People v. Gay

878 N.E.2d 805, 376 Ill. App. 3d 796, 316 Ill. Dec. 83, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 1171
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided November 6, 2007·No. 4-05-0915·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE COOK

delivered the opinion of the court:

In August 2005, a jury found defendant, Anthony Gay, guilty of aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12 — 4(b)(6) (West 2004)). In October 2005, the trial court imposed a six-year prison term to run consecutive to other sentences imposed on defendant. Defendant appeals, alleging his conviction must be reversed because it was obtained in violation of his speedy-trial right. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant, an inmate of the Department of Corrections (DOC) who was originally imprisoned for robbery, accrued a series of aggravated-battery charges consisting of throwing liquid or a semisolid substance on correctional officers or possessing weapons.

In this case, case No. 03 — CF—172 (case No. 172), defendant was indicted for aggravated battery on July 1, 2003, for an incident that occurred on August 25, 2000.

On August 25, 2000, defendant occupied cell 114 at Pontiac Correctional Center. Defendant placed papers in the hatch of his cell door, preventing it from closing. Sergeant Carl Smicker told defendant three times to remove the papers. Defendant responded by throwing a clear liquid with a urine odor at Smicker, hitting Smicker in the face and left side.

At the time defendant was charged in this case on July 1, 2003, defendant had five other pending cases in Livingston County, case Nos. 03 — CF—59 (case No. 59), 03 — CF—60 (case No. 60), 03 — CF—61 (case No. 61), 03 — CF—62 (case No. 62), and 03 — CF—146 (case No. 146). On the day defendant was charged in this case, he made a speedy-trial demand for each of the five pending cases. He did not include this case in that demand.

On October 31, 2003, at a pretrial hearing in this case, defendant stated he wanted to do one case per jury calendar. The trial court set case No. 60 for trial on November 12, 2003, and continued the other cases for pretrial on December 3, 2003. Defendant then made a motion to continue case No. 60 on grounds that he would not have enough time to review discovery and prepare for trial. Case No. 60 was, therefore, continued until the January term.

Defendant was convicted in case No. 60 on January 26, 2004, with sentencing scheduled for March 2, 2004. On January 26, 2004, defendant motioned to dismiss case Nos. 59, 61, and 62 for speedy-trial violations. The court noted that defendant demanded a speedy trial in case Nos. 59, 60, 61, 62, and 146 on July 1, 2003, and the State responded that defendant created or acquiesced in every delay from the beginning. Defendant continually insisted that the court only set one case per jury calendar and requested that case Nos. 59, 60, 61, 62, 146, and 172 be continued to January. The court continued defendant’s motion to dismiss case Nos. 59, 61, and 62 for speedy-trial violations to March 2, 2004.

On March 2, 2004, the trial court found that defendant had been tried within 160 days from July 1, 2003, for case No. 60 and that the 160-day period for the other cases had not begun to run because defendant had not yet been sentenced on case 60. The court dismissed defendant’s motion. Defendant stated he was ready for trial on case Nos. 59, 61, 62, and 172. Defendant stated he did not want to wait until the next calendar and was ready right then. The court set case Nos. 61 and 62 for April 12 and 13, 2004. The court did not set case Nos. 59 and 172 for the same term because the jury pool would be tainted by trying so many cases in one calendar.

On March 3, 2004, defendant made a pro se demand for a speedy trial, including as his pending cases, case No. 146, which had also been on his July 1, 2003, demand, and — for the first time — case No. 172, and newly acquired case Nos. 03 — CF—298 (case No. 298), 03 — CF— 299 (case No. 299), 03 — CF—318 (case No. 318), 04 — CF—13 (case No. 13), and 03 — CF—269 (case No. 269). The cause was set for April 28, 2004. At that hearing, defendant’s fitness was questioned and the court ordered an examination in this case, case No. 172, and 12 other pending cases. At this point, defendant had the following cases pending: (1) 3 cases pending sentencing, case Nos. 60, 61, and 62; (2) 10 cases where guilt-innocence remained unresolved, case Nos. 146, 172, 269, 298, 299, 318, 59, 13, and newly acquired case Nos. 04 — CF—24 (case No. 24) and 04 — CF—63 (case No. 63); and (3) 1 case with a postconviction petition pending, case No. 01 — CF—75 (case No. 75).

On May 26, 2004, the trial court ordered a fitness examination to determine defendant’s fitness.

On January 12, 2005, the trial court entered a case-management order due to the retirement of Judge Charles Frank, who had presided over 21 cases involving defendant. The order showed sentencing remained pending in case Nos. 60, 61, and 62, where fitness issues remained pending. The order further showed that 10 cases, including this case, were pending where guilt-innocence was at issue and where fitness issues remained pending.

On February 2, 2005, in 13 cases, including this one, defense counsel filed a motion for psychiatric examination, which was granted.

On March 16, 2005, defendant was found fit to proceed, and defendant discharged his attorney. Pretrial was set for June 8, 2005. On March 28, 2005, defendant filed a motion for substitution of judge. The motion was granted, but pretrial remained on June 8, 2005. On April 7, 2005, defendant filed another motion to substitute his judge. That motion, which was heard on July 7, 2005, was denied, and all pending matters were set for July 22.

On July 22, 2005, defendant was sentenced in case Nos. 60, 61, and 62. On August 3, 2005, the State announced ready for trial in this case, No. 172, and the cause was continued to August 9, 2005, for pending motions. On August 9, 2005, both parties announced ready for trial in case Nos. 59, 172, and 318. Trial was set for August 29, 2005, in case No. 59 and August 30, 2005, in case No. 172. Defendant’s trial in this case occurred on August 30, 2005.

The jury found defendant guilty herein. After hearing evidence in aggravation and mitigation, the trial court extended defendant’s imprisonment with the imposition of a consecutive six-year term of imprisonment. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

On appeal, defendant argues his conviction must be reversed because it was obtained in violation of his speedy-trial right. Defendant argues he filed his demand for speedy trial on March 3, 2004. His trial occurred on August 30, 2005. Excluding the delays attributable to him, defendant argues 179 days elapsed, 19 days longer than allowed by the applicable statute.

The State responds that defendant has forfeited his right to discharge on speedy-trial grounds by failing to apply for discharge prior to his conviction and failing to raise the speedy-trial issue in his posttrial motion. On the merits, the State argues defendant was tried within 160 days from the date on which judgment was rendered relative to the first charges prosecuted in case Nos. 60, 61, and 62.

Defendant replies that he did not include case Nos.

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People v. Gay, 878 N.E.2d 805, 376 Ill. App. 3d 796, 316 Ill. Dec. 83, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 1171 (Ill. Ct. App. 2007).

878 N.E.2d 805 (People v. Gay) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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