People v. Echols

887 N.E.2d 793, 382 Ill. App. 3d 309, 320 Ill. Dec. 649, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 364
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 22, 2008
Docket1-05-3293
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 887 N.E.2d 793 (People v. Echols) 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. Echols, 887 N.E.2d 793, 382 Ill. App. 3d 309, 320 Ill. Dec. 649, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 364 (Ill. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

JUSTICE KARNEZIS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant Mack Echols was found guilty of residential burglary and was sentenced to a term of seven years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the search of his home; (2) the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of theft; (3) he was denied a fair trial because the jury instruction regarding his alleged oral statement was erroneous; and (4) the State’s rebuttal closing argument was improper. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On April 11, 2004, James Rauch and Eric Metz resided in an apartment located at 1530 North Hudson Avenue in Chicago. Both had been out of town for the weekend. When they returned, they found the back door to their apartment damaged. Rauch noticed that items had been taken from a jewelry box in his bedroom. The items mostly consisted of rings he had won in swimming competitions in college, an Olympic silver medal pin, watches and cuff links. Rauch also noticed that a cup that had contained loose change, a digital camera and a small tool kit were missing from his bedroom. Rauch’s bicycle was also missing.

On April 12, parole officers Michael Davey and Tim Blair went to defendant’s house to conduct a parole check. Defendant had previously been in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections and was on mandatory supervised release (MSR), commonly referred to as parole. Officer Davey testified at trial that his duties as a parole agent were to supervise and monitor individuals that had been released from correctional centers to make sure they were in compliance with the terms of their MSR agreements. Specifically, he stated that officers test individuals for drugs, verify their employment status and conduct searches of their person and property. Officer Davey also testified that he believed that as part of the MSR agreement, individuals agreed to submit to searches of their homes. He stated that when he and his partner arrived at defendant’s house, another officer was already present as well as defendant’s wife. The other officer had responded to a domestic disturbance call and was speaking with defendant’s wife. Defendant was not present. Officer Davey and his partner left to attempt to locate defendant. After being unable to locate defendant, the officers returned to his house. They spoke with defendant’s wife, who Officer Davey described as crying, fearful and distraught. Defendant’s wife informed the officers that defendant had not returned home. Officer Davey asked her for permission to go through defendant’s property and she directed them upstairs to a bedroom and more specifically to a dresser. Inside the dresser was mostly male clothing as well as a bag containing numerous gold rings, an Olympic silver medal pin, several watches and some cuff links. The officers recovered the items and brought them to the police station. They later returned to defendant’s house and recovered a bicycle from the stairway leading up to the bedrooms. Rauch identified the items recovered from defendant’s house as belonging to him.

Defendant was arrested later that month and interviewed by Detective Blase Foria. Detective Foria read defendant his Miranda warnings and then asked him about the burglary at 1530 North Hudson. According to Detective Foria, defendant responded that he was “sick of his lifestyle of doing drugs” and wanted to “clean himself up.” Defendant then told the officer that on the morning of April 11, 2004, he used a small pry tool and broke open the back door of the apartment. Defendant went to a bedroom and took items from a jewelry box. Defendant returned home, showed the items to his wife and put them in his dresser drawer. Defendant indicated the items from the jewelry box consisted of rings, watches, tie clips and cuff links. Defendant further stated that he was going to sell the items to purchase drugs. Detective Foria admitted on cross-examination that he did not have defendant memoralize the statement in writing or on videotape.

ANALYSIS

Search of Defendant’s Home

On appeal, defendant first contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress evidence. Defendant argues that the search of his home was unconstitutional because it was not based on “reasonable suspicion.” He maintains that had defense counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence, the motion would have been granted.

Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are analyzed under the two-prong test set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 104 S. Ct. 2052 (1984), as adopted by the Illinois Supreme Court in People v. Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d 504, 525 (1984). First, a defendant must prove that counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d at 525. Second, a defendant must establish that, absent counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would probably have been different. Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d at 525. A court need not determine whether counsel’s performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiencies. Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d at 527. If it is easier to dispose of an ineffectiveness claim on the ground of lack of sufficient prejudice, that course should be followed. Albanese, 104 Ill. 2d at 527.

Defendant primarily relies on People v. Wilson, 364 Ill. App. 3d 762 (2006), for support. This court’s decision in Wilson determined that a search of the defendant’s home pursuant to the conditions of his MSR agreement was reasonable under the fourth amendment if the search was supported by reasonable suspicion. Wilson, 364 Ill. App. 3d at 772. However, during the pendency of this appeal, our supreme court reversed this court’s holding in Wilson. People v. Wilson, 228 Ill. 2d 35 (2008). Our supreme court determined instead that the “ ‘Fourth Amendment does not prohibit a police officer from conducting a suspicionless search of a parolee.’ [Citation.]” Wilson, 228 Ill. 2d at 46. The supreme court reasoned that any fourth amendment special protection afforded to the defendant’s residence was lost when he became a parolee and agreed to consent to a search of his residence in his MSR agreement. Wilson, 228 Ill. 2d at 48. Therefore, Wilson no longer supports defendant’s contention. Had defense counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence on the basis that the search violated defendant’s constitutional rights, it would not have been granted, and the outcome of the proceedings would not have been different. We find no ineffective assistance of counsel.

Lesser Included Offense of Theft

Defendant next contends that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of theft. Defendant maintains that a jury instruction for theft was proper because the offense of theft was mentioned in the indictment and a rational jury could have convicted him of theft while acquitting him of residential burglary.

Generally, a defendant may not be convicted of an offense for which he has not been charged. People v. Hamilton, 179 Ill. 2d 319, 323 (1997). However, a defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed on a less serious offense if that offense is included in the charged offense.

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People v. Echols
887 N.E.2d 793 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
887 N.E.2d 793, 382 Ill. App. 3d 309, 320 Ill. Dec. 649, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-echols-illappct-2008.