People v. Mimes

2014 IL App (1st) 82747
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided August 11, 2014·No. 1-08-2747·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Illinois Official Reports

Appellate Court

People v. Mimes, 2014 IL App (1st) 082747-B

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

District & No. First District, Sixth Division Docket No. 1-08-2747

Filed June 20, 2014

Held On appeal from defendant’s convictions for attempted first degree (Note: This syllabus murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful constitutes no part of the use of a weapon, the appellate court held that the trial court did not act opinion of the court but as a prosecutor when it sua sponte considered evidence that defendant has been prepared by the robbed the victim and hit him with a firearm prior to the instant Reporter of Decisions offenses, since the evidence of the earlier crimes was considered for for the convenience of the proper purpose of identification, the State was not required to give the reader.) defendant written notice that it would seek an enhanced sentence based on defendant’s discharge of a firearm that caused great bodily harm to the victim, the 45-year sentence for attempted first degree murder was not excessive, the convictions and sentences for aggravated battery with a firearm and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon were vacated pursuant to the one-act, one-crime rule, defendant’s conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon was reversed pursuant to Aguilar, and the court system fee was upheld, but various other challenged fees were vacated and fines were offset by credit for defendant’s presentence incarceration.

Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 05-CR-28199; the Review Hon. Kenneth J. Wadas, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Affirmed in part, reversed in part and vacated in part.

Counsel on Michael J. Pelletier, Alan D. Goldberg, Aliza R. Kaliski, and Todd T. Appeal McHenry, all of State Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Anita M. Alvarez, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Miles J. Keleher, Robin Murphy, and Michelle Katz, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Panel JUSTICE LAMPKIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Rochford and Justice Hall concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Following a bench trial, defendant Martell Mimes was convicted of attempted first degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (AUUW). He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 45 years in prison for attempted murder, 10 years for aggravated battery with a firearm, and 3 years for AUUW.

¶2 On appeal, he contends: (1) the trial judge improperly assumed the role of prosecutor; (2) the trial court improperly increased defendant’s sentence for attempted murder where the State did not charge the sentence enhancing facts in the indictment; (3) defendant’s sentence for attempted murder was excessive; (4) his convictions for aggravated battery with a firearm and two counts of AUUW violated the one-act, one-crime rule; (5) his convictions under the AUUW statute should be vacated because the criminalization of carrying a firearm on one’s person in public violates the constitutional guarantees of the right to bear arms; and (6) the trial court erroneously imposed various fines, fees and costs against him. After this court filed its opinion in this case (People v. Mimes, 2011 IL App (1st) 082747), the Illinois Supreme Court issued a supervisory order instructing us to vacate our judgment and reconsider our prior decision in light of People v. Aguilar, 2013 IL 112116. People v. Mimes, No. 112728 (Jan. 29, 2014) (supervisory order).

¶3 For the reasons that follow, we hold that (1) the trial judge did not improperly assume the role of prosecutor by considering other-crimes evidence against defendant for the limited purpose of identification; (2) defendant received sufficient notice prior to trial of alleged facts that increased the penalty range of his attempted murder conviction where he was not prejudiced in the preparation of his defense; (3) the trial court’s 45-year sentence for attempted first degree murder was not an abuse of discretion; (4) defendant’s convictions for attempted first degree murder and one count of AUUW did not violate the one-act, one-crime rule, but this rule was violated by his convictions for aggravated battery with a firearm and a second count of AUUW; (5) defendant’s conviction for carrying an uncased, loaded and accessible firearm on a public city street is reversed because the relevant provisions of Illinois’s AUUW statute violated the constitutional protection of the right to bear arms; and

(6) the trial court properly assessed defendant with the $50 court system fee, but the other challenged fees or fines are vacated or offset by his time spent in custody.

¶4 I. BACKGROUND

¶5 Defendant was arrested and charged with the November 8, 2005 attempted first degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm of the 17-year-old victim, Lenard Richardson. Defendant was also charged with eight counts of AUUW based on allegations that he was carrying an uncased, loaded and accessible firearm in public and did not have a firearm owner’s identification (FOID) card, was under 21 years of age, and was involved in street gang activity.

¶6 At the bench trial in August 2008, the testimony of Richardson and his older brother, Leonard Cole, established that Richardson was selling heroin in a Chicago public housing building on the evening in question when he was robbed by defendant and three other offenders. Defendant brandished a silver pistol, took Richardson’s bundle of narcotics and about $200, and hit Richardson in his jaw with the pistol. Richardson then telephoned Cole, who drove to the scene with another friend. When Cole arrived at the scene, he told Richardson to wait in the car and he (Cole) would “handle it.” Cole and his friend walked across the street to a second public housing building and spoke with Lavane Tanksley. After a minute, Richardson lost sight of Cole, got out of the car, and went inside the second building.

¶7 Richardson went upstairs, looked out a window and saw Cole talking to Tanksley. Richardson then went downstairs to the lobby. As he was by the door and about to exit the building, he saw defendant, who was outside and about three feet away. Defendant walked toward Richardson and was carrying a silver pistol. Defendant started shooting as he walked up the steps to enter the building, and continued shooting as he walked into the lobby, passed Richardson and ran up a staircase. When Richardson heard the initial gunshots, he dropped to the ground and heard more gunshots fired. Only Richardson and defendant were in the lobby. Richardson did not have a gun. Richardson sustained two gunshot wounds fired into his back. Cole also heard the gunshots, dropped to the ground and then saw that someone was lying inside the lobby with his feet sticking out the door. Cole went into the lobby and saw that the victim was Richardson. No one else was in the lobby. Cole remained with Richardson until the police arrived.

¶8 Richardson was taken to the hospital and briefly interviewed by the police. Although Richardson initially denied selling drugs at the scene, he subsequently told the police about the events leading up to the shooting, gave a description of the shooter, and said he thought the shooter used a gun that belonged to Tanksley. The police spoke with Tanksley and obtained defendant’s name. One day after the shooting, Richardson identified defendant as the shooter from a photo array. As a result of the shooting, Richardson suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down. Thereafter, he was confined to a wheelchair and had to wear a colostomy bag and diaper. Furthermore, both his legs were subsequently amputated.

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People v. Mimes, 2014 IL App (1st) 82747 (Ill. Ct. App. 2014).

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