People v. Hugo

2024 IL App (1st) 241983-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 20, 2024
Docket1-24-1983
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2024 IL App (1st) 241983-U (People v. Hugo) 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. Hugo, 2024 IL App (1st) 241983-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 IL App (1st) 241983-U No. 1-24-1983B December 20, 2024 FIFTH DIVISION

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ____________________________________________________________________________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIRST DISTRICT

____________________________________________________________________________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Cook County. Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) Nos. 24 CR 5231, ) 24 CR 5232 DIRK HUGO, ) ) The Honorable Defendant-Appellant. ) Paul S. Pavlus, Judge, presiding.

____________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE SHARON ODEN JOHNSON delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Mikva and Justice Navarro concurred.

ORDER

¶1 Held: We affirm the trial court’s order denying defendant’s motion to reconsider his pretrial release. The fact that the police allegedly told the press that “ ‘the attack was a targeted isolated attack and there is no known threat to the public’ ” does not render the trial court’s findings against the manifest weight of the evidence, where a 67-year old victim identified defendant as the person who entered the victim’s hotel room and hit the victim in the head with a gun, where the police subsequently observed defendant wearing body armor, with a loaded gun and with various narcotics and a scale, and where defendant has multiple felony convictions including two armed habitual criminal convictions. No. 1-24-1983B

¶2 Defendant-appellant Dirk Hugo, by and through his private counsel, brings this appeal

under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 604(h) (eff. Apr. 15, 2024) challenging the trial court’s

order entered on September 11, 2024, pursuant to, what is commonly known as, the Pretrial

Fairness Act (PFA). 1 Under case number 24 CR 052310, defendant was charged with home F

invasion (720 ILCS 5/19-6(a)(2), (3) (West 2020)), armed habitual criminal, (720 ILCS 5/24-

1.7(a) (West 2020)), aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a person 60 years or older

(720 5/12-3.05(a)(4) (West 2020)), unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon (720 ILCS

5/24-1.1(a) (West 2020)), aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1)

(West 2020)), and aggravated unlawful restraint (720 ILCS 5/10-3.1(a) (West 2020)). Under

case number 24 CR 05233, defendant was charged with armed violence (720 ILCS 5/33A-2(a)

(West 2020)), armed habitual criminal (720 ILCS 5/24-1.7(a) (West 2020)), unlawful

possession of a weapon by a felon (720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) West 2020)), possession of a

controlled substance with intent to deliver (720 ILCS 570/402(a)(2)(A) (West 2020)), and

aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1) (West 2020)). For the

following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s order denying defendant’s motion to reconsider

his pretrial detention.

¶3 BACKGROUND

¶4 I. Documents

¶5 On May 2, 2024, the State filed a verified petition for pretrial detention which the trial

court granted the same day. The State alleged: (1) that, on April 14, 2024, defendant entered a

1 In 2021, the General Assembly passed two separate acts that “dismantled and rebuilt Illinois’s statutory framework for the pretrial release of criminal defendants.” Rowe v. Raoul, 2023 IL 129248, ¶4 (discussing Pub. Act 101-652, § 10-255, 102-1104, § 70 (eff. Jan. 1, 2023) (amending 725 ILCS 5/art. 110) (the Pretrial Fairness Act) and Pub. Act 102-1104 (eff. Jan. 1, 2023) (the Follow-Up Act).

-2- No. 1-24-1983B

hotel room and struck the victim in the head with a gun causing a wound requiring stitches,

and (2) that, two weeks later, on May 1, 2024, when the police arrested defendant, he was

wearing body armor and had a loaded gun, various narcotics and a scale. The petition further

alleged that the victim of the hotel attack identified defendant.

¶6 On the written detention order entered by the trial court on May 2, 2024, the trial court

made handwritten findings that the proof was evident and the presumption great that defendant

had committed the offenses of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, possession of a controlled

substance with intent to deliver, armed violence, and aggravated battery causing great bodily

harm. The court further found that defendant posed a real and present danger, where he was

armed with a stolen handgun, was wearing body armor, and possessed a scale and narcotics

wrapped for delivery. The court found that no condition or combination of conditions could

protect the public in light of defendant’s prior convictions which included convictions for

armed habitual criminal, aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated battery causing great

bodily harm, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.

¶7 The record on appeal does not contain the transcript from the original detention hearing

on May 2, 2024. The State alleges, and defendant does not dispute, that defendant did not

appeal that ruling at that time.

¶8 In the court records that are part of our record on appeal, a handwritten half-sheet

indicates that the trial court appointed an assistant public defender (APD) to represent

defendant on May 2, 2024, and the note names the individual APD. The handwritten notes on

the May 23 half-sheet are confusing, but they appear to indicate that the Public Defender was

discharged. The May 23 half-sheet contains a note with the APD’s last name that is then

crossed out, and an arrow from that note to another note that says “PD Dvcharged” sic. The

-3- No. 1-24-1983B

typed “Case Summary” sheet indicates that the Public Defender was reappointed on June 6,

2024. The Case Summary also indicates that the case was continued by agreement on June 6

and again on June 18.

¶9 On June 24, 2024, defendant filed numerous pro se motions. A couple of days later, on

June 26, 2024, the trial court referred defendant to be evaluated regarding his competence to

represent himself. However, a few days later, on August 6, 2024, privately retained counsel

filed a motion for defendant’s pretrial release. On August 6, 2024, counsel also entered an

“Appearance” as “assistant counsel.”

¶ 10 The counsel’s August 6 motion alleged that the trial court’s finding of dangerousness

should be “discounted by several articles that indicated that ‘police [indicated] that the incident

was targeted and isolated with no known threat to the public.’ ” The motion alleged that a

battered woman had contacted defendant regarding her abusive relationship with the victim

prior to the hotel incident. The motion acknowledged that defendant “does have a significant

record,” but argued that he had “made strides to change his life.”

¶ 11 The motion alleged various violations by the State of the PFA. First, defendant alleged

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Bluebook (online)
2024 IL App (1st) 241983-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hugo-illappct-2024.