People v. Jimerson

936 N.E.2d 749, 404 Ill. App. 3d 621, 344 Ill. Dec. 220, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 1011
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided September 22, 2010·No. 1-08-2839·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE MURPHY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a simultaneous but severed jury trial with codefendant Karl Askew, 1 defendant, Daniel Jimerson, was found guilty of four counts of aggravated battery to a peace officer (720 ILCS 5/12 — 4(b)(6) (West 2006)) and one count of mob action (720 ILCS 5/25 — 1(a)(1) (West 2006)). The convictions related to a July 27, 2003, jail melee allegedly started by defendant. The incident involved several detainees, including Askew, defendant’s cell mate, and numerous correctional officers.

Defendant was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on the aggravated battery to a peace officer convictions and 6 years’ imprisonment on the mob action conviction, to be served concurrently. On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) he was denied a fair trial because the judge exhibited bias against him; (2) the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on the issue of self-defense; and (3) pursuant to the one-act, one-crime rule, his conviction for mob action should be reversed because it was based on the same operative facts as his convictions for aggravated battery to a peace officer. Alternatively, defendant argues that his extended-term sentence of six years’ imprisonment for mob action must be reduced to the maximum authorized by statute for a Class 4 felony, or three years’ imprisonment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Following opening arguments, the State opened its case with the testimony of correctional Officer Van Porter, a six-year veteran of the sheriffs department. Porter testified that he is assigned to division 11 of the Cook County jail, West 31st Street and South California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Correctional officers all wear uniforms that consist of pants, shirt, boots, belt, and badge, and carry handcuffs and a three-inch flashlight. Officers are not allowed to bring any weapons onto the jail tiers and are searched prior to entering into the facility. Each officer is assigned a two-way radio for use during an eight-hour shift. However, the radios are turned in to be charged with about an hour remaining on the shift because the facility does not have enough radios.

Porter described the building as separated into four pods, each consisting of four tiers of jail cells. On July 27, 2003, Porter was the sole officer assigned to tier AB for his 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift and was in charge of the 22 detainees in that tier. Porter testified that detainees on this tier were in their locked jail cell for 23 hours and allowed out for 1 hour each day. The detainees were on rotated schedules from day to day, though some detainees that were more reliable were selected to assist in cleaning and feeding tasks and were allowed out of their cells for longer times. During the hour out of their cells, they were free to walk through the tier, use the telephone, shower, speak to other detainees, or use the washroom. Access to the cells may be opened only by an officer in a pod control room. If an officer on the tier desired to enter a cell, a button was pressed and the officer in the pod control room then electronically opened the cell door. The pod control room door was always closed and the pod officer could not hear yelling from the tier.

On July 27, 2003, detainees Tony Echols, Reginald Flemister and Rufus Williams were selected to work the tier during Porter’s shift. At approximately 8:30 p.m., Porter had detainee Dion Coleman released from his cell in order to be transferred off the tier. Under standard transfer procedure, with the assistance of Officer Antonio Rubino from tier AC, Coleman was searched and found to possess contraband. Porter returned Coleman to his cell on tier AB and Porter then completed a disciplinary report.

After Porter completed the disciplinary report, Rubino delivered a copy of the report to Coleman. When Rubino returned to the office, he asked Porter how many detainees were out of their cells working. When Rubino told Porter that four detainees were out of their cells instead of three, Porter looked inside the tier and saw Echols, Flemister and Williams working and defendant was on the telephone.

Porter testified that Rubino accompanied him back to tier AB. As they approached defendant, he hung up the phone and Porter asked defendant what he was doing. Defendant responded “I had to use the phone. Do what you have to do.” Porter told defendant to “lock up,” which he explained meant returning the detainee to his cell to be locked up. At this time, Rubino turned and took the lead to get defendant’s cell door open, and defendant followed Rubino with Porter in the rear.

Before they reached defendant’s cell, defendant yelled “take your stand” and raised his arms about shoulder length high and out. At that point, “a few” cell doors started to open. Porter testified that defendant turned and hit the left side of Porter’s face with his right fist. Defendant then “dove down and grabbed [Porter] by the waist” and detainee Nikitus Cross attacked Porter, punching him on the left side of his body while defendant maintained hold of Porter’s waist. Porter punched back against both defendant and Cross in an attempt to defend himself.

Porter testified that he saw detainees Karl Askew, Gregory Ash-ford, and Terry Boyd exit their jail cells and attack Officer Rubino. The three detainees authorized to be out of their cells, Echols, Flemister and Williams, also joined in the attack against Rubino. Rubino remained standing and absorbing blows until Williams hit him in the back of the head with a gray storage bin and he fell to the ground. The detainees continued to attack Rubino as he lay on the ground.

Porter testified that both he and Rubino had turned in their radios for the night to be charged for the next shift. The only way to try and contact the pod control officers was to try and yell. Therefore, it was two to three minutes until additional officers arrived to defuse the situation. Porter testified that Officer Bernando Lopez was the first to arrive.

Porter testified that when Lopez arrived, he saw detainee Gregory Ashford strike Lopez with his fists. Porter testified that eventually 20 officers arrived after Lopez and they gained control of the tier. After the eight detainees involved in the attack were taken to Cermak Hospital, which is located at the jail, Porter also received medical treatment. No medical records were presented, but Porter testified that he suffered a swollen jaw and bruised left ribs. Porter returned to work the following day, but did not return to tier AB.

Officer Rubino testified that on the night of July 27, 2003, he was assigned to tier AC, located across from tier AB. Rubino knows that Porter was assigned to tier AB because he was his “cross watch” that night, meaning they covered each other in the event of problems, lunch relief or the like. Rubino also testified that he turned in his radio at 9:30 p.m. At about 10:30 p.m., after serving Coleman the disciplinary report, he informed Porter that four detainees were out of their cells.

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People v. Jimerson, 936 N.E.2d 749, 404 Ill. App. 3d 621, 344 Ill. Dec. 220, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 1011 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

936 N.E.2d 749 (People v. Jimerson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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