was arrested. Ignacio was not home at the time and did nót come home that night. Ignacio’s nickname was “Nacho.”

On cross-examination, Gustavo testified that defendant kept the door to the front apartment locked and defendant did not have easy access to the rear apartment. Defendant did not have a kitchen, bathroom, or running water in his apartment. Gustavo’s mother never cooked for defendant, and defendant could not get to the rear apartment from the basement. Defendant would have to knock on the apartment door when he needed to use the bathroom and he would have to leave if no one was home. Gustavo testified that although defendant was out shopping with Maria when the police arrived, that was the first time defendant went shopping with Maria. Defendant never helped pay for rent or for food. Defendant never ate in the rear apartment.

Gustavo testified that he and his brother owned a “Journey” tape. He also testified that there were two functioning doors in defendant’s front apartment. He never played any of his “Journey” tapes in Nick’s front apartment and he did not have a tape player at Nick’s front apartment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
601 N.E.2d 798, 234 Ill. App. 3d 847, 176 Ill. Dec. 100, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-casas-illappct-1992.