People v. Cunningham

218 N.E.2d 827, 73 Ill. App. 2d 357, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 930
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 22, 1966
DocketGen. 65-46
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 218 N.E.2d 827 (People v. Cunningham) 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. Cunningham, 218 N.E.2d 827, 73 Ill. App. 2d 357, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 930 (Ill. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

ALLOY, J.

Daniel J. Cunningham, defendant in this cause, was prosecuted for Attempt to Commit the Offense of Murder. This cause was tried before a jury which returned a verdict of guilty. The court denied a motion for new trial and also denied a petition for probation. Defendant was sentenced by the court to a term of not less than 10 nor more than 20 years.

On appeal in this court, defendant asserts that the Trial Court erred in the reception and handling of evidence and in ruling on objections thereto: in failing to exclude the People’s psychiatrist from the courtroom and thereafter permitting him to testify partially on evidence he heard in the courtroom; in the giving and refusal of instructions; and in making rulings with reference to the final argument of the State’s Attorney in the cause. Defendant also prays in the alternative that the sentence imposed by the Trial Court be reduced.

^ The facts in the case disclose that the defendant, Daniel Cunningham, during his lunch hour from his employment at the Rock Island Arsenal, had gone to downtown Moline on an errand to pick up a gasket for an outboard motor. He started to go back to the Arsenal but on the way stopped at a tavern in Moline. He then drank in that tavern for at least 30 minutes, drove back to the Arsenal, but was advised that he should go home and come back the next day. He then drove to East Moline and stopped at another tavern where he drank more intoxicants. He then left this second tavern and went to his home for a short period around 6:30 p. m. but left to go back to the second tavern which also served food. Defendant ate at this tavern. He is not positive where he went next but he did arrive at a tavern called the 2x4 Tavern. Defendant had never been in the tavern before and did not know any of the people there. After he continued drinking in the latter tavern, defendant became engaged in conversation with another customer whose name was Max Sharp. The conversation became hostile and a scuffle ensued, as a result of which defendant was thrown to the floor and was later helped up by the bartender and asked to leave. He then left the tavern, drove to his home, took a shotgun, drove back to the tavern, opened the door, and made some insulting statements about and to the people who were customers in the tavern. He began firing seven shots from the shotgun at various individuals in the tavern and struck many persons including the bartender, James Officer.

The police, following a call from defendant’s wife, who was not present in the tavern, found the defendant in the tavern and found it necessary to use gunfire to subdue defendant to prevent further violence on his part. Defendant was hospitalized and treated for his wounds.

Prior to the incident referred to, defendant had held a job at the Eock Island Arsenal as an inspector for a period of 11 years. He had an excellent reputation for being a peaceable and law-abiding citizen. Defendant had never committed any crime or been in any difficulty with the law. He had been married for 11 years and had two children. He was 34 years of age at the time of the shooting.

Defendant had a grammar school education. At the age of 17 he entered the Air Force where he remained for five years, and, after receiving his honorable discharge, he moved to the Eock Island-Moline area and took the job at the Eock Island Arsenal.

Prior to August 4, 1964, he had been a moderate social drinker and usually drank only beer. He never drank at home in deference to his wife’s wishes. Some of the witnesses at the time of the incident testified that the defendant, when they observed him, did not appear in a drunken state. Others, including the bartender, said defendant was high or feeling his liquor. Defendant stated that he had memory gaps as to various things that took place on the night in question and didn’t know exactly how much he had to drink.

At the hospital where he was taken following his injuries received from gunfire by the police, defendant was found in a highly disturbed condition by the treating doctor, was acting wild, and had a strong odor of alcohol about him. Defendant’s conduct on the night of the shooting was completely different than at later times in the hospital, when he was subdued and polite.

A psychiatrist called on behalf of defendant, testified that he had examined defendant at the request of defense counsel, in the month of October, 1964. The psychiatrist concluded that defendant being examined was a different man than the one described in the shooting incident on August 4, 1964. This psychiatrist also stated that he could determine with reasonable degree of medical certainty that on August 4, 1964, defendant, particularly during the shooting, suffered from a mental disease or a mental defect which rendered him lacking in substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. He stated that this mental disease or mental defect was produced and precipitated by an unusually large amount of alcohol which defendant had consumed from noon of that day until about midnight. The psychiatrist concluded that in a sober condition defendant could not have conducted himself in the manner in which he did.

Another psychiatrist was called on behalf of the People and testified that he had listened to various witnesses at the trial, including Daniel Cunningham, and, based on the testimony heard and other hypothetical facts propounded, in his opinion, at the time of the occurrence in question, defendant was not suffering from a mental defect or disease. He stated that defendant was able to form an intent to commit the crime he was charged with and was not sufficiently intoxicated so that the intent was negatived. He gave as one of the reasons for this conclusion, that of the witnesses who testified whom he had heard, only one stated that defendant staggered and the others did not. This psychiatrist for the State also concluded that defendant had substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct and to conform his conduct within the requirements of law. He conceded that it is possible for a person to be in an insane condition for a period as short as half an hour or several hours or for longer periods and also stated that alcohol could produce temporary insanity and that persons in such condition could commit grave outrages of which they afterwards might remember nothing and which might appear incomprehensible to themselves.

One of the principal defense contentions is that the court erred in allowing the People to elicit answers to questions concerning the physical condition of individuals shot by the defendant. An inquiry was made by the State in the course of the trial as to the nature and effect of the injuries of various individuals who had been shot in the 2x4 Tavern on the night in question. When William Officer testified, he was asked by the State’s Attorney to describe the extent of his injuries briefly. When the objection to this inquiry was overruled by the court, the witness was allowed to explain that three inches of the upper muscle of his right arm was struck and that the “bone was completely out.” Upon defense objection requesting that this comment be stricken as prejudicial, the court responded that the answer could stand. The State’s Attorney also asked whether Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
218 N.E.2d 827, 73 Ill. App. 2d 357, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 930, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cunningham-illappct-1966.