People v. Kizer

851 N.E.2d 266, 365 Ill. App. 3d 949, 303 Ill. Dec. 368, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 524
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 16, 2006
Docket4-04-0653
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 851 N.E.2d 266 (People v. Kizer) 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. Kizer, 851 N.E.2d 266, 365 Ill. App. 3d 949, 303 Ill. Dec. 368, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 524 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JUSTICE APPLETON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Michael Kizer, appeals from his convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(2) (West 1998)) and driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of .08 grams per deciliter or more (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(1) (West 1998)). We vacate the latter conviction under the one-act, one-crime rule but otherwise affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 15, 1999, the police issued defendant a uniform citation and complaint for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(2) (West 1998)). The case was docketed as People v. Kizer, No. 99 — DT—411 (traffic case). On October 13, 2000, pursuant to section 103 — 5(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Code) (725 ILCS 5/103 — 5(b) (West 2000)), defendant filed a request for a speedy trial in the traffic case. The State nol-prossed the traffic case on February 27, 2001.

On May 7, 2001, in the present case, No. 01 — CF—193, the State filed an indictment charging defendant with reckless homicide (720 ILCS 5/9 — 3(a) (West 1998)). According to the indictment, he caused Kevin Andrews’s death on October 15, 1999, by driving “at an excessive speed at a time when he had ingested alcohol” or “when he had ingested alcohol to a degree which rendered him incapable of safely driving.” The indictment alleged the same conduct of DUI as the traffic case.

On May 29, 2001, in a motion for pretrial discovery pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 412 (188 Ill. 2d R. 412), defendant requested “[a]ny *** tangible objects which the State intends to use in a *** trial which were obtained from *** the accused” and “[a]ny material *** which tends to negate the guilt of the accused.”

On March 4, 2002, defendant pleaded guilty to reckless homicide. On May 9, 2002, the trial court sentenced him to 30 months’ probation.

The statute defining the offense of reckless homicide provided that “[i]n cases involving reckless homicide, being under the influence of alcohol *** at the time of the alleged violation shall be presumed to be evidence of a reckless act unless disproved by evidence to the contrary.” 720 ILCS 5/9 — 3(b) (West 1998). On November 14, 2002, defendant filed a postconviction petition, arguing that the trial court should vacate his conviction of reckless homicide because in People v. Pomykala, 203 Ill. 2d 198, 209, 784 N.E.2d 784, 791 (2003), the supreme court declared the mandatory presumption in section 9 — 3(b) to be unconstitutional. On September 29, 2003, the State confessed the petition, and the court vacated the guilty plea and the sentence.

On October 3, 2003, defendant filed a motion to suppress a blood alcohol analysis. In this motion, defendant alleged that the Illinois State Police laboratory analyzed a blood sample collected from him shortly after the accident. On June 13, 2001, in response to his discovery request, the State disclosed to him the blood alcohol content: .092 grams per deciliter. On September 30, 2003, defense counsel sent the State’s Attorney a letter “requesting that said sample be tested by an independent toxicological laboratory because of the narrow margin of error of the [e]thanol findings over the legal limit of .08 [grams per deciliter], which presumes intoxication.” The State could not comply with that request because the crime laboratory “destroyed said samples on or before September 30, 2001.” Defendant claimed that the destruction of this evidence violated his right to due process under the fourteenth amendment (U.S. Const., amend. XIV), and, on the authority of People v. Newberry, 166 Ill. 2d 310, 652 N.E.2d 288 (1995), and Rule 415(g)(i) (134 Ill. 2d R. 415(g)(i)), he requested a suppression of the blood alcohol analysis.

On October 24, 2003, the trial court held a hearing on the motion for suppression. Cathy Anderson, a forensic scientist at the crime laboratory, testified that the two blood samples collected from defendant “were destroyed or discarded” on September 25, 2001. The State’s Attorney never asked her to preserve them. She testified: “[W]e have a statement on the report that *** we will destroy [the blood samples] after a year unless we’re otherwise notified, and *** we’re behind[,] so it takes a couple of years before we actually destroy them.” Because the laboratory had mixed a preservative with the samples and stored them in a refrigerator, it would have been possible to reanalyze them, had they not been destroyed. On November 10, 2003, the court denied defendant’s motion for suppression because he never specifically asked the State to preserve the blood samples.

On December 1, 2003, pursuant to section 103 — 5 of the Code (725 ILCS 5/103 — 5 (West 2002)) defendant filed a request for “an immediate trial” in the present felony case.

On February 27, 2004, the State filed an amended information charging defendant with two counts. Count I was driving under the influence of alcohol (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(2) (West 1998)), and count II was driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of .08 grams per deciliter or more (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(1) (West 1998)). The State nol-prossed the indictment for reckless homicide. Both counts of the amended information alleged the same DUI as the traffic case and the indictment.

On March 1, 2004, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice, pursuant to sections 103 — 5(d) and 114 — 1(a)(1) of the Code (725 ILCS 5/103 — 5(d), 114 — 1(a)(1) (West 2002)), on the ground that the State had failed to give him a trial within 160 days of his demand for a speedy trial in the traffic case. On April 14, 2004, the trial court denied the motion.

Trial on the amended information began on April 19, 2004. The evidence revealed that around 8 p.m. on October 15, 1999, defendant drove two of his friends, Andrews and Paul Nickle, from his home in Westville to a cookout in Indiana. They traveled in defendant’s car and drank throughout the evening. When exiting a pizza restaurant in Indiana, Andrews was so intoxicated he had to be helped to the car. Defendant asked Nickle to drive because defendant believed that he himself had consumed too much alcohol. Nickle declined because he was suffering from the same disadvantage as defendant. At 11:30 p.m., on the return trip, the car veered off a country road in Vermilion County, Illinois, rolled, and came to rest on its roof in a drainage ditch. Defendant and Nickle were thrown from the car but survived. Andrews was trapped in the backseat and died. In the emergency room, defendant told a nurse and doctor that he was the driver.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
851 N.E.2d 266, 365 Ill. App. 3d 949, 303 Ill. Dec. 368, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kizer-illappct-2006.