People v. Jensen

164 N.E.2d 228, 24 Ill. App. 2d 302
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided February 25, 1960·No. Gen. 11,290·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE CROW

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a writ of error by the defendant, Lee Roy Jensen, plaintiff in error, to review a judgment of conviction and sentence of October 16, 1958, of 180 days at the State Penal Farm at Vandalia entered in the County Court of Kankakee County, following a verdict of guilty by a jury at a trial upon an information charging the defendant with driving a motor vehicle upon a public highway in Kankakee, June 8, 1958, without having in his possession a valid operator’s license and at a time when his operator’s license had been revoked by the Secretary of State.

On September 25, 1958, the Court ordered a venire to issue by the Clerk for 18 men and women from the body of the County, returnable October 2, 1958, to serve as petit jurors, which was issued, and the veniremen summoned. On that date the case proceeded to trial, a jury panel of veniremen was sworn to answer questions, was examined by the State’s Attorney and attorneys for the defendant, and the jury was accepted and sworn to try the issues. At the conclusion it was stipulated by the attorneys for the defendant and the State’s Attorney, in open Court, that the jury might return a sealed verdict, to be opened by the County Judge, and any motions following the opening thereof to be made October 16,1958, before the County Judge of another County who had tried the case upon a change of venue requested by the defendant. On October 3, 1958, in open Court in the presence of the defendant and his attorneys and the State’s Attorney, the sealed verdict of the jury was opened, finding the defendant guilty, it being signed by all jurors, and below their signatures appeared the words “with recommendation for maximum leniency,” and the case was continued to October 16, 1958. At that time the defendant made an oral motion for new trial, and an oral motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which motions were denied, a judgment of conviction was entered on the verdict, and the defendant’s then motion for probation was referred to the Probation Officer and the cause continued to November 6, 1958, for a hearing thereon and of any evidence in mitigation or aggravation. At that time, after a hearing, at which the defendant presented no evidence, probation was denied and the defendant sentenced.

The material evidence was substantially to the effect that the defendant had been driven by a friend in the defendant’s brother’s auto to the I. C. depot in Kankakee, about 11:30 p. m., June 8, 1958, to get the Sunday papers. The auto had been parked on the street in a space reserved for people having business at the depot. The papers not being in, they went across the street to a hotel to wait. While there the friend received a call from home and left. The Sunday papers were not ready until later. The defendant tried to find someone to drive the car off the street, but could not. About 3:00 a. m., he got into the car for the purpose, he says, of driving into a parking lot next to the depot about 100 feet down the street. He says lie had driven only about 60 steps (or, at another place, 60 feet) when he was arrested. He had no operator’s license at the time. It had previously been revoked pursuant to a prior conviction for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and a restricted driving permit, applied for by the defendant, had been denied. The arresting officer, who had observed the defendant driving, said the defendant had driven about a half block before he was stopped, and did not ask to put the car in a parking lot, but said, instead, that he was only two blocks from home and wanted the officer to let him go home, which the officer refused.

The defendant urges here, in his “errors relied upon for reversal” that the Court erred in these respects: (1) in receiving the sealed verdict of the jury and opening it without the jury being present, thereby making it impossible for the defendant to poll the jury; (2) in not following the provisions of the statute in selecting the panel of jurors; (3) in admitting incompetent evidence at the hearing on aggravation and mitigation; (4) in refusing to give two instructions tendered by the defendant; (5) in imposing an excessive penalty, not proportionate to the nature of the offense; (6) in denying his motions for new trial, and in arrest of judgment, and for release on probation; and (7) he did not receive a fair and impartial trial.

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People v. Jensen, 164 N.E.2d 228, 24 Ill. App. 2d 302 (Ill. Ct. App. 1960).

164 N.E.2d 228 (People v. Jensen) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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