People v. Patterson

734 N.E.2d 462, 314 Ill. App. 3d 962, 248 Ill. Dec. 534, 2000 Ill. App. LEXIS 611
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 20, 2000
Docket2-99-0277
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 734 N.E.2d 462 (People v. Patterson) 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. Patterson, 734 N.E.2d 462, 314 Ill. App. 3d 962, 248 Ill. Dec. 534, 2000 Ill. App. LEXIS 611 (Ill. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

JUSTICE INGLIS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, defendant, Richard Patterson, appeals his conviction of attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse (720 ILCS 5/8 — 4(a), 12 — 16(d) (West 1998)), contending that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that the trial court erred by failing to suppress his statements to police, and that the trial court should have dismissed two counts of his indictment for violating his rights to a speedy trial. We affirm in part and vacate in part.

Following his arrest on June 11, 1998, defendant was charged by indictment with indecent solicitation of an adult (count I), solicitation (aggravated criminal sexual abuse) (count II), and attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse (count III). Subsequently, on November 13, 1998, defendant was indicted on two more counts of attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse (counts IV and V) and the State nolprossed the solicitation counts.

Before trial, defendant filed four motions to dismiss and a motion to suppress to which he filed two more supplements. The trial court heard and denied defendant’s motions to dismiss. Defendant agreed to waive a jury trial and, beginning on December 10, 1998, the trial court simultaneously heard defendant’s motion to suppress and began the bench trial.

The following evidence was adduced at the hearing on the motion to suppress and the bench trial. Detective Richard'White of the Lake County sheriff’s department testified that, in June 1998, he was investigating sexual conversations conducted on the Internet. White adopted the screen name of “Yacoo” and portrayed himself as a 15-year-old boy named Rob. On June 9 and June 11, 1998, “Yacoo” conducted several conversations with defendant, who was using the screen name “Boysneeded.” White testified that he conversed with defendant in a chat room and also using the instant messaging feature of America Online (AOL), which allowed two users to have a private conversation.

On June 11, 1998, White, as Yacoo, had the following instant message conversation:

“Boysneeded: having problems
Yacoo: yep
Boysneeded: lol
Yacoo: must be the rain
Boysneeded: yes not a good day but good for sex..
Boysneeded: would you like a blow job today?
Yacoo: ya it would be its cold and raining out
Yacoo: id love one
Boysneeded: so want me to cum to you
Boysneeded: are you home a lone
Yacoo: i do but im scard no my moms home
Boysneeded: oh
Yacoo: shes up stairs
Boysneeded: well if she is home i couldnt give a blow job then
Yacoo: if we ment [sic] some where
Boysneeded: where?
Boysneeded: then how would we do anything?
Yacoo: we could drive around and get to know each other then see
Boysneeded: I see so do youu [sic] want to do that ?
Boysneeded: so do you play around with any of you [sic] friends?
Yacoo: maybe we could meet at gurnee mills, no i havnt found a friend to do that with
Boysneeded: when do you want to meet..
Yacoo: whats good for you
Boysneeded: don’t know need to get a shower and then a 30 min drive how will i find you?
Yacoo: you know where mcdonalds is
Boysneeded: don’t know the area that is good a littel woried about this here about men going to meet young men and they get arrested”

White informed defendant that he would be wearing blue jeans, a White Sox baseball cap, and a white sweatshirt. Defendant informed White that he would be wearing jeans and a Chicago sweatshirt and would be driving a blue Jeep Grand Cherokee.

White testified that he proceeded to a McDonald’s restaurant located near Gurnee Mills. He parked his unmarked car in a lot adjacent to the McDonald’s lot and waited. White observed defendant exit the restaurant and return to his car. White drove his car behind defendant’s, forming a “T”; in front of defendant’s car was a cement berm or divider.

White testified that he approached defendant’s car on the driver’s side. White showed defendant his badge and identification and told him that he was a detective. White then asked defendant for identification. White asked defendant why he was there and defendant replied that he was there to meet Rob. White asked defendant what Rob’s age was, and defendant replied that Rob was 15. White then asked defendant if he knew it was against the law, and defendant replied that he thought the age of consent was 15. White next asked defendant why he had said on the Internet that he was afraid he was going to get arrested, to which defendant responded, “You got me there.”

After this conversation, White asked defendant to accompany him to the Lake County sheriff’s department for further investigation, and defendant agreed. Defendant was then seated in the front seat of White’s vehicle and was not handcuffed or otherwise restrained. White testified that he placed defendant in an interrogation room.

Defendant was informed of his Miranda rights and signed a waiver. Defendant then produced a written statement in which he stated the following:

“I was in a chat room on AOL [June 9, 1998], Started talkin [sic] to ‘Yacoo.’ He told me he was 15. I gave him my Phone # to call me. Then today 6-10-98 [sic] I saw him come on line. Started to talk. He apologized to me that he didn’t call so went on about this coming weekend that I’m going camping. Then I said to him if he wanted to meet today. He suggested meeting at Mcdonalds [sic], I then agreed to meet him at 4:30 p.m. He said we would meet Drive around and see what happend [sic] and I asked him if he wanted a blow job. I drove out here waited at Mcdondals [sic] and that is when the Detec [sic] pulled up and asked me for I.d. Then asked why I was here. I told him to meet Rob. He asked his age. I said 15 years of age. He said do you know it’s against the Law. I said I though[t] it was 15 with consent. He said no.”

Defendant later consented to allow police to search his apartment.

White testified that he went to defendant’s apartment. Defendant’s roommate, Daniel Thomas, consented to a search of the premises.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
734 N.E.2d 462, 314 Ill. App. 3d 962, 248 Ill. Dec. 534, 2000 Ill. App. LEXIS 611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-patterson-illappct-2000.