People v. McIntire

602 N.E.2d 938, 236 Ill. App. 3d 732, 177 Ill. Dec. 43, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1744
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 30, 1992
DocketNo. 4—92—0104
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 602 N.E.2d 938 (People v. McIntire) 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. McIntire, 602 N.E.2d 938, 236 Ill. App. 3d 732, 177 Ill. Dec. 43, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1744 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Section 11 — 501.1(c) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 951/2, par. 11 — 501.1(c)) permits the Secretary of State to summarily suspend an Illinois driver’s license upon failure of a motorist to submit to or complete a blood-alcohol test under certain conditions. Section 2 — 118.1 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 951/2, par. 2 — 118.1) sets forth a court procedure, including a hearing, whereby one whose license has been so suspended may seek to have the suspension rescinded.

Central to our decision here is the portion of section 2 — 118.1(b) of the Code which states:

“The hearing may be conducted upon a review of the law enforcement officer’s own official reports; provided however, that the person may subpoena the officer. Failure of the officer to answer the subpoena shall be considered by the court to be the same as the failure of a complaining witness to appear in any criminal proceeding.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 951/2, par. 2 — 118.1(b).)

The “law enforcement [officer]” referred to above is the arresting officer as described in section 11 — 501.1 of the Code. The questions raised here are (1) whether the court must formally receive the officer’s report in evidence before considering it, and (2) whether the report may be considered when the officer is subpoenaed by the petitioner and testifies. We hold (1) the report is before the court for evidentiary purposes as soon as it is filed, and (2) the report may be considered even though the officer is subpoenaed and testifies.

On June 19, 1991, defendant Jeff Mclntire filed in the circuit court of Pike County a petition pursuant to section 2 — 118.1 of the Code seeking rescission of a statutory summary suspension of his license which had been imposed by the Secretary of State. The petition was brought in a case in which the defendant was charged with a traffic violation which gave rise to a request by an arresting officer that defendant submit to a test of the alcohol content of his blood. After a section 2 — 118.1 hearing, the court entered an order on July 30, 1991, denying the petition for rescission. Defendant appeals. We affirm.

Under section 2 — 118.1(b) of the Code, the scope of the rescission hearing is limited to a few questions of which the only one in issue here is “[w]hether the arresting officer had reasonable grounds to believe [defendant] was driving *** a motor vehicle upon a highway while under the influence of alcohol, other drug, or combination thereof” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 951/2, par. 2— 118.1(b)(2)). The sufficiency of the evidence to show that defendant was properly offered and refused a blood-alcohol test is not disputed.

At the hearing, defendant’s first witness was the arresting officer, deputy sheriff Brenda Leonard, and she testified as follows: (1) on May 28, 1991, at 1 a.m. she was dispatched to assist a City of Pittsfield policeman at Schuster’s Air Field, a private airport; (2) upon arrival she was advised by the officer that defendant was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle located on the airport runway; (3) she asked the defendant whether he was injured and what he was doing on the runway; (4) defendant told her several stories, including a statement that earlier that day he had been involved in a motorcycle accident and he was just treated at the hospital for injuries he sustained in the accident; (5) she contacted the hospital for verification and learned defendant was recently treated for ankle pain and scratches to his face and knees; (6) the hospital indicated he was not treated for a head injury, and he had only been advised to take Tylenol for the ankle pain; and (7) defendant later stated he was in a fight, not a motorcycle accident.

Deputy Leonard described defendant as “confused,” noting petitioner “would tell us one story, and we would ask him about it and he would tell us another story.” The State declined to cross-examine Deputy Leonard.

Next, defendant testified as follows: (1) he was 5 feet 8 inches and 185 pounds, and on the afternoon prior to his arrest he went boating with some friends; (2) he arrived at the lake at approximately 3 p.m.; (3) he drank three beers until 7 p.m., and had nothing else to drink after that time; (4) after 7 p.m. he ate hamburgers for dinner; (5) there was a “good possibility” that while he was on the lake he spilled beer on himself; (6) he left the lake at 9:30 p.m. and went to a friend’s house; (7) he drove home on his motorcycle at 10:30 p.m.; (8) he lost control of his motorcycle when turning on to his gravel driveway; (9) he was not intoxicated when driving his motorcycle; (10) as a result of the accident he scraped the left side of his body and injured his head; (11) the head injury was not visible, but was tender to touch for one week; (12) following the accident he went into his house and cleaned his scratches; (13) he felt dizzy and took aspirin for the pain in his ankle; and (14) he went to bed and after that he did not remember much of what happened.

Defendant was unable to testify about what happened while he was being treated in the hospital. The next thing he allegedly remembered was seeing a grassy wooded area, and Officer Leonard arriving on the scene. Defendant claimed to have sporadic memory loss for the following three or four days. A hospital document on instructions for a head injury was given to defendant when he was released from the hospital, indicating that there was no evidence he received a serious head injury, but that he should be observed. On cross-examination, defendant denied using obscene language at the time of his arrest. Defendant stated that at the time of his arrest he was wearing the same shorts but a different shirt than he had on while drinking beer earlier that day.

Defendant’s friend, Barry Hammond, testified and corroborated defendant’s testimony regarding the boating trip. Hammond claimed defendant did not drink any alcohol after 7 p.m. the evening before his arrest, and he was not intoxicated. Hammond stated that when defendant left to drive home that evening, defendant’s breath and clothes smelled like alcohol. On cross-examination, Hammond admitted he did not know if defendant stopped to have anything to drink on his way home. He also admitted he distinctly smelled the odor of alcohol on defendant when defendant started on his way home.

Defendant also called as a witness the nurse who treated him at the hospital the night of his arrest. The nurse stated she could not remember anything unusual about defendant’s behavior that evening. On cross-examination the nurse testified that defendant’s blood was not tested for alcohol content. Defendant’s mother testified that on the evening of the arrest she observed defendant at 11 p.m. Defendant’s mother described defendant’s behavior as “stunned.” Defendant had scrapes, a swollen ankle, and complained of a headache. She later observed him in bed thrashing from side to side, and consequently she brought him to the hospital. The doctor told her the defendant’s ankle was not broken and he had “a possible head injury.” She stated defendant was not very “coherent” and was not making sense. They left the hospital at 12:30 a.m. and drove to purchase Tylenol. When she went into the store she left defendant in her vehicle with the keys in the ignition. When she came out of the store the vehicle was gone.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
602 N.E.2d 938, 236 Ill. App. 3d 732, 177 Ill. Dec. 43, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mcintire-illappct-1992.