People v. King

200 N.E.2d 411, 50 Ill. App. 2d 421, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 851
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 15, 1964
DocketGen. 49,484
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 200 N.E.2d 411 (People v. King) 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. King, 200 N.E.2d 411, 50 Ill. App. 2d 421, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 851 (Ill. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE DRUCKER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Howard King, was indicted for the crime of burglary. Count I of the indictment charged that the defendant, on February 5, 1960, “feloniously, burglariously, wilfully, maliciously and forcibly broke and entered a certain building, to-wit: dwelling house of Ida Sims” with the intent to steal personal property. Count II, which was later nolle prossed by the State, was to the same effect as Count I, with the omission of the charge that the breaking was “forcible.”

The court, without a jury, found defendant guilty and, upon a showing in aggravation that the defendant had been committed to penitentiaries at least six times, sentenced him to a term of 20 to 40 years in the penitentiary.

Ida Sims, the complaining witness, testified that on the day in question she left her apartment at 306 East 57th Street, Chicago, at about 2 p.m.; that before she left she locked all her doors and windows; and that upon returning at 9:30 p. m. she found that her apartment had been ransacked, and the glass in the kitchen or rear door was broken. Sbe stated that nothing was missing from her apartment.

Minnie Lee Hayes testified that sbe lived in tbe same building as Ida Sims, in an apartment across tbe ball on tbe first floor. At about 9 p. m. sbe went to tbe back porcb which sbe shared with Ida Sims in order to empty tbe garbage and saw a man standing on tbe porcb near tbe bannister. Sbe went inside her apartment and, after bearing tbe sound of breaking glass, called tbe police. The police arrived and rang her doorbell. Sbe let one police officer into her apartment and out tbe back door, and accompanied another officer through her front door. She testified that after going through tbe Sims apartment she saw that the back door was open and tbe glass in it broken; that there was a man standing there with two police officers; and that that man was tbe same man sbe bad seen standing on tbe back porch before sbe called tbe police. Sbe identified this man as tbe defendant.

Herman Brooks, a Chicago police officer, testified that at about 9:10 p. m. on tbe day in question be went to tbe above address; that be immediately went around to tbe baek of tbe building and bis partner went to tbe front; that as be was proceeding to tbe rear of tbe building be noticed defendant hurriedly leaving tbe porcb; that be called to defendant to halt, whereupon defendant started toward him and said, “I’m glad you are here, they are breaking in back there,” and then stepped aside to allow Brooks to pass; that be then stopped the defendant for questioning; and that upon searching him be found a loaded revolver in a bolster around bis waist, as well as certain tools, including a wire cutting pliers, a screw driver and a poeket knife. Officer Brooks further testified that defendant, upon being asked bis name, replied: “Well, you got me, I’m tbe man that just broke in.”

Defendant, Howard King, testified that he was a self-employed painter and decorator hut that he was not working on the day in question; that he was in the vicinity of 306 East 57th Street hut was not on the hack porch; that he had just left a “crap game” and had been drinking a little, but was not drunk. He further stated that he had just come out of a house where he had been “shooting craps” when he saw several police squad cars converging upon him; that he ducked into the alley adjacent to the building allegedly burglarized, forgetting that he was carrying a revolver on his person; and that he was standing there and volunteered the statement that “they are breaking in back there.” He said that he carried the gun because he had been gambling and there were “a lot of dope fiend boys hanging around,” and that the screwdriver and pliers were merely tools of his decorating vocation. He denied ever having been in Mrs. Sims’ apartment.

Defendant’s first allegation of error is that he was insane at the time of the trial and that consequently his conviction violates both his constitutional right to due process of law and Illinois statutory law. We do not believe that there is any merit in this contention. The only witness to testify before the special “sanity jury” (IBS, 1959, ch 38, § 593) was Dr. William Haines, Director of the Behavior Clinic of Cook County, whose qualifications were stipulated to by the defense. Dr. Haines testified that he had examined the defendant at the Cook County Jail within several weeks prior to the sanity hearing, and that his opinion, based upon a reasonable degree of medical certainty, was that the defendant was sane, that he knew the nature of the charges against him, and that he was able to cooperate with his counsel in his defense. Defendant was represented by counsel of his own choosing, but the attorney did not cross-examine the doctor or pnt forth any evidence on the sanity issue.

The sanity hearing and the jury’s finding on the uncontradicted expert testimony of Dr. Haines was not “an empty formality” as defendant now elaims.

Defendant urges that there are additional facts, dehors the record, which should have been brought to the jury’s attention. Simply stated, these facts merely show that the defendant is a person of low intelligence and that he is of “unstable personality reactions and is an individual who discloses many psychopathic and sociopathic personality traits.” He had also been under the treatment of the prison psychiatrist of the Menard Branch of the Illinois State Penitentiary. Such extra-record facts, even were we to consider them, do not go to the question of defendant’s legal “sanity.” The Supreme Court of this state, in Withers v. People, 23 Ill2d 131, 177 NE2d 203, set forth the test for determining legal sanity and made it clear that mere psychiatric disturbances do not render the defendant incompetent to stand trial. The court there stated, at pages 135-36:

The test to be applied in determining whether a defendant has the mental capacity to stand trial is whether he understands the nature and object of the charges against him and can, in cooperation with his counsel, conduct his defense in a rational and reasonable manner. (People v. Bender, 20 Ill2d 45; People v. Burson, 11 Ill2d 360; People v. Lewis, 2 Ill2d 328; People v. Geary, 298 Ill 236.) If the defendant does understand the nature and object of the charges against him and can, in cooperation with his counsel, conduct his defense in a rational and reasonable manner, then he is mentally competent to stand trial although upon other subjects his mind may be unsound . . . Confinement in the psychiatric division of the penitentiary system is not based on such a test. There are many prisoners who, although competent to stand trial, are mentally disturbed or defective and require psychiatric treatment. (Emphasis added.)

In the instant case, therefore, we must find that defendant, guided by counsel of his own choosing, had a fair trial on the sanity issue, and that the jury’s finding that he was legally sane was fully warranted upon the evidence. See also, People v. Woods, 26 Ill 2d 557, 560-61, 188 NE2d 1.

Defendant next contends that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. With this contention we cannot agree.

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Bluebook (online)
200 N.E.2d 411, 50 Ill. App. 2d 421, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-king-illappct-1964.