People v. Glover

327 N.E.2d 310, 27 Ill. App. 3d 827, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2149
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 28, 1975
Docket73-156
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 327 N.E.2d 310 (People v. Glover) 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. Glover, 327 N.E.2d 310, 27 Ill. App. 3d 827, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2149 (Ill. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE EAGLETON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Willie Frank Glover, the defendant-appellant, was indicted for the; offense of armed robbery. At a trial in Kane County before the Honorable John S. Petersen, he was found guilty by a jury and was sentenced to 5 to 20 years. In this appeal, he presents three issues:

1. Whether the evidence presented by the State was sufficient to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt;

2. Whether incompetent evidence before the court during the hearing on aggravation and mitigation prejudiced the defendant; and

3. Whether defendant’s sentence violates provisions of the Unified Code of Corrections and should be reduced?

On January 9, 1972, between the hours of 10:30 and 11 P.M., a black man entered Shannon’s Tavern in Montgomery, Illinois, sat at the far end of the bar, and got a drink. There were 12 to 14 other people in the bar and one bartender. Seconds later two black men entered,, one with a shotgun, and ordered everybody on the floor. The first black man who had entered then jumped off of his stool, pulled a pistol and said, “You hear what he said.” Wallets were taken from three men and a purse was taken from one woman. Two men were put in the beer cooler and at least two of the men in the bar and the bartender were struck on the head. One man had a cerebral concussion, lacerations and contusions. Five or six minutes after all three black men left, one of the women in the bar got up, let the men out of the cooler and called the police.

Defendant in the meantime had been waiting outside the tavern, in his car with the motor running. One of the three black men, Ronald Watkins, the State’s principal witness, testified that defendant had assisted-in the planning of the offense and that he received a portion of the proceeds. Defendant himself denied all knowledge of the events which transpired inside of the tavern, asserting that he was only waiting in the car while one of the three men, Mr. Harston, bought a bottle of liquor. He further asserted that he became ill from drinking alcohol and “puked up” while waiting in the car for the others. When the three men emerged from the tavern they entered defendant’s car, Harston told him to “take off,” and they were driven away by him. The defendant drove his car around a curve and slid into something which damaged a wheel óf his car. He then drove to the nearby apartment of the girl friend of the other man in the car, defendant’s brother-in-law, Charles Passley. From there one Gus Williams was called and Williams picked the four men up and drove them to the defendant’s house where the money was divided. Defendant told police and testified that he took no part in the division of the proceeds, but did see the other three with wallets, purses and money later at his house.

During the month of February 1972 witnesses at the tavern went to the Aurora Police Department to view photographs of possible suspects. Three of them identified Charles Passley; one identified Ronald Watkins; and two identified O. Z. Harston. No witness who had been inside the tavern identified the defendant as a participant.

I

Defendant argues that there was insufficient proof of an essential element of guilt, namely,.proof of a specific intent “to promote or facilitate” as required by section 5 — 2 of the Criminal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 5 — 2). To support this proposition he characterizes the accomplice testimony of Ronald Watkins as “uncorroborated.” The record does hot support such a characterization. Indeed, the defendant himself corroborates substantial portions of Watkins’ testimony. The essential disagreements between their respective versions of the night’s activities • were whether the defendant participated in planning the crime, had prior knowledge of what the other three actually intended to do in the tavern,, and shared in the loot.

It is well settled that the court may review all- the evidence to determine whether it shows the guilt of - the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt; and where the record leaves thé court with a grave and substantial. doubt of the guilt of the defendant, judgment will be-reversed. (People v. Lewellen, 43 Ill.2d 74, 78, 250 N.E.2d 651 (1969); People v. Willson, 401 Ill. 68, 73, 81 N.E.2d 485 (1948).) It is also-well settled that' certain question's, such as the weight of disputed evidence and the credibility of witnesses,, are peculiarly within the province of a properly instructed jury. It is neither the duty nor the privilege of a reviewing court to substitute its judgment as to the weight of disputed evidence or the credibility of witnesses for that of the triers of fact, and we cannot reverse a criminal conviction unless the evidence is so improbable as to raise a reasonable, doubt of guilt. People v. Nicholls, 44 Ill.2d 533, 540, 256 N.E.2d 818 (1970); People v. Novotny, 41 Ill.2d 401, 412, 244 N.E.2d 182 (1968).

Defendant relies primarily upon People v. Hermens, 5 Ill.2d 277, 125 N.E.2d 500 (1955). In Hermens the court found no corroboration dfthe.accomplice and both the defendant and another accomplice testified-' the defendant did not participate in the crime, factors not present in the instant case. Furthermore, Hermens, at page 285, clearly stands for the traditional Illinois position that tire testimony of an accomplice is necessarily received with caution, but such testimony, even if uncorroborated, is sufficient to warrant a conviction if it satisfies the trier of the fact beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Mentola, 47 Ill.2d 579, 583, 268 N.E.2d 8 (1971), recently cites Hermens in exactly those terms.

A review of the record-indicates the defendant was afforded a fair trial and the verdict of. the jury was amply justified.

II

At the hearing in aggravation and mitigation the sentencing judge had a presentence investigation report consisting of some basic personal and family data, a short summary of previous sentences, the status of a pending forgery charge bound over to the grand jury, and attached “rap sheets” (containing 67 entries in less tiran 6 years of varying degrees of import) from the Aurora Police Department, the Illinois Bureau of Identification and the Federal Bureau of Identification. The sentencing court obviously had before him references to numerous charges and arrests from the report that were neither supported by conviction nor admitted criminal conduct by the defendant. A simple answer to defendant’s charge of prejudice in sentencing would be to merely acknowledge that we “must presume that the trial judge in this case recognized any incompetent evidence introduced at the pre-sentence hearing and disregarded it” (People v. Fuca, 43 Ill.2d 182, 186, 251 N.E.2d 239 (1969)).

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327 N.E.2d 310, 27 Ill. App. 3d 827, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-glover-illappct-1975.