People v. Gregory

540 N.E.2d 854, 184 Ill. App. 3d 676, 132 Ill. Dec. 932, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 867
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 14, 1989
Docket2-88-0024
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 540 N.E.2d 854 (People v. Gregory) 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. Gregory, 540 N.E.2d 854, 184 Ill. App. 3d 676, 132 Ill. Dec. 932, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 867 (Ill. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

PRESIDING JUSTICE UNVERZAGT

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Marcus Gregory, was convicted by a jury of burglary and criminal trespass to a motor vehicle. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, pars. 19 — 1(a), 21 — 2.) The court vacated the criminal trespass conviction as a lesser included offense of burglary and sentenced the defendant to six years’ imprisonment in the Department of Corrections.

Defendant contends his burglary conviction must be reversed and the cause remanded for reinstatement of and sentencing on the criminal trespass conviction because the jury’s verdict finding him guilty of burglary was coerced.

Detailed recitation of the facts of the offenses is not required. Suffice it to say the defendant, a recently terminated Sears employee, was discovered on September 19, 1987, inside a semi-truck trailer parked in the Sears Roebuck loading area. He had a key for the trailer padlock, which was discovered open, and many of the boxes inside the frailer had been torn or cut open. The Sears security manager found a flashlight and glove in the trailer which he could identify as belonging to the defendant, and also found a sharpened stick stuck into one of the boxes.

Slightly more than two hours after the jury retired to deliberate, the following proceedings took place:

“(The following proceedings were had in open court outside the presence and hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: The jury has sent a question.
THE BAILIFF: They have got a verdict now.
MR. SMITH [Assistant State’s Attorney]: What is the question?
THE COURT: ‘If the record is split on one charge, how do we fill out the guilty forms: guilty; not guilty? Both forms or one?’ Did they now reach a verdict?
MR. SMITH: That’s what Willis was saying.
THE COURT: Have they now reached a verdict? Did you say they have reached a verdict?
THE BAILIFF: That’s what they told me.
THE COURT: Okay. Then we don’t have to answer the question.
(The following proceedings were had in open court in the presence and hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, have we reached a verdict?
THE FOREMAN: Yes, your Honor, we have.
THE COURT: Do you want to hand the verdict forms to Mr. Payne, please? All of them.
THE FOREMAN: (Complying.)
THE COURT: (Reading verdict.) ‘We, the Jury, find the Defendant Marcus Gregory guilty of the offense of burglary.’
And, ‘We, the Jury, find the Defendant Marcus Gregory guilty of the offense of criminal trespass to motor vehicle.’
THE FOREMAN: No, I don’t think so, your Honor. You better look at the papers correctly.
UNIDENTIFIED JUROR: Look at the burglary again.
THE COURT: (Reading documents.) ‘We, the Jury, find the Defendant Marcus Gregory guilty of the offense of burglary.’
UNIDENTIFIED JUROR: There was an additional form there. There was a split.
THE COURT: Oh, Lord.
THE FOREMAN: That was the question that we had earlier about the—
THE COURT: Okay. Do you want to come up here?
(Whereupon the following proceedings were had at the bench out of the hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: They’re right. We have twelve signatures on the criminal trespass to motor vehicle. We have ten signatures and two signatures on the—
[MR. SMITH]: They have got to go back and deliberate then.
THE COURT: Pardon?
[MR. SMITH]: They have got to go back and deliberate.
[MS. CECKOWSKI] (Assistant Public Defender): I agree that we don’t have any choice. I ask that they be hung as far as—
(Whereupon the following proceedings were had in open court in the presence and hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, as the instructions I have previously given you indicate, your verdict upon any charge must be unanimous. So, with that I’m going to return these forms, and. ask you to continue your deliberations, and with that I’d ask you to retire again.
The record should reflect that when I first looked at the verdict form I saw what looked like enough signatures on the guilty verdict to the burglary, and then I realized there was only ten on that and two on the not guilty verdict.”

Within the hour, the jury was brought back into open court and the verdict forms finding the defendant guilty of burglary and criminal trespass to a vehicle were read by the court. The two signatures on the “not guilty” of burglary verdict form were scratched off and there were 12 signatures on the “guilty” of burglary verdict form. The jury was polled at the defendant’s request and judgments entered on the verdicts. Defendant’s timely filed motion for new trial, which was denied, included as errors the court’s returning the jury to continue deliberation over his request that it be declared a hung jury and the court’s failure to declare a mistrial when the jury returned the nonunanimous verdict.

The defendant argues the manner in which the trial court caused the jury to continue its deliberations amounted to impermissible coercion. As a coerced verdict, he contends his conviction of burglary should be reversed outright because he was found guilty of the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass.

The State argues the defendant has waived the issue. Alternatively, the State contends the judge properly exercised his discretion in refusing to declare a mistrial, reiterating his previous instruction and ordering the jury back for further deliberations. It asserts it is the duty of a trial judge to review the verdict and determine if it is proper in form and substance and to provide guidance to a jury that is not hopelessly deadlocked.

It is well settled that the failure to raise an issue both at trial and in a post-trial motion waives the issue on appeal. (People v. Enoch (1988), 122 Ill. 2d 176.) “No magic words such as T object’ are required,” however (People v. Pankey (1978) 58 Ill. App. 3d 924, 926), and the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury is considered so basic as to warrant application of the plain-error rule (People v. Palmer (1984), 125 Ill. App. 3d 703, 712).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
540 N.E.2d 854, 184 Ill. App. 3d 676, 132 Ill. Dec. 932, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gregory-illappct-1989.