People v. Harris

776 N.E.2d 743, 333 Ill. App. 3d 741, 267 Ill. Dec. 371, 2002 Ill. App. LEXIS 749
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 23, 2002
Docket1-01-3394
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 776 N.E.2d 743 (People v. Harris) 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. Harris, 776 N.E.2d 743, 333 Ill. App. 3d 741, 267 Ill. Dec. 371, 2002 Ill. App. LEXIS 749 (Ill. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

JUSTICE O’MARA FROSSARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, defendant Mack Harris was convicted of two counts of violating the duty-to-register provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act (Act) (730 ILCS 150/6 (West 2000)): (1) by failing to notify the Chicago police department of a change in address within 10 days; and (2) by failing to report to the police within one year of registering as a sex offender. He was sentenced to probation for 12 months with the condition that he obtain a State identification card, social security card and register his address. We find the State failed to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We reverse defendant’s convictions.

BACKGROUND

Officer Davis, from the Chicago police department, testified that on April 11, 2001, he observed the defendant smoking a cigarette on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Rapid Transit platform at 303 West 63rd Street. Officer Davis wrote defendant a citation for violating the ordinance that prohibits smoking on the train platform. Defendant gave his home address as 6040 South Harper. After checking defendant’s name by computer, Officer Davis and his partner took defendant into custody. Area 1 detectives from the sex offender registration unit were contacted.

Detective Redfield from the sex offender registration unit testified that defendant’s registration card from August 2, 2000, indicated he resided at 1939 West 59th Street. Detective Redfield further testified that after advising defendant of his Miranda rights, she had a conversation with defendant on April 11, 2001. When she asked defendant where he was living, “He stated that he was currently living at 6040 South Harper, apartment 909 and he had been staying there over a month.” When asked what she had done to corroborate this information, she stated that she contacted the probation unit and was told that defendant had been staying at 6040 South Harper “for some time.”

Officer Karadjias from the sex offender registration unit testified that defendant reported to his unit on August 2, 2000, filled out a sex offender registration form and gave his address as 1939 West 59th Street. As of the date when Officer Karadjias testified, July 25, 2001, defendant had not returned to register.

It was stipulated by the State and defense that on February 8, 1996, defendant was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in case number 95 CR 13498.

The trial court found defendant guilty of both counts for violating the duty-to-register provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act (730 ILCS 150/6 (West 2000)). Regarding count I of the indictment, defendant contends on appeal that the State violated the corpus delicti rule in that the State failed to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because the only evidence of defendant’s change in address was his uncorroborated statement to the police. Under count II of the indictment, the defendant contends that the State’s evidence was insufficient to prove that he failed to report to the police within one year of registering as a sex offender.

I. SHOULD CORROBORATION COMPONENT OF CORPUS DELICTI RULE BE ELIMINATED?

Defendant argues that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because his conviction under count I of the indictment was based on an uncorroborated confession, in violation of the corpus delicti rule. We note there is no contention by the defendant that the incriminating statement made to the police was involuntary. The State, relying on People v. Schott, 145 Ill. 2d 188 (1991), argues that the only standard of review to be employed in a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is whether, when considering all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, a rational fact finder could have found all of the elements of the offense proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The State contends that the corroboration component of the corpus delicti rule is inconsistent with that standard of review and should be eliminated.

To sustain a conviction, the State must prove the following: (1) a crime occurred, i.e., the corpus delicti; and (2) the crime was committed by the person charged. People v. Cloutier, 156 Ill. 2d 483, 503 (1993). In a case where the defendant’s confession or admission is part of the proof of the corpus delicti, the State must also provide corroborating evidence independent of the defendant’s confession or admission. Cloutier, 156 Ill. 2d at 503. In providing corroborating evidence under the corpus delicti rule:

“[I]f the independent evidence tends to prove that an offense occurred, then such evidence, if corroborative of the facts contained in the confession, may be considered along with the confession in establishing the corpus delicti. In such event, the independent evidence need not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that an offense did occur.” People v. Willingham, 89 Ill. 2d 352, 361 (1982).

In support of the State’s argument that the corroboration component of the corpus delicti rule should be eliminated, the State relies on People v. Dalton, 91 Ill. 2d 22 (1982), which we find distinguishable. In Dalton, the defendant was charged with indecent liberties with a child. The defendant argued that his age was an element of the corpus delicti of indecent liberties with a child and, therefore, the State was required to produce evidence corroborating defendant’s statement to the police as to his age. As in this case, the State in Dalton contended that corroboration under the corpus delicti rule should be abandoned. In support of eliminating the corroboration component of the corpus delicti rule, the State in Dalton argued that a defendant’s admission of his age is an inherently reliable statement and is, therefore, admissible to establish corpus delicti without corroboration. Dalton, 91 Ill. 2d at 28.

Regarding the corroboration component of the corpus delicti rule, the Dalton court noted as follows:

“The corroboration rule was the result of an historical mistrust of extrajudicial confessions. Two reasons for this mistrust have commonly been cited: confessions are unreliable if coerced; and, for various psychological reasons persons ‘confess’ to crimes that either have never occurred or for which they are not legally responsible. [Citations.] Although the rule has been criticized and its elimination urged [citations], we remain unconvinced that it should be completely abandoned.” Dalton, 91 Ill. 2d at 29-30, citing Willingham, 89 Ill. 2d at 358.

Whether the statement by the defendant regarding his age was admissible without corroboration, the court in Dalton noted:

“An admission of one’s birth date is not subject to the peculiar perceptions or recollections of a defendant who is under the psychological pressures of an arrest or indictment. [Citation.] It appears to be inherently more reliable than a statement of what one did, or saw, or heard, or thought because it is a statement of an immutable characteristic. In this regard it is much more similar to personal characteristics such as fingerprints, handwriting, blood type or voice pattern.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
776 N.E.2d 743, 333 Ill. App. 3d 741, 267 Ill. Dec. 371, 2002 Ill. App. LEXIS 749, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-harris-illappct-2002.