People v. Hill

2020 IL App (1st) 162119
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 14, 2020·No. 1-16-2119·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Digitally signed by Reporter of Decisions Reason: I attest to the Illinois Official Reports accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2021.07.08 13:24:08 -05'00' Appellate Court

People v. Hill, 2020 IL App (1st) 162119

Appellate Court THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Caption MARCUS HILL, Defendant-Appellant.

District & No. First District, First Division No. 1-16-2119

Opinion filed July 13, 2020 Modified upon denial of rehearing October 19, 2020

Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 15-CR- Review 01392(01); the Hon. Kenneth J. Wadas, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Reversed and remanded.

Counsel on James E. Chadd, Patricia Mysza, and Editha Rosario-Moore, of State Appeal Appellate Defender’s Office, of Ottawa, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Hareena Meghani-Wakely, and Tasha-Marie Kelly, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People. Panel JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justice Walker concurred in the judgment and opinion. Justice Pierce dissented, with opinion.

OPINION

¶1 On trial for aggravated battery to a peace officer, among other charges, Marcus Hill’s attorney requested the court instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense, resisting a peace officer. The trial court declined. The jury found Hill guilty of aggravated battery. Hill now argues the trial court erred by failing to give the requested instruction. The State concedes that resisting arrest constitutes a lesser-included offense of aggravated battery as it is charged here but, nonetheless, contends the evidence supports the trial court’s decision to deny the instruction. We disagree and hold the trial court should have given the jury the instruction for resisting a peace officer. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

¶2 Background ¶3 A Cook County grand jury returned a multicount indictment against Marcus Hill that alleged, among other things, he committed aggravated battery of a peace officer: “Marcus Hill committed the offense of aggravated battery in that he, in committing a battery, other than by the discharge of a firearm, knowingly made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature to Anthony Lafata, to wit: kicked Anthony Lafata about the body, and Marcus Hill knew the individual battered to be a peace officer, to wit: Chicago police officer, while Anthony Lafata was performing his official duties.” After a trial, the jury found Hill guilty of aggravated battery of Lafata but acquitted Hill of every other count. We focus our discussion on the facts giving rise to the relevant aggravated battery count. ¶4 Chicago police officers Taras Bilyj and Lafata received a call about a domestic disturbance. Lafata drove to the area behind 4860 West Patterson Avenue and saw Hill leaving out of the back door of the house at that address. The officers watched as Hill crossed the alley and went through the back door of a different house. They followed him inside. ¶5 Immediately inside the door, a staircase led up to the second floor. Both Bilyj and Lafata climbed the stairs to look for Hill. Not seeing anyone, they went back down. Both officers saw movement through a crack in the stairs. They went to the base of the staircase, where a “cubbyhole” door led to a crawlspace under the house. The door, and crawlspace beyond, were only three to four feet high. ¶6 Bilyj and Lafata looked into the crawlspace. Bilyj saw Hill under the stairs with his legs pointed toward the officers. Hill ignored both Bilyj’s and Lafata’s orders to come out from the crawlspace. According to Bilyj: “We were trying to get [Hill] out of there. He is not exiting. He is not coming out, and he just kept kicking his legs, kicking his legs.” Hill’s legs hit Bilyj’s left leg and left hand. Lafata described the encounter similarly, explaining that Hill curled up in the fetal position and “he resisted by kicking at both me and [Bilyj] with his feet, pushing us away.” Hill’s feet hit Lafata “multiple times in the leg and in the chest area.” The officers eventually got Hill to cooperate by deploying a taser two times.

-2- ¶7 Chicago police Sergeant Philip Banaszkiewicz watched the interaction after arriving to back up Bilyj and Lafata. From his vantage point, he could only see Hill from the thighs down. Banaszkiewicz confirmed that Hill refused to comply with the officers’ orders. He also saw Hill’s legs “kicking up and down” for 10 to 20 seconds. Hill would stop kicking and then start again when the officers approached him. Banaszkiewicz saw Hill’s legs hit Bilyj and Lafata a couple of times. ¶8 Hill testified in his own defense. He denied intentionally hitting either Bilyj or Lafata with his feet. He admitted hiding under the porch but testified that he came out voluntarily after the officers ordered him out and one of the officers “just tased [him].” Hill explained that the taser prong did not go all the way in and so he “faked like [he] was shaking” and the officers tased him a second time. ¶9 After both parties rested, Hill’s counsel asked the court to give the jury the following instruction on the offense of resisting a peace officer: “A person commits the offense of resisting or obstructing a [peace officer] when he knowingly resists or obstructs the performance of any authorized act within the official capacity of one known to him to be a [peace officer].” Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 22.13 (approved May 4, 2018) (hereinafter IPI Criminal No. 22.13). Hill’s counsel contended that the offense of resisting a peace officer constitutes a lesser- included offense of aggravated battery to a peace officer. The trial court disagreed, finding: “I don’t believe it’s a lesser included offense or applicable in this case factually and, accordingly, that request will be denied.” ¶ 10 The jury found Hill guilty of aggravated battery of Lafata but found him not guilty of aggravated battery of Bilyj. The jury also found Hill not guilty of all the remaining counts with which he had been charged. ¶ 11 Hill’s counsel reasserted the issue of jury instructions in her motion for a new trial, arguing that the trial court erred in denying the resisting instruction. The State responded that, based on the indictment, as a matter of law, resisting a peace officer was not a lesser-included offense of aggravated battery to a peace officer. Alternatively, the State argued the evidence did not support an instruction on the lesser offense because Hill testified that he did not touch the officers. The trial court denied Hill’s motion, simply saying, “I will stand on all of my rulings.” ¶ 12 The trial court sentenced Hill to 14 years in the Department of Corrections (DOC).

¶ 13 Analysis ¶ 14 Hill primarily argues the trial court erred when it declined to instruct the jury on the lesser- included offense of resisting a peace officer. He argues both that the aggravated battery charge in the indictment included the broad outline of the lesser-included offense and that the facts supported instructing on the lesser-included offense. The State concedes that resisting a peace officer constitutes a lesser-included offense of aggravated battery as charged. The State argues, however, that the evidence did not support giving the instruction because no rational jury could have convicted Hill of the lesser-included offense while simultaneously acquitting him of the greater offense. Alternatively, the State argues any error harmless. We find error and reverse. ¶ 15 Ordinarily, a defendant has a fundamental right to be convicted only of the offenses with which he or she is charged. People v. Clark, 2016 IL 118845, ¶ 30. A limited exception exists for “lesser-included” offenses. Id. Under the charging instrument approach, which Illinois

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People v. Hill
2020 IL App (1st) 162119 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)