People v. Deveaux

561 N.E.2d 1259, 204 Ill. App. 3d 392, 149 Ill. Dec. 563, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1524
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 28, 1990
Docket1-88-2443
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 561 N.E.2d 1259 (People v. Deveaux) 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. Deveaux, 561 N.E.2d 1259, 204 Ill. App. 3d 392, 149 Ill. Dec. 563, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1524 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE GORDON

delivered the opinion of the court:

After a bench trial, defendant, Mark Deveaux, was convicted of possession with intent to deliver more than 30 grams of a controlled substance (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 56V2, par. 1401(a)(2)) and possession with intent to deliver more than 500 grams of cannabis (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 56V2, par. 705(e)) and sentenced to concurrent terms of seven and five years in prison. On appeal, he contends: (1) he was denied effective assistance by his privately retained counsel; (2) the search warrant used to seize the controlled substance and cannabis was invalid; (3) his confession was improperly admitted because he did not receive his full Miranda warnings; and (4) his jury waiver was ineffective because it was not in writing. We affirm.

Officer Calvin Holliday, testifying for the State, stated that on November 3, 1986, he obtained a warrant to search apartment No. 705 at 7636 South Shore Drive in Chicago (hereinafter apartment No. 705). The warrant was obtained on Officer Holliday’s sworn “Complaint for Search Warrant” which stated that on November 2, 1986, a confidential informant had told him that he had gone to apartment No. 705 with a person named “Mark” who gave him a substance which he knew to be cocaine. The warrant authorized the search of Mark and apartment No. 705 and the seizure of drugs, proof of residence, records of drug transactions, and commingled United States currency. Though the lefthand margin of the warrant contained a notation of an assistant State’s Attorney’s approval of the warrant at “3 Nov 86 1045 hrs,” the handwritten time and date of issuance appearing on the warrant was “11:23 p.m. on Nov. 3, 1986.”

Officer Holliday stated that he and a number of other police officers went to apartment No. 705 at approximately 12:45 p.m. on November 3, 1986, to execute the search warrant. Holliday knocked on the apartment door, and it was eventually opened by a woman whom he later learned was Monique King. When he told King that he had a search warrant for the apartment, she allowed him and his fellow officers to enter. They then secured the apartment and began searching the bedroom for the items listed in the warrant. During the search, Holliday found two clear plastic bags containing a white powder, later identified as cocaine, on top of a dresser and $2,000 in United States currency in its drawer. He also found 20 clear plastic bags — four containing a white powder, later identified as cocaine, and 16 containing a crushed green plant, later identified as cannabis — in a foot locker in the bedroom.

Holliday seized the drugs and the currency and prepared to leave the apartment. When he opened the front door, he saw a person, whom he later identified as the defendant, holding a handbag while leaning “at” the door. When defendant identified himself as Mark Deveaux, Holliday took his handbag and placed him under arrest. One of Holliday’s partners, Officer Robert Montgomery, then read defendant his Miranda rights from a police procedures handbook. As he was reading these rights, Holliday searched through defendant’s handbag and found $2,102 in United States currency. After Montgomery had completed reading the rights, Holliday asked defendant why he had not used his key to enter the apartment, and defendant responded that he had broken the key in the lock. Upon Holliday’s request, however, defendant did give him a key to the building’s elevator which, Holliday discovered, fit the elevator door. Also, Holliday asked defendant if the bags of white powder and crushed green plant found in the apartment were his, and defendant responded that they were.

On cross-examination, Holliday stated that when he searched defendant and found the money in his handbag he found no contraband on his person. He also attested that when Montgomery read defendant’s Miranda rights from the police procedures handbook, he read those rights in their entirety. Holliday stated that he always used that handbook when “Mirandizing” a defendant because he did not memorize those rights by rote. Holliday also verified that his partner asked defendant if he understood his rights after they were read to him and defendant said he did.

In addition, Holliday confirmed that he personally noticed a broken key in the lock after defendant had pointed it out to him. After he questioned defendant at the apartment, he took him to the police station. There, defendant told him that he lived in apartment No. 705. Holliday denied, however, that he had signed an arrest sheet which had defendant’s address typed “7636 South Shore” directly above a crossed out notation that his address was “1758 East 74th Street.”

The parties stipulated to the chain of custody regarding the elevator key and the seized narcotics and as to the quantity and identity of those narcotics. Thereafter, Cloda Robinson, the superintendent of the 7636 South Shore Drive building, testified on behalf of defendant. He stated that Monique King had an oral lease and paid the rent for apartment No. 705 and, to the best of his knowledge, only she and her children occupied that apartment. He further stated that he had seen defendant around the building but could not say how often he was there.

Defendant testified that he lived at 1758 East 74th Street, had lived there for 16 years, and never had lived at or paid rent for any apartment at the 7636 South Shore Drive building. He stated that he was at the 7636 South Shore Drive building on November 3 to visit his friend, Monique King. He had been to her apartment on only two previous occasions. When he arrived at the building, he first rang the bell to her apartment but, when there was no answer, he walked onto an elevator with other people and then rode the elevator to the seventh floor. When he arrived at King’s apartment, a police officer opened the door and told him to come in. When he responded affirmatively to that officer’s question whether his name was Mark, he was then handcuffed and read his rights. The police then searched him and took his keys. He denied that any of his keys fit the apartment door and further stated that he never had a key to that door. He further denied ever telling the police that the contraband found in the apartment was his or that he lived at that address.

On cross-examination, defendant stated that he had known Monique King for three months but did not recall the dates of his prior visits to her apartment. Upon further questioning, however, he stated that the visits must have been in October. He further stated that in November of 1986 he worked for his grandmother, doing maintenance work and collecting rents at her apartment buildings. He admitted having approximately $2,100 in the handbag he was carrying when arrested and explained that all but $100 of that money was rent money he had collected for his grandmother. He denied ever telling Officer Holliday that he had broken the key to the apartment door and acknowledged receiving all his keys back from the police officers.

After hearing closing arguments, the trial judge found defendant guilty of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and cannabis, stating:

“I believe the key to the case is whether or not the defendant said what the officer has testified that the defendant said. All the officer said — so it is a matter of credibility.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
561 N.E.2d 1259, 204 Ill. App. 3d 392, 149 Ill. Dec. 563, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-deveaux-illappct-1990.