People v. Hoke

571 N.E.2d 1143, 213 Ill. App. 3d 263, 157 Ill. Dec. 124, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 744
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 9, 1991
Docket4-90-0428
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 571 N.E.2d 1143 (People v. Hoke) 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. Hoke, 571 N.E.2d 1143, 213 Ill. App. 3d 263, 157 Ill. Dec. 124, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 744 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

On May 18, 1990, following a bench trial in the circuit court of Ford County, defendant Darrell D. Hoke was convicted of four counts of reckless homicide. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9—3(a).) On June 25, 1990, the court sentenced defendant to a single term of 10 years’ imprisonment. He appeals, contending (1) the evidence did not support the verdict, and (2) various procedural errors were made. We affirm.

Each count of the information charged defendant with the death of a different victim, all arising from the same automobile collision. Each count alleged that defendant’s conduct was reckless because he (1) operated a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of greater than 0.10; (2) drove at a greater than reasonable speed; and (3) disregarded a stop sign, thereby causing his vehicle to strike another vehicle causing the death of a person. The primary factual issue at trial was whether the defendant was the driver of the vehicle which crashed into the other vehicle.

The following facts were undisputed. On June 2, 1989, at approximately 8 p.m., a dark-colored Oldsmobile automobile failed to obey a stop sign located in a rural intersection of Ford County, and collided head-on with a red Chevrolet pickup truck. Following the collision, defendant was found lying facedown in a ditch north of the Oldsmobile. Jamie Swank was found on the floor of the passenger side of the Oldsmobile, and Rex Prewitt, Sr., and his son Joshua were found underneath the Oldsmobile. Rex Prewitt, Jr., and Matthew Hoke were found in the backseat of the Oldsmobile. The driver of the pickup truck, Swank, Rex Prewitt, Sr., and Joshua all eventually died from their injuries sustained in the collision.

Two witnesses, who arrived first on the scene, testified defendant was the only person who received facial injuries. Several State’s witnesses testified they observed defendant and the other adult occupants of the Oldsmobile drinking beer throughout the day of the accident. The witnesses also testified that Swank was driving the Oldsmobile at that time. At the scene of the accident, a number of beer cans were found inside and outside the Oldsmobile, as well as in a cooler in the rear of the car.

An accident reconstructionist testified as follows: (1) he calculated the speed of the Oldsmobile to be at a minimum of 59 miles per hour, and the speed of the pickup truck to be at a minimum of 55 miles per hour, at the time of the collision; (2) the skid marks found at the intersection of the collision revealed the driver of the Oldsmobile made little attempt to stop the car prior to impact; and (3) damage to the steering wheel and column indicated the driver was thrown into the steering wheel. At the conclusion of the State’s case, the court received in evidence, over defense objection, a document indicating that as a result of a blood test taken in a hospital emergency room after the collision, defendant had a blood-alcohol content of 0.147 grams per deciliter. Receipt of this evidence created the most intricate ruling in this case.

Direct evidence that defendant was driving the Oldsmobile came entirely from the testimony of two six-year-old boys, defendant’s son Matthew Hoke and Rex Prewitt, Jr. (Rex Jr.). After separate hearings, the court found both competent to testify but stated Rex Jr. was a “marginal case” because of his inability to remember and narrate events that transpired earlier in the year.

At trial, Rex Jr. testified as follows: (1) Jamie Swank was driving the Oldsmobile earlier on the day of the accident; (2) all the occupants of the Oldsmobile were out by a bridge and Swank fell from a tree and injured himself; (3) Swank could no longer drive and so defendant drove the car after Swank’s fall; (4) defendant was driving at the time of the collision; (5) he could not remember where Swank fell from the tree or what he was doing there; and (6) he denied that at the time of the collision they were attempting to bring Swank to the hospital.

The State then called six-year-old Matthew Hoke as a witness. Matthew began by testifying he did not remember who was driving the Oldsmobile at the time of the accident. Matthew then testified as follows: (1) Swank fell from a tree onto glass and injured his head and stomach; (2) at the time of the collision they were attempting to bring Swank to the hospital; and (3) he told the police that defendant was driving at the time of collision. Matthew then nodded affirmatively when asked whether defendant was driving at the time of the accident.

Defendant’s tactics consisted mostly of attempting to show that Rex Jr.’s family tried to influence him to believe defendant was the driver of the Oldsmobile. Defendant did not testify. The major thrust of defendant’s contention that the evidence could not support a finding defendant’s guilt had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt centered upon the weakness of the testimony of the boys. He maintains Matthew was equivocal and Rex Jr. unreliable. Defendant maintains Rex Jr. made a prior statement to a police officer which was inconsistent with his trial testimony, but no evidence was presented of such a statement. In contending the evidence is sufficient to prove defendant was the driver of the Oldsmobile, the State relies partially on evidence that only defendant had facial injuries indicating his face, mouth, and chest hit the steering wheel of the Oldsmobile. The steering wheel had been damaged in a way some described as indicating the driver’s body had been driven into it.

Defendant claims the foregoing argument is too conjectural to have much weight. He maintains his described injuries could have occurred when he hit the ground or could have resulted from his face coming into contact with a headrest. However, the court had the opportunity to hear the testimony of the two boys and witness their demeanor and manner while on the stand. Determination of their credibility was almost entirely that court’s function. That testimony, together with whatever corroboration that court might find in the circumstances of defendant’s injuries, was fully sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant was driving the Oldsmobile at the time of the collision. People v. Collins (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 237, 261-62, 478 N.E.2d 267, 277.

Defendant further maintains that even if the court found he was driving the Oldsmobile and was intoxicated at the time of the collision, he was not acting recklessly because he was trying to help Swank, who was injured. The evidence was disputed as to where the occupants of the Oldsmobile were headed at the time of the collision. Matthew Hoke testified they were headed for a hospital, while Rex Jr. stated they were taking Swank home. Either way, the desire to help Swank would not have justified driving while intoxicated or running the stop sign, even if an emergency existed which would negate the recklessness of driving at a high speed.

The evidence of defendant’s guilt was such that a reasonable trier of fact could convict. Collins, 106 Ill. 2d at 261-62, 478 N.E.2d at 277.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
571 N.E.2d 1143, 213 Ill. App. 3d 263, 157 Ill. Dec. 124, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hoke-illappct-1991.