People v. Phelps

755 N.E.2d 36, 324 Ill. App. 3d 695, 257 Ill. Dec. 934, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 603
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 30, 2001
Docket1 — 99—4099
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 755 N.E.2d 36 (People v. Phelps) 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. Phelps, 755 N.E.2d 36, 324 Ill. App. 3d 695, 257 Ill. Dec. 934, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 603 (Ill. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE McNULTY

delivered the opinion of the court:

A jury found defendant, Kevin Phelps, guilty of aggravated kidnaping and heinous battery. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences for the offenses. Defendant challenges both the convictions and the sentences on appeal. He argues that the prosecution failed to prove he secretly confined the victim, the prosecutor’s closing argument misstated the evidence, and the court improperly used the fact that he caused great bodily harm to doubly enhance his sentence.

EH., a high school student, befriended defendant, a paraplegic, late in 1996. She knew defendant by his nickname, Sniper, and he called her by a nickname few people knew. Through most of the summer of 1997, EH. went to visit defendant about every other day. In August 1997 EH.’s older sister and legal guardian grounded her, instructing her not to see defendant.

EH. left the high school after 4 p.m. on September 4, 1997. She returned home around 8 p.m., screaming “Sniper burnt me.” EH.’s sister called for an ambulance. Doctors at the hospital found that EH. had suffered second- and third-degree burns over 36% of her body. She remained in the intensive care unit for two weeks, undergoing multiple skin grafts and other treatments to help her skin heal. She has prominent, permanent scars. Police arrested defendant and charged him with heinous battery, aggravated kidnaping and attempted murder.

At trial P.H. testified that when she left the high school on September 4, 1997, two men called to her, using the nickname defendant and few others used. One man said, “Folks said come get your stuff.” EH. knew the man meant defendant, because his home was the only place she had left anything. She told the men she would get the stuff later, and she caught a city bus to go home. When she got off the bus, the men drove up behind her. One pulled her jacket and told her to get in the car. They took her to defendant’s home.

Defendant asked EH. where she had been, what she had been doing, and whom she had been seeing for the prior weeks. She explained that her sister had grounded her. He asked the same few questions repeatedly for an hour.

Defendant then told EH. to take off her clothes. When she refused he pulled out a gun and told her again to take off her clothes. She took them off. He threw a cup full of liquid on her, and he threw a lit cigarette lighter at her. The skin of her stomach and legs immediately went up in flames. EH. ran to the bathroom and put out the fire, but she had no way to leave the house without passing defendant again. She talked with him for more than an hour before finally persuading him to let her dress and leave. She agreed to tell her sisters a stranger abducted her, raped her and burned her.

On cross-examination EH. admitted that defendant never said she could not leave. Some time before he burned her, he asked her to get him a glass of water. When she went to the kitchen, she was out of his sight, but she made no attempt to flee. She explained that from defendant’s tone and his reputation she understood that she would put herself in peril if she left.

In closing the prosecutor argued, without objection, that the men who met EH. said “Sniper[ ] wants to see you.” The prosecutor later added:

“[Defendant] told her she couldn’t leave. *** jje sayS; ‘You can’t leave. Remove your clothes.’ She could not leave at that point.”

Defense counsel in closing reminded the jurors of EH.’s testimony that defendant never said she could not leave.

The jury acquitted defendant on the charge of attempted murder, but found him guilty on the charges of heinous battery and aggravated kidnaping. The trial court sentenced defendant to 30 years in prison for heinous battery and 15 years in prison for aggravated kidnaping. The court also found that section 5 — 8—4(a) of the Unified Code of Corrections mandated consecutive sentences for the charges. 730 ILCS 5/5 — 8—4(a) (West 1996).

On appeal defendant argues first that the prosecution failed to prove him guilty of kidnaping. The prosecutor argued that defendant committed the crime when he pulled out a gun and told EH. to undress. At that point, defendant secretly confined EH., within the meaning of the statutory definition of kidnaping, against her will.

•1 To establish secret confinement under section 10 — 1(a)(1) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/10 — 1(a)(1) (West 1996)), the prosecution must show a confinement, usually in an enclosure like a house or a car (People v. Lloyd, 277 Ill. App. 3d 154, 163, 660 N.E.2d 43 (1995)), concealed from the knowledge of persons who would be affected by the act (People v. Turner, 282 Ill. App. 3d 770, 780, 668 N.E.2d 1058 (1996)). The secrecy of either the place of confinement or of the fact that a person is confined suffices for the secrecy element of kidnaping. People v. Sykes, 161 Ill. App. 3d 623, 628, 515 N.E.2d 253 (1987).

In People v. Enoch, 122 Ill. 2d 176, 522 N.E.2d 1124 (1988), the defendant entered the victim’s office at work, and several of the victim’s coworkers saw her go with defendant to the victim’s apartment. In the apartment the defendant bound the victim to a chair and did not answer the door or the telephone when people tried to contact the victim. Our supreme court affirmed the conviction for aggravated kidnaping, holding that the evidence showed that no one knew the defendant had confined the victim in her apartment. Enoch, 122 Ill. 2d at 195-96; see also People v. Mulcahey, 72 Ill. 2d 282, 285, 381 N.E.2d 254 (1978).

•2 Here, defendant confined EH. when he drew a gun and ordered EH. to undress. She could not then leave the enclosure of defendant’s home. No one knew of the confinement. In particular, EH.’s guardian, who would be most directly affected, did not know defendant was keeping EH. in his home against her will. The crime became aggravated kidnaping when he burned her, inflicting great bodily harm, during her secret confinement. See 720 ILCS 5/10 — 2(a)(3) (West 1996). The prosecution presented sufficient evidence to support the conviction for aggravated kidnaping.

•3 Next, defendant contends that the prosecutor made two misrepresentations in closing arguments, and those statements deprived him of a fundamentally fair trial. Because defense counsel did not object to the statements, we limit our review to a determination of whether plain error occurred. See People v. Turner, 282 Ill. App. 3d 770, 781, 668 N.E.2d 1058 (1996).

Defense counsel, in cross-examining EH., elicited her admission that defendant never said she could not leave his home.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Sawczenko-Dub
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2003

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
755 N.E.2d 36, 324 Ill. App. 3d 695, 257 Ill. Dec. 934, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-phelps-illappct-2001.