People v. Crowe

552 N.E.2d 5, 195 Ill. App. 3d 212, 141 Ill. Dec. 868, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 218
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 22, 1990
Docket4-89-0409
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 552 N.E.2d 5 (People v. Crowe) 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. Crowe, 552 N.E.2d 5, 195 Ill. App. 3d 212, 141 Ill. Dec. 868, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 218 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE LUND

delivered the opinion of the court:

On August 26, 1988, defendant Donald Crowe was charged with four traffic violations. On September 12, 1988, an information was filed in the circuit court of Douglas County alleging that, based on the same incident for which he was ticketed, defendant committed the offense of reckless homicide in violation of section 9—3 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9—3). On April 14, 1989, pursuant to defendant’s motions, the court dismissed all the cases for violations of the speedy-trial provisions of the Code. The State now appeals.

Defendant Donald Crowe was charged, on August 26, 1988, by uniform traffic complaint citations with four violations of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 1—100 et seq.). These were driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, driving in the wrong lane, and failure to wear a seat belt. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 11—501(a), 11—601(a), 11-701, 12-603.1.

On September 6, 1988, defendant, free on bail, appeared with counsel, pleaded not guilty, and filed a written demand for a speedy jury trial pursuant to section 103 — 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 103—5). The written demand was captioned only with the DUI case number. The cases were set for an October 31 jury trial.

On September 12, 1988, defendant was charged by information with committing two counts of the felony offense of reckless homicide. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9—3.) Count I alleged he caused the death of another by driving at a speed greater than is reasonable and crossing the center line into oncoming traffic while he was under the influence of alcohol. Count II contained the same allegations except for the influence-of-alcohol allegation. Defendant’s initial appearance was on September 27. At all times, he was free on bond.

On October 19, a preliminary hearing was held on the felony. The court found probable cause existed as to count I, but not as to count II. Defendant pleaded not guilty, and the matter was set for a jury trial on January 23, 1989. On October 28, the State requested that the traffic and felony cases be consolidated for trial. Without any objection by the defendant, it was so ordered, with trial being set for January 23.

On January 4, 1989, defendant filed a motion in the felony case, seeking to dismiss the case or, in the alternative, to exclude evidence. The motion was based on the State’s failure to comply with the court’s discovery order. That order, filed October 19, indicated the State was to comply within 21 days. On January 9, the State filed its answer to discovery, listing 14 possible witnesses.

On January 12, the court, upon finding the defendant would not be ready for the January 23 trial date due to the State’s failure to comply with the discovery motion, continued the trial to April 24, upon its own motion.

On March 10, defendant filed -a motion seeking to dismiss the D.UI based upon the violation of a speedy-trial request. The court dismissed this case, but specifically held that this order did not affect the other traffic tickets. Defendant later filed a motion seeking to dismiss the remaining charges, both felony and traffic, based on the State’s failure to comply with the speedy-trial demand of September 6, 1989, made in the DUI case. The court, on April 19, entered a written order dismissing all charges. The State appeals the dismissal of the felony.

The trial court, in determining all the charges should be dismissed, found that all the charges constituted a single prosecution, since they arose from the same conduct and the facts serving as a basis of the offenses were either known, or should have been known, to the State when the initial charges were commenced. It also found that the continuance of the trial from January 23 should not be attributed to defendant, since it was needed due to the State’s failure to comply with the discovery order. The court concluded that all the charges constituted a single prosecution, and “defendant’s written demand for speedy trial by jury filed in cause No. 88—TR—1924, being the first offense charged from the conduct, applied to all charges simultaneously filed or thereafter filed which arose from the same conduct of defendant known to the prosecution at the commencement of the prosecution.” In reaching its decision the court relied on People v. Williams (1981), 94 Ill. App. 3d 241, 418 N.E.2d 840, People v. Rodgers (1982), 106 Ill. App. 3d 741, 435 N.E.2d 963, and section 3— 3 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 3—3).

In Williams, the defendants were charged with rape and deviate sexual assault. On the 120th day following their demand for a speedy trial, the State filed nine new and additional charges against them, which necessitated a three-day continuance. These new charges arose from the same set of circumstances upon which the original charges were based. Defendant sought to have the nine new charges thrown out, as being prosecuted more than 120 days after their speedy-trial demand. The appellate court found the three-day continuance should be attributed to the State and, agreeing with defendants, dismissed the case. In so holding, it stated:

“Where new and additional charges arise from the same facts as did the original charges and the State had knowledge of these facts at the commencement of the prosecution, the time within which trial is to begin on the new and additional charges is subject to the same statutory limitation that is applied to the original charges.” Williams, 94 Ill. App. 3d at 248-49, 418 N.E.2d at 846.

In Rodgers, the court cited the above language approvingly in dismissing a case. Finally, section 3 — 3 of the Code provides in relevant part:

“(a) When the same conduct of a defendant may establish the commission of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each such offense.
(b) If the several offenses are known to the proper prosecuting officer at the time of commencing the prosecution and are within the jurisdiction of a single court, they must be prosecuted in a single prosecution, except as provided in Subsection (c), if they are based on the same act.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, pars. 3—3(a), (b).

In the present case, the court observed that the decedent died at the scene of the accident. It therefore concluded that these facts were known to the State at the time of the traffic violations, and that all the charges should, therefore, be considered a single prosecution. The court then relied on the language in Williams, and held that the felony charge was susceptible to the same statutory limits as the traffic charges.

While the quoted language in Williams is made without citation, it appears, after review of that case and others, that this proposition is based on application of section 3 — 3. The paragraph which con-tamed the earlier quoted language also includes citations to two other cases helpful to our analysis.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
552 N.E.2d 5, 195 Ill. App. 3d 212, 141 Ill. Dec. 868, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-crowe-illappct-1990.