People v. Jordan

608 N.E.2d 626, 241 Ill. App. 3d 464, 181 Ill. Dec. 553, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 117
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 4, 1993
DocketNo. 2—91—1006
StatusPublished

This text of 608 N.E.2d 626 (People v. Jordan) 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. Jordan, 608 N.E.2d 626, 241 Ill. App. 3d 464, 181 Ill. Dec. 553, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 117 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE UNVERZAGT

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, James Jordan, was convicted by a jury of the unlawful possession of less than 15 grams of a substance containing heroin (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 56x/2, par. 1401(c)(1)), the unlawful possession of a hypodermic needle or syringe (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 22— 50), and the unlawful possession of prescription forms (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 56V2, par. 1406(b)(6)). The trial court sentenced defendant to three years’ imprisonment and 364 days, concurrently. Defendant appeals only his conviction of the unlawful possession of prescription forms on the basis that the State failed to prove his guilt of that offense beyond a reasonable doubt. He does not appeal the other two judgments of conviction.

The State’s evidence at trial showed that at 9:30 a.m., on August 13, 1990, defendant drove his Chevy Blazer through some construction barricades on 1-90 westbound at the Fox River. A State trooper spotted defendant and his passenger outside of the Blazer, which was parked off the road about 20 miles from the scene of the accident. Defendant and his passenger were looking under the hood of the Blazer. Both of them appeared under the influence of some substance. The trooper took them to the nearest State Police headquarters to fill out an accident report.

The Blazer was inoperable because it had a punctured radiator, so it was towed to a nearby garage, where two State troopers conducted an inventory of the items on top of and in the Blazer. The inventory turned up a green leafy substance, and a brown substance, as well as over a thousand blank prescription forms with the name of a Minnesota clinic printed on them. Inside the Blazer, between the front seats, was a small safe. The State troopers obtained a search warrant for the safe. The search of the safe produced some hypodermic needles and syringes, some heroin, a couple of rubber tourniquets, and numerous blank prescription forms, some from “Oak Park Professional Center.”

The State troopers testified that the prescription forms “looked official” and looked like the type used to buy controlled substances. The troopers admitted that they were not experts in pharmaceuticals or prescriptions.

At the close of the State’s case, defendant objected to the State’s motion to admit the prescription forms into evidence. Defendant argued that there was no evidence to show that the forms were actual or counterfeit prescription forms within the meaning of section 308 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 56V2, par. 1308). The court overruled the objection. After the State rested, defendant moved for a directed verdict on the possession of prescriptions charge. Defendant argued that the forms lacked the requisites of an “official prescription” as defined in section 308 of the Controlled Substances Act. The court denied the motion, stating, “a counterfeit is not required to be an exact copy of an original,” and the court believed that it was for the jury to determine whether anyone could be deceived by the forms.

At the instructions conference, defense counsel argued that the State’s proposed instruction on the possession of prescription forms should not be used. Specifically, defense counsel argued that the instruction did not define the term “counterfeit.” The court gave the jury an instruction on the definition of “counterfeit,” which read, “Counterfeit is to copy or imitate, without authority or right, and with a view to deceive or defraud, by passing the copy or thing forged for that which is original or genuine.”

During closing argument, the prosecutor stated:

“The possession of the prescription forms, official blank prescription forms or counterfeit forms, these jury instructions the judge will read to you *** will tell you that in order for him to be found guilty of the possession of the prescription forms all I have to prove was that the defendant knowingly without authorization had in his possession official blank prescription forms or counterfeit forms.
You will receive these 1,500 some odd blank prescription forms or counterfeit forms. I submit that those are absolutely either official blank prescription forms or counterfeit prescription forms. And I submit he should be found guilty of that.”

Defense counsel argued that the State had the burden to present evidence to show what constitutes an official prescription. Counsel further argued that the blank forms were not prescription forms. In rebuttal, the prosecutor argued that the jury could use its everyday experience to determine whether the forms were official prescription forms.

After defendant was convicted, he moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. This motion argued the same grounds as the motion for a directed verdict. The court also denied this motion. Following sentencing, defendant timely appealed.

We first address the State’s argument that this appeal is moot. According to the State, defendant already served his sentence for the possession of prescriptions offense. Defendant responds that the State’s argument is flawed in two respects. First, defendant asserts that the conviction at issue is a felony, and he was sentenced to three years. Second, defendant maintains that it does not matter what sentence was imposed because he is not attacking the sentence. Because we agree -with defendant’s second assertion, we need not determine whether defendant was sentenced to a felony term or whether that sentence applied only to the heroin conviction. “Although an appeal of a sentence is rendered moot when the sentence has been served [citations], nullification of a conviction may have important consequences to a defendant.” (People v. Lynn (1984), 102 Ill. 2d 267, 272-73.) Thus, the completion of a sentence does not render the appeal of a conviction moot. Lynn, 102 Ill. 2d at 273.

Defendant contends that his conviction of the unlawful possession of official or counterfeit prescription forms must be reversed because the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the forms were either official prescription forms or counterfeit forms. Defendant first refers us to section 406(b)(6) of the Controlled Substances Act (Act), which states that it is unlawful “to possess without authorization, official blank prescription forms or counterfeit prescription forms.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. par. 1406(b)(6).) According to defendant, the prescription forms are those described in section 308 of the Act, which provides:

“Every practitioner who issues a prescription for a controlled substance in Schedule II, which is a narcotic drug listed in Section 206 of this Act; or which contains any quantity of amphetamine or methamphetamine, their salts, optical isomers or salts of optical isomers; phenmetrazine and its salts; gluthethimide; pentazocine; or which is hereafter determined to be a ‘designated product,’ as defined in Section 102 of this Act, shall issue such prescription on official prescription blanks which shall be issued by the [Illinois] Department [of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse] except as otherwise provided in this Act.

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Related

People v. Henderson
373 N.E.2d 1338 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1978)
People v. Lynn
464 N.E.2d 1031 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1984)
People v. Palmer
592 N.E.2d 940 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1992)
People v. Smith
599 N.E.2d 888 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
608 N.E.2d 626, 241 Ill. App. 3d 464, 181 Ill. Dec. 553, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jordan-illappct-1993.