People v. Lengyel

2015 IL App (1st) 131022
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided September 24, 2015·No. 1-13-1022·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Illinois Official Reports

Appellate Court

People v. Lengyel, 2015 IL App (1st) 131022

Appellate Court THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Caption STEVEN LENGYEL, Defendant-Appellant.

District & No. First District, Third Division Docket No. 1-13-1022

Filed August 5, 2015

Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 12-CR-2715; the Review Hon. Michael Brown, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Reversed and remanded for resentencing.

Counsel on Michael J. Pelletier, Alan D. Goldberg, and Peter Sgro, all of State Appeal Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Anita M. Alvarez, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Kathleen Warnick, and Lisanne P. Pugliese, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Panel JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Pucinski and Justice Mason concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION

¶1 Defendant Steven Lengyel and his father Richard Lengyel got into a verbal argument that escalated into a physical altercation. Steven punched Richard, and, two days later, Richard died at the hospital after suffering a stroke. The State charged Steven with first degree murder. The jury convicted Steven of second degree murder, and he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. ¶2 On appeal, Steven argues: (1) the State failed to prove him guilty of second degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt because he did not have the requisite intent or knowledge for murder but instead, he committed involuntary manslaughter by recklessly punching Richard; (2) ineffective assistance of counsel for his trial attorney’s alleged failure to present the defense of involuntary manslaughter; and (3) the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him to 18 years’ imprisonment. ¶3 Based on the evidence that Steven acted recklessly and without the intent to kill Richard, he should have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, not second degree murder. Accordingly, we reverse Steven’s second degree murder conviction, enter a conviction for involuntary manslaughter, and remand for resentencing.

¶4 BACKGROUND ¶5 Steven Lengyel was 22 years old and living with his father, Richard Lengyel, in a one-bedroom apartment on the north side of Chicago. Unemployed, Steven took care of Richard, who received disability benefits stemming from his diabetes. Steven took care of Richard by shopping for him, taking him to dialysis, and managing his finances. Steven and Richard argued daily over things like cigarettes, DVDs, and car parts. ¶6 On January 3, 2012, Steven was in the bedroom with his girlfriend, Alexandra Cort, when he decided to go to the living room and talk to Richard about a pizza menu. Steven and Richard got into a verbal, and then a physical, altercation, after which Richard was taken to the hospital where he died two days later following a stroke. ¶7 On January 4, Steven voluntarily surrendered to police and, while Richard was still alive, was charged with aggravated battery. He gave videotaped statements to detectives on January 4 and January 5. ¶8 Steven told detectives that he had issues with his father and his inner rage against Richard had been building for years. He was frustrated that “[Richard] wouldn’t let me get my shit and leave.” He also said, “I’m not proud of what happened at all.” ¶9 On the day of the fight, Steven asked Richard about a pizza menu, and Richard accused him of stealing a lighter. Steven then went to his room and started going through his DVDs, and noticed that some were missing. He asked his father if he knew where the DVDs were, and then Steven and Richard began arguing over the DVDs and other grievances. ¶ 10 As the argument escalated, Richard, who was sitting in his recliner, grabbed Steven’s shirt. To disentangle himself, Steven punched Richard in the head four or five times. Steven acknowledged that he hit his father but said Richard touched him first, and he was only trying to get away from Richard. Steven said he paused for a second after the first contact, then continued. Steven stopped as soon as he saw Richard was bleeding. Steven denied

-2- hitting Richard in the back or chest, explaining that Richard fell a couple months earlier, which could account for the broken ribs and bruising on Richard’s back. ¶ 11 After Steven saw the blood, he went back to his bedroom, locked the door, and told Cort that they needed to leave the apartment. Richard then broke through the bedroom door. Steven pushed him out and Richard fell down to his hands and knees. Richard got up on his own and went to the kitchen to get a towel. At Richard’s request, Steven called for an ambulance. He told the operator that Richard had fallen and needed help. Steven did not wait for the ambulance to arrive; Richard told him to leave before the paramedics got there. ¶ 12 Steven and Cort left the apartment and went to a friend’s apartment. Steven told his friend that he and his father had gotten into a fight, and that Richard had again blamed him for stealing his things. Steven called his mother because he was worried about his father and wanted to know if Richard was okay. Eventually, Steven and Cort went back to the apartment to gather some clothes and DVDs to pawn, and spent the night at Cort’s apartment. The next morning, Steven agreed to meet with detectives at a McDonald’s. Meanwhile, Richard was in the hospital in critical condition. ¶ 13 Following Richard’s death, Steven was charged by indictment with two counts of first degree murder. Count I alleged that Steven intentionally or knowingly beat, struck, and killed Richard with his hands (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 2012)), and count II alleged that Steven struck and killed Richard with his hands, knowing that such acts created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(2) (West 2012)). ¶ 14 At trial, Carol Lengyel, Richard’s sister, testified that on January 5, Richard was taken off of life support and died. At the time of his death, Richard was 55-years-old and the father of two children, Steven and Tiffany. ¶ 15 Steven’s girlfriend, Alexandra Cort, testified that she was in the apartment during the fight. For most of the day, Cort and Steven were cleaning the bedroom and watching movies, while Richard stayed in the living room. At about 5:00 p.m., Steven found a pizza menu in the bedroom and went to ask Richard if he wanted to keep it. Cort stayed in the bedroom. She heard Richard ask Steven where his lighter was, and then she heard arguing, which escalated to yelling, over who owned the lighter and the DVDs. ¶ 16 According to Cort, Steven felt Richard was a bad father and never around. Richard countered that Steven had been a horrible son, refused to pay rent, and would not go to school. Steven accused Richard of getting high. Cort did not see what was happening because it “sounded like every other fight [Richard and Steven] had.” After ten minutes, Steven ran back into the bedroom and locked the door. Steven said that they had to leave because he had just hit his father. Steven appeared worried, scared, and angry. She saw a rip in his shirt. ¶ 17 Steven’s in-court testimony largely follows his videotaped statements to the police. Steven testified that after he approached his father with the pizza menu, Richard accused him of stealing a lighter. Steven went to the bedroom, and after about 15 to 20 minutes went back to speak with his father after noticing some of his DVDs were missing. Richard was sitting in the recliner. Steven asked Richard if he knew the whereabouts of the DVDs, after which he and Richard began yelling at one another. Steven said he was angry but did not want to kill Richard.

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People v. Lengyel, 2015 IL App (1st) 131022 (Ill. Ct. App. 2015).

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