People v. Gonzalez

2025 IL App (1st) 231550-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 14, 2025
Docket1-23-1550
StatusUnpublished

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Bluebook
People v. Gonzalez, 2025 IL App (1st) 231550-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

2025 IL App (1st) 231550-U

No. 1-23-1550

Order filed February 14, 2025

FIFTH DIVISION

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT

) PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. YK00070331 ) CHRISTIANA GONZALEZ, ) Honorable ) Stanley L. Hill, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. )

JUSTICE MITCHELL delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Mikva and Justice Navarro concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: Defendant Christiana Gonzalez’s conviction for leaving the scene of an accident is reversed where the State’s evidence was insufficient to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant’s other convictions are affirmed where the State’s evidence was sufficient, and the cause is remanded for the limited purpose of correcting a scrivener’s error.

¶2 Defendant Christiana Gonzalez appeals her convictions for driving while under the

influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, improper lane usage, transporting alcohol,

driving without a valid driver’s license, and stopping, standing or parking outside of a business or

residence district. Defendant was sentenced to 18 months’ supervision and $1,050 in fines. The

issues presented are: (1) whether the State proved defendant guilty of her offenses beyond a No. 1-23-1550

reasonable doubt, and (2) whether the circuit court abused its discretion in failing to grant a 100%

waiver of defendant’s fines. For the following reasons, we reverse defendant’s conviction for

leaving the scene of an accident, affirm her other convictions, and remand for the limited purpose

of correcting a scrivener’s error.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 On the evening of October 29, 2021, Officer Brenka of the Berwyn Police Department

responded to a call about a hit and run vehicle collision near 2715 Highland Avenue in Berwyn,

Illinois. When he arrived, he saw a parked silver Hyundai that had been struck on the rear

passenger side. Officer Brenka then saw on his computer that a “slumper” had been reported a

couple blocks away, near the intersection of West 28th Street and Ridgeland Avenue. Believing

that it could be related to the hit and run, Officer Brenka drove to the scene.

¶5 Upon arriving, Officer Brenka observed a black Mercedes SUV facing westbound on 28th

Street with a woman, defendant Christiana Gonzalez, asleep in the driver’s seat with the car in

reverse and her foot on the brake. Other officers and an ambulance had arrived at the scene before

Officer Brenka. One of the other officers opened the front passenger door, which was unlocked,

and turned off the vehicle. According to Officer Brenka, defendant’s breath smelled strongly of

alcohol, her eyes were bloodshot, and the rear of her pants and the driver’s seat were wet.

Defendant’s demeanor was “pretty relaxed,” and she asked about the location of her car keys

before being taken to the hospital. The front driver’s side of the vehicle was damaged and had a

silver paint transfer that Officer Brenka believed was “consistent with the parked Hyundai that

was struck down the road.”

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¶6 Officer Brenka searched defendant’s vehicle and found an insurance card and a state

identification card but no driver’s license. After running defendant’s name through the Law

Enforcement Agencies Data System, Officer Brenka determined that she did not possess a valid

Illinois driver’s license. The interior compartment of the vehicle contained an open can of Monaco

alcohol and an open bottle of Tito’s vodka.

¶7 At the hospital emergency room, defendant told Officer Brenka that she had a heart

condition, that she had been on her way home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and had

been “drinking, but not the hard stuff.” Officer Brenka could not perform a standard field sobriety

test because defendant was in a hospital bed but asked her to perform two verbal sobriety tests:

reciting the alphabet and counting backwards. According to Officer Brenka, defendant’s speech

was “very slurred,” and she was unable to successfully complete the tests.

¶8 Defendant agreed to allow the hospital staff to collect blood and urine samples from her.

The samples were properly sealed, and Brenka signed the samples and inventoried them as

evidence back at the police department building.

¶9 Defendant was charged with one count of driving while under the influence of alcohol (625

ILCS 5/11-501(a)(2) (West 2020)), leaving the scene of an accident (625 ILCS 5/11-402(a) (West

2020)), improper lane usage (625 ILCS 5/11-709(a) (West 2020)), transporting alcohol (625 ILCS

5/11-502(a) (West 2020)), driving without a valid driver’s license (625 ILCS 5/6-101 (West

2020)), and stopping, standing or parking outside of a business or residence district (625 ILCS

5/11-1301 (West 2020)).

¶ 10 At trial, Officer Brenka testified to the events of October 29, 2021, as recounted above. He

also testified that he was trained in driving under the influence detection and investigation, and

-3- No. 1-23-1550

crash investigation and reconstruction. Additionally, he testified that, based on the results from the

blood and urine samples and that there was open alcohol in the car, defendant’s breath smelled

strongly of alcohol, she appeared to have urinated on herself, and she failed the sobriety tests, it

was his belief that defendant was under the influence of alcohol that evening.

¶ 11 Officer Brenka’s dashboard camera footage from that evening was also admitted into

evidence. Defendant and her SUV are outside the view of the camera. However, Officer Brenka

can be heard asking defendant why she was passed out in the middle of the street, with defendant

responding by asking for her car keys. Later in the video, after searching the SUV, Officer Brenka

walks to the front of his vehicle and shows an open Monaco can and a bottle of Tito’s vodka to the

camera.

¶ 12 Katie Craft, an employee of the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Command, testified

that she analyzed defendant’s blood samples and found that they contained ethanol at a level of

0.352 grams per deciliter. The State sought to admit Craft’s lab report into evidence, but the circuit

court ruled the report inadmissible hearsay.

¶ 13 Defendant testified that she has heart arrhythmia that she takes medication for and that her

condition is affected by stress and sometimes causes her to urinate on herself or go into cardiac

arrest. Defendant testified that at 7:00 p.m. on October 29, 2021, she purchased supplies at Home

Depot. As she was putting her purchases into her SUV, she hit the parked vehicle next to her with

her SUV’s door. She exchanged contact information with the owner of the vehicle and then hit his

vehicle with her door again, which caused the man to become “very irate.” Defendant left the

parking lot and started to drive home. She was upset by the encounter, so she pulled over and

called a family member. They spoke for around 20 minutes, during which time her vehicle was

-4- No. 1-23-1550

turned off and in park.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 IL App (1st) 231550-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gonzalez-illappct-2025.