People v. Kelly

838 N.E.2d 236, 361 Ill. App. 3d 515, 297 Ill. Dec. 749, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1325
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided October 31, 2005·No. 4-03-0775·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE APPLETON

delivered the opinion of the court:

In June 2003, at a trial in absentia, a jury convicted defendant, Samuel Kelly, of unlawful possession of cannabis (more than 30, but less than 500, grams), a Class 4 felony (720 ILCS 550/4(d) (West 2002)). The trial court later sentenced him, again in absentia, to five years in prison. Upon defendant’s motion, the court found defendant was entitled to a new sentencing hearing because he was in custody in another county at the time of his initial sentencing hearing. At the rehearing, the court sentenced defendant to 4 years in prison with credit for 63 days for time served. The court recommended defendant for impact incarceration. The court denied defendant’s other posttrial and postsentencing motions.

Defendant appeals, arguing that (1) the State failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) the statute (730 ILCS 5/5 — 4—3 (West 2002)) requiring convicted felons to submit blood, saliva, or tissue samples to the Illinois Department of State Police (State Police) is unconstitutional; (3) the trial court abused its discretion by ordering the reimbursement of attorney fees without determining defendant’s ability to pay; and (4) he is entitled to an additional day of sentencing credit. We affirm as modified and remand with directions.

I. BACKGROUND

The charges against defendant grew out of the facts primarily testified to at trial by Daniel Davis, a Pontiac police officer. He testified that on the evening of March 21, 2003, he participated in the execution of a search warrant conducted at 937 North Mill Street. The house was believed to be owned by Nathaniel Strong. Davis and other members of the tactical response team (TRT) approached the residence and, before officers could knock on the door, Roanna Donaldson opened it. The officers entered the house and observed defendant and Reginald Williams in the bedroom. Davis noticed a “strong odor of burnt cannabis in the air.” Once the suspects were transported to jail, Davis noticed a backpack lying on the living room floor. The backpack had protruding from it a plastic bag containing what appeared to be cannabis. Davis had not seen the backpack when he entered the house, and it was not in the bedroom with defendant and Williams.

Donaldson testified that she lived at the North Mill residence with her boyfriend, Strong. She was not at home when defendant and Williams arrived. When shown a photograph of the backpack with the plastic bag lying on top, Donaldson said she did not recognize the backpack — it did not belong to her or Strong. She said the backpack was not at the house when she had left for work that morning. She said Williams and defendant were smoking a “blunt” (cannabis rolled in cigar paper) in her house before the police arrived.

On cross-examination, Donaldson said she knew Williams, whom she identified as Strong’s “main [drug] supplier,” but she did not know defendant. She said Strong sold drugs out of the North Mill residence. Donaldson was not charged with any offense that evening and was not fingerprinted.

Kerry Nielsen, a forensic scientist with the State Police, testified that he analyzed the substance found in the backpack and confirmed the plastic bag contained 90 grams of cannabis.

Daron Bagnell, a Pontiac police officer, testified that he was part of the TRT. Like Davis, Bagnell noticed the odor of burnt cannabis in the house and found a partially burned blunt in the bedroom where defendant and Williams were first located. Bagnell said he first saw the backpack after the residence was secure and defendant, Williams, and Donaldson were detained. He said Williams was sitting on the floor in the living room and “kept his attention focused over to this one corner of the living room where this backpack [w]as sitting.” When Bagnell approached the backpack, he saw a plastic resealable bag containing what appeared to be cannabis sticking out of the top.

On cross-examination, Bagnell estimated that the blunt contained three to four grams of cannabis.

Mike Willis, a detective with the Pontiac police department, testified that he was executing a warrant on Strong at the time the TRT executed the warrant at the North Mill residence. After he arrested Strong, Willis went to the residence to assist in the search. Bagnell pointed out the backpack to Willis, saying they “ha[dj got quite a bit of cannabis right there in plain view.” Willis field-tested a small portion of the contents of the plastic bag and found the presence of cannabis.

Willis indicated he seized from the residence the blunt found in the bedroom, the backpack with the plastic bag containing cannabis found in the living room, and a box of Swisher Sweet cigars found on defendant’s person. The blunt was rolled in Swisher Sweet cigar paper.

Later in the evening, with defendant’s consent, Willis interviewed defendant. Defendant told Willis he rode to Pontiac with a friend of his who had planned to meet Strong. They first went to Strong’s house, the North Mill residence. When Willis asked defendant about the plastic bag, defendant denied seeing it or knowing it was there. Willis said he asked defendant if a fingerprint analysis conducted on the bag would reveal the presence of defendant’s prints. Willis said defendant “then put his head down and said, ‘okay, I will be honest with you.’ ”

Willis then testified as follows:

“He [(defendant)] then said, yes, he was familiar with the bag of cannabis, that they had been smoking from the bag, that he himself had rolled a blunt of cannabis with the Swisher Sweets from that bag. And he said that he was smoking the actual blunt that he had just rolled from that bag when the TRT team [sic] came into the front door. He said he discarded the blunt on the floor in the bedroom which I later recovered.”

Willis said the plastic bag was sent for fingerprint analysis and only an unidentified latent print was found.

At the close of its evidence, the State offered four exhibits that were admitted without objection and then rested. Defendant rested without presenting any evidence. After deliberations, the jury found defendant guilty of unlawful possession of between 30 and 500 grams of cannabis.

On July 28, 2003, the trial court conducted a sentencing hearing in absentia and imposed a five-year prison term with credit for two days for time served. The court then noted that defendant had an outstanding bond in the amount of $2,000, subtracted court costs, and awarded the remainder to the public defender as reimbursement for attorney fees.

On July 29, 2003, defendant appeared before the trial court in custody and reported he had been in the Cook County jail since July 5, 2003. Defendant said he did not appear at his trial because he did not have a ride to Livingston County.

On August 11, 2003, the trial court conducted a status hearing at which private counsel appeared on defendant’s behalf. Upon entry of that attorney’s appearance, the court vacated the appointment of the public defender.

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People v. Kelly, 838 N.E.2d 236, 361 Ill. App. 3d 515, 297 Ill. Dec. 749, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1325 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

838 N.E.2d 236 (People v. Kelly) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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