People v. Karr

386 N.E.2d 927, 68 Ill. App. 3d 1040, 25 Ill. Dec. 453, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 2123
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 27, 1979
Docket77-240
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 386 N.E.2d 927 (People v. Karr) 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. Karr, 386 N.E.2d 927, 68 Ill. App. 3d 1040, 25 Ill. Dec. 453, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 2123 (Ill. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE RECHENMACHER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant was charged in Lake County with the offenses of rape, aggravated kidnapping and armed robbery. The defendant filed a suppression motion and a petition for discharge, both of which were denied. After a bench trial, the defendant was found not guilty of armed robbery, but guilty of rape and aggravated kidnapping. He was subsequently sentenced to a term of 30 to 50 years in the Department of Corrections. He appeals contending that (1) his sixth amendment right to counsel was violated when officers from the Highland Park Police Department questioned him after he had asserted his right to counsel; (2) that the statement which he gave to police was not given voluntarily, but instead was the result of the “repeated and prolonged nature” of the questioning; (3) that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated, and (4) that the sentence imposed by the trial court was excessive and improper.

The facts may be summarized as follows: On October 10, 1974, the complainant, a high school student, was abducted from a shopping center in Highland Park, Lake County, by a man armed with a shotgun who had concealed himself in the back seat of the complainant’s car. The man forced the complainant to drive to a place where, by apparent prearrangement, they were joined by an accomplice. The two offenders then blindfolded the complainant and took her into a field, where each of the offenders raped her and one of the men took *16 out of her purse. The men drove the complainant back to her car and released her, telling her that they knew her address and that she had best not tell anyone about the incident. The complainant was subsequently able to identify Watson, the defendant’s alleged accomplice, as one of the offenders, but was not able to identify the other offender.

On October 17, 1974, at 2:30 in the afternoon, the defendant was asleep in his home in Lyons, Illinois, when six Lyons and Brookfield police officers entered the home, awoke the defendant, and arrested him for an armed robbery which occurred in McHenry County on October 16,1974. At the hearing on the defendant’s suppression motion, the defendant stated that he was denied permission to phone an attorney at the time of his arrest. Officer Johnson of the Brookfield Police Department, who was one of the arresting officers, testified that the defendant did not request counsel while he was present, but conceded that he was not in the room with the defendant during the entire time when the defendant was arrested. The defendant was advised of his rights and taken to the Lyons’ police station, after his arrest.

At 5 p.m., Officers Macheroux and Bisele of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department arrived, advised the defendant of his constitutional rights and took him into custody. On the drive back to McHenry County, the defendant discussed the details of the McHenry County offense with the officers. Deputy Macheroux testified that the defendant never asked to call an attorney. The conversation was largely a narrative by the defendant, who told the officers where the gun and money from the McHenry County armed robbery could be found. They stopped and searched each location, finding the money from the armed robbery; the gun was found later, at the location described by the defendant. At 8:30 p.m., Macheroux, Bisele and the defendant arrived at the McHenry County jail.

At 9:20 p.m., the defendant was taken to “Rights Court” where a judge of the circuit court of McHenry County advised him of his rights. At or around this time, McHenry County State’s Attorney Cowlin asked the defendant to make a statement regarding the McHenry County offense, but the defendant refused, explaining that he had once been “burned” by an Assistant State’s Attorney, and that he would not speak to Cowlin without having counsel present. The defendant was then returned to jail.

At 10:10 p.m., Detective Macheroux told the defendant that two officers from Highland Park had arrived, and wished to talk to him about an investigation they were conducting. Macheroux told the defendant that another party had been identified by a photo lineup and indicated that the Highland Park officers thought that the defendant might have had something to do with the offense. Macheroux concluded by telling the defendant that, “* 0 * [i]t would be up to him if he wanted to talk to [the Highland Park officers].” The defendant responded that he would have no objection to seeing the officers.

The defendant was then introduced to Detective Highland of the Highland Park Police Department. Highland identified himself and administered Miranda warnings to the defendant. He then advised the defendant that there had been a rape-abduction in Highland Park and described the victim (i.e., the complainant in this case). This was the first time that the defendant had been questioned about the offense which led to his conviction in the case at bar. The defendant told Highland that he had just come from court and was familiar with his rights, and that he had not given a statement to the State’s Attorney, because he had once been “burned” by a State’s Attorney. The defendant then gave a statement admitting that he and Watson had abducted the complainant and raped her. According to Highland, the defendant’s statement was a 15-minute narrative, rather than a response to questions put to the defendant. The only questions asked by Highland were the names of intersections and streets passed at various points during the perpetration of the offense.

At the suppression hearing and at trial, the defendant denied that he had given a confession to Highland, and contended that before talking to Highland, he had asked Macheroux that he be allowed to contact a lawyer, and Macheroux responded, “that it is not my responsibility”; this was denied by Macheroux. The defendant also claimed that he had talked to Highland on October 18, 1974, and not on the 17th, as Highland had stated. On the morning of the 18th, the defendant appeared in court on the McHenry County charges, and the public defender was appointed to represent him. After the defendant was returned to jail, Sergeant Tyrrell, of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department, was contacted by the Highland Park Police Department with a request that he ask the defendant “what happened to the blue Mustang automobile that was used in the Highland Park rape?” Sergeant Tyrrell advised the defendant of his rights, and then asked him about the automobile. The defendant responded that he had “dumped the car off” in a shopping center parking lot on the 7500 block of Western Avenue in Chicago. The Chicago police subsequently located the car in the shopping center parking lot; human blood, semen and spermatozoa were detected on portions of the interior of the car by the crime lab.

The defendant’s primary argument is that his sixth amendment right to counsel was violated when he was questioned by Detective Highland and others, after he had asserted his right to counsel. In support, the defendant cites his own testimony that he repeatedly asked to be allowed to contact an attorney. For the most part, this was controverted by testimony of police officers who denied that the defendant had requested counsel.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
386 N.E.2d 927, 68 Ill. App. 3d 1040, 25 Ill. Dec. 453, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 2123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-karr-illappct-1979.