People v. Moore

365 N.E.2d 1356, 50 Ill. App. 3d 952, 8 Ill. Dec. 894, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 3044
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 26, 1977·No. 76-137·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE RECHENMACHER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendants were convicted of armed robbery after a jury trial. Defendant Jay Brown was sentenced to a term of 6 to 18 years in the penitentiary, and defendant Faith Moore was sentenced to a term of 4 to 6 years. Both defendants appeal, contending that the evidence presented by tlie prosecution was insufficient to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Jay Brown further contends that his sentence was excessive and not justified by the “nature and circumstances” of the offense.

The State’s case was based upon tíre eyewitness identification of the defendants by Donna Langley, who was 16 years old, and employed by die Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant in Zion, Illinois, as a sales-hostess. Miss Langley was on duty on May 13,1975, at a few minutes past 8 p.m. when a black man and woman entered tire restaurant. The woman | ordered a soft drink while tire man went to the side of the counter. Miss Langley served tire woman, and took tire man’s order. The woman gave Miss Langley a $5 bill, and Miss Langley rang her order up on the cash register. After tire register opened, she saw drat the man had a small, silver gun. The man said, “Don’t scream or say anything or else I’ll kill you,” and reached over the counter and took all of the bills from the cash register. The couple then ran out of the restaurant together.

Miss Langley described the male offender as five feet ten inches to six feet tall, between 24 and 26 years old, and weighing about 240 pounds. He was described as wearing a “fishing hat” with the brim tinned down, reaching to the bottom of his forehead, as well as sunglasses. Miss Langley testified at trial that the man “had a normal mustache and maybe he could have been starting to grow a beard or sideburns or goatee.” The woman was described as a “light-skinned” Negro with her hair pinned to her head with barrettes, weighing 110 to 115 pounds, 19 to 20 years old, wearing a “baby blue” jacket of mid-thigh length. Miss Langley told police after the robbery that she was sure that she could identify the female and “almost sure” she could identify die male.

That same night, she went to the Zion Police Station, and was shown approximately two to three hundred photos of both male and female subjects, but was unable to identify any of them. The next day she returned to the station where she assisted in the preparation of a composite sketch of the male offender, and was then shown five or six photos of different subjects. She picked the photograph of Jay Brown out of die six, saying it “looks like” the offender, except tiiat the subject in the photographs was dressed differently tiian the offender, and had a beard.

On the following Saturday, Miss Langley viewed a lineup of six subjects, including Jay Brown. She was given a sheet of paper with .the number of each subject on it, and circled the number corresponding to Brown; however, she added the comment “not positively though” on the sheet.

At the preliminary hearing, Miss Langley made a positive identification of Jay Brown and Faith Moore. She testified that she had not been certain of her identification at the police lineup, because Brown was dressed differently than the offender.

Miss Langley also made a positive identification of both offenders at trial. There, she testified that she had failed to make a positive identification at the lineup because Jay Brown “didn’t look quite the same” without his hat and glasses and with different clothes, that she didn’t have her glasses or contacts on when she viewed the lineup and that Brown “wasn’t just a couple of inches away * * * like he was standing across the counter.” On cross-examination she stated it would not have made any difference as to whether or not she was wearing glasses when she viewed the lineup.

Certain circumstantial evidence was presented by the State in support of Miss Langley’s testimony. David Dorn, the assistant manager of the restaurant, testified that, at the time of the robbery, he was checking the parking lot for garbage when he observed a black couple running from the restaurant, heading in the direction of the nearby Colonial Bakery. Mr. Dorn observed that the black female was wearing a waist length blue jacket, but was unable to make any identification of the pair. Robert Brown, who lived near the Colonial Bakery, testified that when he arrived home at approximately 8 p.m. on May 13, he observed a rusted, older model Ford automobile of a “peculiar bluish green color” backed into the bakery parking lot in an unusual manner. He testified that three small black children were jumping up and down on the rear seat of the car, and that the car pulled away after about three minutes. He stated that on the next night, two police detectives took him to 2717 Galilee in Zion, Illinois, where he observed the Ford which he had seen on the night of the robbery, parked by an apartment building at that address. Margie Moore, Faith Moore’s sister, was called by the State and testified that Jay Brown was her sister’s boy friend and that her sister had three children. She further testified that her sister came to her home and asked to borrow her car, a blue-green or turquoise 1964 Ford, which had rust on it, on the night of the robbery. Her sister borrowed the car at between 6 and 6:30 and returned it between 8 and 9. Jay Brown and her three children were with her when she returned the car; Faith Moore was wearing a blue coat and Brown was wearing a blue hat with a brim in front. Margie Moore testified that she lived at 2717 Galilee in Zion, Illinois.

Jay Brown testified that on the night in question he played pool at his home with his brother and Lee Jones. At 6 o’clock or 6:30 p.m., Faith Moore left to borrow her sister’s car, in order to do some errands. She returned and at 7 o’clock or 7:30, the pair and Faith Moore’s three children left Brown’s home and drove to North Chicago, where they arrived after 15 to 20 minutes. There Brown borrowed his cousin’s car and followed Faith Moore to Margie Moore’s home, where she returned Margie Moore’s car. Faith Moore also took the stand, corroborating Jay Brown’s alibi testimony.

The defense called a number of further witnesses. Carole Brewer testified that although she was working in die back of the restaurant on the night of the robbery, and saw a black couple come into the store, she was unable to identify them or recall what they were wearing. Lee Jones testified stating that he had followed the defendants after they had left Moore’s house and had last seen them heading toward North Chicago at 7:30 or 8 o’clock. Jones testified that he was currently serving time for robbery. Other defense witnesses established that the automobile which Margie Moore had loaned Faith Moore had subsequently been scrapped and that sometime after the auto was scrapped, an investigator from the public defender’s office photographed a similar car about one block from Faitii Moore’s apartment. Although the photo of the car was not admitted into evidence, it was shown to Donald Graves, a former owner of Margie Moore’s car, who lives with Margie Moore. Graves testified that the car in die photo was the same car that he used to own.

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People v. Moore, 365 N.E.2d 1356, 50 Ill. App. 3d 952, 8 Ill. Dec. 894, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 3044 (Ill. Ct. App. 1977).

365 N.E.2d 1356 (People v. Moore) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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