People v. Goodman

451 N.E.2d 607, 116 Ill. App. 3d 125, 71 Ill. Dec. 639, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2018
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 6, 1983
Docket82-499
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 451 N.E.2d 607 (People v. Goodman) 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. Goodman, 451 N.E.2d 607, 116 Ill. App. 3d 125, 71 Ill. Dec. 639, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2018 (Ill. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

JUSTICE LINDBERG

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Jesse Goodman, appeals from the extended-term sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment that he received upon remandment by this court to the circuit court of Winnebago County for resentencing on his convictions for murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9—1) and armed robbery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 18—2). Because we find no error in that resentencing, we affirm.

Defendant was found guilty of murder and armed robbery after a jury trial in 1980. He was sentenced to natural life imprisonment for the murder and to a concurrent six-year term for the armed robbery. He appealed and this court, while affirming the convictions, reversed the sentences and remanded for a new sentencing hearing. (People v. Goodman (1981), 98 Ill. App. 3d 743, 424 N.E.2d 663.) A new sentencing hearing was held and, on June 3, 1982, defendant was sentenced to an extended term of 50 years’ imprisonment for the murder conviction alone.

A summary of the evidence introduced at trial can be found in our opinion in the first appeal of this cause (98 Ill. App. 3d 743, 744-45, 424 N.E.2d 663, 665-66) and need not be repeated here. At the resentencing hearing, defendant presented the following additional testimony Eunice Berryhill, defendant’s great-aunt, described defendant’s history of abuse of drugs and alcohol. Defendant himself testified at the resentencing hearing for the first time in any of the proceedings of this cause. He related his vocational training received during an earlier incarceration and his art work during his present incarceration. He described his past drug and alcohol abuse and the counseling he had undergone during his present incarceration. Defendant expressed regret for taking a man’s life.

Defendant then testified concerning the murder of Dale Helgeson on July 20, 1979. He drove with his brother to the Tenstopet Tavern, parked in the rear parking lot and entered the back door to use the toilet. He had been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana from about 3 or 4 in the afternoon of that day. While he was using the urinal, the victim entered and went over to the toilet. He appeared intoxicated and staggering, and had money sticking out of his upper left-hand shirt pocket. Defendant came up behind the victim with the intent of grabbing his money and running out the door. As defendant reached out, the victim spun around, hit defendant and grabbed hold of his hair. A fight ensued during which the victim hit defendant’s head against the restroom wall, and defendant attempted to get loose. Defendant grabbed both of the victim’s thumbs as the victim’s hands were holding defendant’s hair, and bent the thumbs until they cracked and went limp. The victim still held defendant’s hair, and was hitting his head against the wall, and at that point defendant pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed the man until he let go. Defendant then grabbed the victim’s money and wallet from the bathroom floor and ran out to his car. He sent his brother back into the tavern to recover his glasses. He first realized that the victim had died through a radio report as he was riding in his car about an hour or an hour and a half later.

On appeal, defendant raises three issues: whether the resentencing court (1) improperly failed to consider defendant’s testimony as evidence offered in mitigation; (2) improperly failed to make an independent assessment of the factor upon which it imposed an extended term; and (3) erred in finding defendant’s behavior to be exceptionally brutal or heinous indicative of wanton cruelty.

With regard to his first contention, defendant points out that section 5 — 4—1(a)(3) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code) requires a sentencing court to consider evidence and information offered by the parties in aggravation and mitigation. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 1005—4—1(a)(3).) At the resentencing hearing at issue here, defendant testified regarding the factual circumstances of the murder. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to give consideration to his testimony offered in mitigation.

There is a strong presumption that a judge’s sentencing decision is based upon proper legal reasoning. (People v. Horstman (1981), 103 Ill. App. 3d 17, 430 N.E.2d 523.) Where evidence offered in mitigation and before the trial court, the sentencing judge will be presumed to have considered it unless there is some statement in the record, aside from the sentence imposed, which would tend to indicate otherwise. (People v. Fugitt (1980), 87 Ill. App. 3d 1044, 409 N.E.2d 537.) Here, the sentencing judge heard defendant testify about the crime. However, defendant argues that the record shows that the judge did not consider that testimony because (1) in the court’s sentencing analysis reference was made to defendant’s testimony concerning his activities during his present incarceration while no reference was made to his testimony regarding the facts of the murder, and (2) the court stated, at a point after defendant’s testimony, that “[n]o one has questioned the original [presentence] report which I have indicated is a part of what the Court will consider.”

The court’s failure to specifically mention defendant’s testimony regarding the murder does not show that the court failed to consider that testimony. The court is not obligated to recite, and assign value to, each fact presented at a sentencing hearing. People v. Meeks (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 524; People v. McFarland (1981), 93 Ill. App. 3d 136, 416 N.E.2d 769.

The sentencing court’s remark that no one had questioned the original presentence report was made in response to an objection by defense counsel. Defense counsel had objected when the prosecutor argued that defendant had agreed to the report’s statement of facts through his acceptance of the report. Defendant apparently suggested that, because his testimony differed from the report’s statement of facts, his testimony was a challenge to the report which the court had ignored. However, a more reasonable interpretation of the court’s remark is that no specific objection had been made to the report. Section 5—4—1(a)(2) of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 1005—4—1(a)(2)) requires the sentencing court to consider any presentence report, and it is the duty of the party to bring to the court’s attention any alleged deficiency or inaccuracy in a presentence report. (People v. Meeks (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 524.) We are of the opinion that the court’s remark was addressed to defendant’s failure to point out an alleged inaccuracy in the report and not to an absence of contradictory evidence at the resentencing hearing.

Thus, defendant has not overcome the presumption that the court considered evidence offered in mitigation which it had received.

With regard to his second contention, defendant points out that section 5 — 4—1(b) of the Code requires that a judge impose sentence based upon his independent assessment of the sentencing elements. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par.

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Bluebook (online)
451 N.E.2d 607, 116 Ill. App. 3d 125, 71 Ill. Dec. 639, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-goodman-illappct-1983.