People v. Klepper

917 N.E.2d 381, 234 Ill. 2d 337, 334 Ill. Dec. 555
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 2009
Docket105719
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 917 N.E.2d 381 (People v. Klepper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Klepper, 917 N.E.2d 381, 234 Ill. 2d 337, 334 Ill. Dec. 555 (Ill. 2009).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE FITZGERALD

delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

This matter arises out of a conversation that defendant, Walter Klepper, had with a police officer. According to the police officer, defendant falsely told the officer that defendant’s neighbor had tried to run him over with a truck. The State charged defendant with felony disorderly conduct (720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(a)(4) (West 2006)). After a bench trial, the circuit court of Kendall County found defendant guilty. The trial court declined to impose a felony sentence after finding a violation of the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, §11) and instead imposed a misdemeanor sentence. The State appealed the constitutional ruling directly to this court. Defendant filed a cross-appeal. We find in favor of the State and reverse.

BACKGROUND

On February 17, 2006, defendant called the Kendall County “911” line to relate an incident involving Edward Boone, a neighbor. He stated that Boone had attempted to run him over with a truck on Willow Springs Lane, in the town of Plano. An officer arrived at the scene and was told by defendant that Boone had attempted to run him over and Boone had missed defendant by a distance of IV2 feet. As the officer stood with defendant in the spot of the incident, the officer observed a surveillance camera in a window of defendant’s other nearby property. The officer requested defendant to show him the video, and, according to the officer, defendant reluctantly agreed. The officer testified that the video showed defendant walking to and from the roadway. After defendant had disappeared from the video, Boone’s vehicle drove past.

The officer interviewed Boone, as well as another neighbor, Deanna Berard, who stated she was watching from her kitchen window and heard defendant’s call to 911 on her police scanner. Both confirmed the events as seen by the officer on the video and denied the accuracy of defendant’s statements.

The State charged defendant by information with disorderly conduct (720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(a)(4) (West 2006)), a Class 4 felony, for falsely reporting to an officer than an offense had been committed. Defendant rejected the State’s offer to plead to a misdemeanor despite his counsel’s warning that a felony conviction could negatively affect his chiropractor’s license. At trial, the court heard the tape of defendant’s 911 call. On the recording, defendant states that he was a pedestrian placing his vehicle into his garage when Edward Boone aimed his truck at him and tried to run him down. He stated that he previously had multiple incidents with Boone. The trial court also heard the testimony of the officer, Boone, Berard, and defendant. This testimony was consistent with their previous statements. The court received from these and other witnesses’ testimony of the “bad blood” between these residents of Willow Springs Lane, particularly as to Boone and defendant. Further, the ongoing feud among the neighbors was well known among the officers of Kendall County. The trial court permitted brief testimony as to certain specific incidents of the feud, but declined to allow defense counsel to explore the matter extensively on cross-examination.

The trial court found defendant guilty of disorderly conduct (720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(a)(4) (West 2006)) on March 6, 2007. Defendant filed a posttrial motion, which, inter alia, challenged the constitutionality of subsection 26— 1(a)(4). Defendant claimed that section 26 — 1(a)(4), which punishes a false report to a police officer as a felony, applied to the same conduct as section 26— l(a)(12), which punishes a false complaint to 911 as a misdemeanor. 720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(b) (West 2006). According to counsel, the elements of subsections (a)(4) and (a) (12) are virtually identical. On August 14, 2007, the court held section 26 — 1(a)(4) (720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(a)(4) (West 2006)) unconstitutional under the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, §11) when compared with section 26— l(a)(12) (720 ILCS 5/26 — l(a)(12) (West 2006)). Consequently, the court found defendant guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. 720 ILCS 5/26 — 1(a)(12), (b) (West 2006). The court continued the matter for a sentencing hearing. On September 13, 2007, the court sentenced defendant to a term of one year’s probation.

The State filed a notice of appeal. After the clerk of this court rejected the State’s notice of leave to appeal for lack of compliance with Rule 18, the circuit court entered a Rule 18 compliant order on November 30. Defendant filed a motion with this court arguing that the appeal should be dismissed because the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to enter the November 30 order. We denied this motion.

ANALYSIS

The parties have presented us with the following issues: (1) whether this court may retain jurisdiction over this case; (2) whether the State waived its challenge to the trial court’s constitutional ruling by proceeding to sentencing; (3) whether section 26 — 1(a)(4) (a Class 4 felony) violates the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; (4) whether defense counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to challenge the sufficiency of the information before trial; and (5) whether defendant was deprived of the right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses for potential bias against him.

Jurisdiction

Before considering the merits of the appeal, we must initially consider defendant’s renewed challenge to this court’s jurisdiction. As previously stated, defendant was found guilty on March 7, 2007. The case was continued, and the trial court found subsection (a)(4) unconstitutional on August 14, 2007. At an August 31 court date, the State filed a motion to reconsider the court’s August 14 order. On September 13, the trial court denied this motion and sentenced defendant to a term of one year’s probation. The trial court explained that it found defendant guilty under section 26 — 1(a)(4)—the offense with which he was charged — but given the proportionate penalties violation, imposed a Class A misdemeanor. However, the August 14 and September 13 orders made no further findings in order to comply with Supreme Court Rule 18 (210 Ill. 2d R. 18). 1 The State filed its first Notice of Appeal from this ruling on October 11, 2007, and defendant filed his Notice of Cross-Appeal on October 19, 2007.

On October 24, 2007, the clerk of this court issued a letter stating that the notice of appeal would not be filed and docketed in the supreme court for want of compliance with Supreme Court Rule 303(b)(3) (210 Ill. 2d R. 303(b)(3)) or Supreme Court Rule 603 (134 Ill. 2d R. 603) and Supreme Court Rule 606(d)(8) (210 Ill.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Crutchfield
2025 IL App (5th) 240803-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Walls
2025 IL App (2d) 240222-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. McCoy
2025 IL App (1st) 232395-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Adamson
2025 IL App (5th) 230040-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Saunders
2025 IL App (1st) 230044-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Mehall
2025 IL App (1st) 232332-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Evans
2025 IL App (5th) 230028 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Allen
2025 IL App (4th) 240090-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Gomez
2024 IL App (1st) 231355-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. McClendon
2024 IL App (5th) 220395-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Streeter
2024 IL App (1st) 191825 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Bryant
2024 IL App (1st) 221324-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Estrada
2024 IL App (1st) 230029-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Garcia
2024 IL App (1st) 211251-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Williams
2023 IL App (1st) 221026-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Morales
2023 IL App (1st) 221456-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Vega
2023 IL App (1st) 200663 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Pacheco
2023 IL 127535 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2023)
People v. Spencer
2023 IL App (1st) 200646-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Griebahn
2023 IL App (1st) 220299-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
917 N.E.2d 381, 234 Ill. 2d 337, 334 Ill. Dec. 555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-klepper-ill-2009.