People v. Henderson

273 N.E.2d 244, 133 Ill. App. 2d 336, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 1708
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 9, 1971
Docket54836
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 273 N.E.2d 244 (People v. Henderson) 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. Henderson, 273 N.E.2d 244, 133 Ill. App. 2d 336, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 1708 (Ill. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE BURMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, James A. Henderson, was charged with the offense of armed robbery in an indictment returned on May 27, 1969. After a bench trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to serve 2 to 3 years in the Illinois State Penitentiary.

He contends on appeal (1) that he was not identified as the robber beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) that the pretrial identification procedure through the use of photographs was so prejudicial as to taint his conviction; (3) that the identification was so vague and uncertain that his alibi testimony should not have been disregarded; and (4) that he was deprived of due process of law when the trial judge refused a request to issue warrants for the arrest of three witnesses.

Due to the nature of the contentions raised, it is necessary to set forth the evidence presented at trial. Ray Mansker, an attendant at a gas station located at 1401 North Halsted Street, testified that while he was on duty on January 22, 1969, he noticed five men cross the street and proceed onto the station driveway at approximately 11:00 P.M. Three men, including the defendant, and a man whom he identified as Major Nunnery then entered the station. Nunnery and the defendant went to the counter and discussed a purchase while the third man remained by the door. When he turned his head to look out the window at the driveway, the defendant stepped around tire counter, stuck a gun into his side, and said, “This is a stick up.” Nunnery tiren went behind a partition to the back of the station and took $150.00 to $175.00, a .32 caliber revolver, and some bullets, and after returning, gave the gun to the defendant. The defendant threatened to shoot if Mansker did not open the station safe, but Mansker replied that he could not open the safe. When the man at the door said, “Let’s go before the police come,” the three men left.

Mansker was again robbed at the gasoline station on February 9, 1969, by Major Nunnery and another man. Three days later, on February 12, 1969, he went to Chicago Police Headquarters at 11th and State where he was shown 100 to 150 photographs. He recognized two photographs of the defendant as pictures of one of the men who robbed him on January 22, 1969. Over a month later, on March 25, 1969, Mansker went to Felony Court to testify in the case involving Major Nunnery. While he was waiting outside the Comt, he observed the defendant in a group which included ten to fifteen male Negroes, and he identified the defendant to a policeman. A complaint was issued on that same day charging the defendant with armed robbery.

Patrolman Eugene Earl, who attached to Gang Intelligence, Chicago Police Department, testified that at approximately 1:30 A.M. on January 25, 1969, he and his partner responded to a call reporting a man with a gun at 80 North Sedgwick Street. As they drove south on Sedgwick, he observed the defendant walking north. After driving past him, they turned around and pulled up next to him. The defendant started to reach into his coat, but Earl caught the defendant’s hand, reached inside his sweater, and pulled out a revolver. The defendant was placed under arrest and charged with the offense of possessing a concealed weapon. The revolver which the defendant possessed on January 2, 1969, was the one which had been stolen three days earlier from Mansker.

The defendant took the stand in his own behalf and testified that he was in his apartment with several named friends on the night of the robbery and that he did not leave his apartment in the period from January 20, 1969, to January 24, 1969, because during that time he had been recuperating from tire Hong Kong flu. He left the apartment at about 11:00 P.M. on January 24, 1969, when he went to a tavern at 807 North Sedgwick with some friends. While he was there, he was informed that someone wanted to see him outside. He left and walked into the mouth of an alley next to the tavern where a man named, Hawk, attempted to rob him. After a struggle, Hawk “more or less left the gun with me” and ran. The defendant, returned to the tavern, but soon departed. When the police car pulled up, he walked over to it; and as he was about to turn over the revolver, the policeman took it after telling him to freeze.

After giving this testimony, the defendant faced the judge, opened his mouth, and exhibited his teeth so that the judge could see a gold cap on one of his front teeth which was shaped like a four leaf clover. It was stipulated that if Dr. Jack Milstead, a dentist, were called as a witness, he would testify that on December 13, 1967, he installed a gold crown with the design of a four leaf clover on one of the defendant’s upper front teeth.

The defendant first contends that he was not identified as the robber beyond a reasonable doubt. He argues (1) that the identification was vague, uncertain, and doubtful, and (2) that Mansker’s failure to observe the gold crown on his tooth casts grave doubt on the reliability and credibility of the identification. Mansker testified that the gasoline station was well lighted and that he was standing only five feet away from the defendant during the robbery. He emphasized that “[t]he whole time I was discussing I couldn’t open the safe to him I was looking in the face.” The testimony of a single witness is sufficient to identify an accused as an offender and to sustain a conviction, even though such testimony is contradicted by the accused, provided (1) that the witness had adequate opportunity to view the offender and (2) that the in-court identification is positive and credible. (People v. Martin, 4 Ill.2d 331, 265 N.E.2d 685.) Here Mansker looked directly into the face of the robber in a well lighted gasoline station, and his identification at trial was positive and unshaken by vigorous cross-examination.

It is not necessary for a witness who makes a positive identification to give a precise and accurate description of an offender’s facial

characteristics. (People v. Miller, 30 Ill.2d 110, 195 N.E.2d 694.) The trier of facts, nevertheless, in evaluating the reliability and credibility of an identification must consider the failure of a witness to observe and report a clearly visible feature. (See People v. Charleston, 11 Ill.App.2d 190, 253 N.E.2d 91.) A gold crown on a front tooth, unlike a scar or a moustache, is not necessarily clearly visible because teeth are often covered by a persons lips even when the person’s mouth is open. At trial, the defendant displayed the gold crown to the trial judge, but when this same argument was presented to him, he commented:

With regard to the issue of the gold tooth, I never did see it even when you stood on the stand I didn’t see it and I have seen you in comt here a number of times, I have never noticed a gold tooth you have.

In view of the record before us, we feel that Mansker’s testimony was sufficient to sustain the conviction and that the failure to observe the gold crown does not discredit the identification. We must note, in addition, that the identification was corroborated by the fact that the defendant had the stolen revolver in his possession at the time of his arrest.

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Bluebook (online)
273 N.E.2d 244, 133 Ill. App. 2d 336, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 1708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-henderson-illappct-1971.