People v. ISUNZA

917 N.E.2d 1079, 335 Ill. Dec. 15, 396 Ill. App. 3d 127, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 1009, 2009 WL 3367399
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided October 19, 2009·No. 2-07-0360·Published·Cited by 35 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE SCHOSTOK

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, the defendant, Israel Isunza, was convicted of vehicular invasion (720 ILCS 5/12 — 11.1 (West 2006)) and aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12 — 4(a), (b)(8) (West 2006)) and was sentenced to a total of 13 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, the defendant argues (1) he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of vehicular invasion; (2) he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of aggravated battery; and (3) alternatively, his conviction of aggravated battery must be vacated as a lesser included offense of vehicular invasion. We affirm in part and vacate in part.

On February 8, 2006, the defendant was charged with one count of vehicular invasion (720 ILCS 5/12 — 11.1 (West 2006)) and eight counts of aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12 — 4 (West 2006)). The charges alleged that on January 14, 2006, the defendant broke the car window of a vehicle occupied by Mariezol Ybarra and Rolando Rodriguez. Both Ybarra and Rodriguez were injured because of the defendant’s actions.

On October 2 and 3, 2006, the trial court conducted a bench trial on the charges against the defendant. The State presented the testimony of Ybarra, Rodriguez, and Elgin police officers Colin Fleury, William Wood, and Jon Rustay. The State also presented the stipulated testimony of Dr. Kenneth Malchionna. Their testimony was that on January 14, 2006, Ybarra and Rodriguez were stopped at the intersection of East Chicago Street and Villa Street in Elgin, waiting at a stoplight. Ybarra’s car was on Villa, facing north. Ybarra was the driver of the vehicle and Rodriguez was the passenger. Ybarra’s window was open about halfway and Rodriguez’s window was closed. They were listening to dance music, moving around, and waving their hands in the air. As they waited at the light, they noticed two people get out of a car behind them and approach Ybarra’s car. One of the men approached the driver’s side of the vehicle. The other man, whom Ybarra later identified as the defendant, approached the passenger side of the car with what appeared to be a baseball bat and accused the two of throwing gang signs. He then struck the passenger side window three times with the bat and ran away. After the defendant ran away, Ybarra felt something on her head and realized that she had been punched by the second man, whom she later identified as Nicholas Brower. Ybarra indicated that she was punched twice in the head by Brower.

The defendant and Brower ran back to a silver Malibu and drove east on East Chicago Street. That vehicle was pursued by a police car, occupied by Officers Fleury, Wood, and Rustay. The officers subsequently apprehended both the defendant and Brower.

Ybarra followed the police car because she wanted to tell the officers what had happened. She came upon another squad car and talked to the officers. The police called an ambulance for Rodriguez, who was injured. The police then brought out the defendant and Brower for Ybarra to view in a showup. She identified the defendant as the man who had wielded the bat and Brower as the man who had approached the driver’s side of the car.

Rodriguez was transported to the hospital, where he received treatment for a cornea torn by a flying piece of glass. Rodriguez had surgery on his right eye, and by the time of trial, his vision had been restored to 20/25(-l).

At the close of the trial, the trial court found, on the basis of accountability, the defendant guilty of vehicular invasion and aggravated battery against Ybarra. The trial court further found the defendant guilty of aggravated battery against Rodriguez. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the defendant to (1) eight years’ imprisonment for the vehicular-invasion conviction; (2) five years’ imprisonment for the aggravated battery against Ybarra; and (3) five years’ imprisonment for the aggravated battery against Rodriguez. The trial court ordered that the two sentences for aggravated battery run concurrently to each other and consecutively to the sentence for vehicular invasion. Following the denial of his motion to reconsider sentence, the defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

The defendant’s first contention on appeal is that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of vehicular invasion. Specifically, the defendant argues that there was no evidence that Brower, for whose conduct the defendant was found accountable, entered Ybarra’s car by force, which was an essential element of the offense of vehicular invasion.

It is not the province of this court to retry the defendant. People v. Collins, 106 Ill. 2d 237, 261 (1985). The relevant question is “ ‘whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” (Emphasis in original.) Collins, 106 Ill. 2d at 261, quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 573, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979). The sufficiency of the evidence and the relative weight and credibility to be given the testimony of the witnesses are considerations within the exclusive jurisdiction of the fact finder. People v. Smeathers, 297 Ill. App. 3d 711, 717 (1998). The evaluation of the testimony and the resolution of any conflicts or inconsistencies that may appear are also wholly within the province of the finder of fact. Collins, 106 Ill. 2d at 261-62.

A person commits vehicular invasion when he knowingly, by force and without lawful justification, enters or reaches into the interior of a motor vehicle while the motor vehicle is occupied by another person or persons, with the intent to commit a theft or felony therein. 720 ILCS 5/12 — 11.1(a) (West 2006). The only element that is at issue is whether Brower used force to reach into Ybarra’s vehicle. The defendant argues that since Ybarra’s car window was open, no force was necessary for Brower to reach into it. Since no force was used, the defendant insists, he could not be guilty of vehicular invasion. The State responds that “force” is synonymous with “violence.” Because Brower violently reached into the vehicle to punch Ybarra twice in the head, the State maintains that the evidence was sufficient to convict the defendant of vehicular invasion.

The defendant’s first argument is essentially one of how the vehicular-invasion statute should be interpreted. The principles governing statutory interpretation are well settled. The fundamental principle of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature. Lieb v. Judges’ Retirement System, 314 Ill. App. 3d 87, 92 (2000). If the language of the statute is unambiguous, the court must enforce the law as written, without considering extrinsic aids. County of Du Page v. Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, Inc., 109 Ill. 2d 143, 151 (1985). A court should not construe a statute in a manner that would lead to consequences that are absurd, inconvenient, or unjust. McMahan v. Industrial Comm’n, 183 Ill. 2d 499, 513-14 (1998).

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People v. ISUNZA, 917 N.E.2d 1079, 335 Ill. Dec. 15, 396 Ill. App. 3d 127, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 1009, 2009 WL 3367399 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

917 N.E.2d 1079 (People v. ISUNZA) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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