People v. Pickens

590 N.E.2d 535, 226 Ill. App. 3d 1001, 168 Ill. Dec. 898, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 555
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 8, 1992
DocketNo. 4—91—0566
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 590 N.E.2d 535 (People v. Pickens) 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. Pickens, 590 N.E.2d 535, 226 Ill. App. 3d 1001, 168 Ill. Dec. 898, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 555 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

On December 26, 1990, an information was filed in the circuit court of Macon County charging defendant Jeffrey B. Pickens in three counts. Count I charged that on or about December 14, 1990, he unlawfully possessed a substance containing more than five grams but not more than 15 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver it in violation of section 401(c)(2) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56½, par. 1401(c)(2) (text as amended by Pub. Acts 86-266, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990 (1989 Ill. Laws 1893, 1895); 86 — 442, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990 (1989 Ill. Laws 2681, 2684))) and section 5 — 5—3(c)(2)(D) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 1005—5—3(c)(2)(D)). Count II charged defendant with merely violating section 401(c)(2) of the Act by unlawful possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and alleged the weight of the cocaine was one or more grams and less than 15 grams. (This charge was later dismissed on the State’s motion.) Count III charged defendant with the included offense of mere possession of less than 15 grams of cocaine in violation of section 402(c) of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56½, par. 1402(c) (text as amended by Pub. Acts 86— 266, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990 (1989 Ill. Laws 1893, 1898-99); 86-442, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990 (1989 Ill. Laws 2681, 2687))).

After a trial by jury, the court entered judgment on May 30, 1991, on a verdict finding defendant guilty of count I. On July 1, 1991, the court sentenced defendant to four years’ imprisonment and a street value fine of $503. The court also assessed a laboratory fee against defendant of $50 and granted him seven days’ credit upon his sentence for time previously served.

On appeal, defendant’s major claim of error is that the State failed, as a matter of law, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any cocaine he possessed weighed in excess of five grams. The significance of the weight of the cocaine is that by the terms of section 5— 5 — 3(c)(2)(D) of the Code, when the amount of cocaine involved weighs in excess of five grams, a person convicted of violating section 401(c)(2) of the Act cannot receive a sentence of probation, conditional discharge, or periodic imprisonment. The five-gram factor is the difference between count I and count II. Defendant maintains we should reduce his conviction to that for count III, the included offense of possession, and remand the case for resentencing. He also asserts that in any event, he is entitled to a 10-day rather than a 7-day credit for time served prior to sentencing and a $5-per-day credit on his fine for that time served.

Although the reasonable doubt issue is an interesting one, we hold the proof of guilt of the greater offense was sufficient. However, we agree with defendant as to his claims for additional credit for time served and as to his street-value fine.

As the sole question in regard to the sufficiency of the proof concerns the weight of cocaine found in defendant’s possession, we need discuss only the proof on that issue. All of that evidence came from the testimony of Mark Paiva, a drug chemist for the Illinois State Police. He testified at trial as follows: (1) he examined People’s exhibit No. 1 (previously identified as the substance alleged to have been in defendant’s possession) for the presence of controlled substances; (2) he first weighed the plastic bag containing 17 smaller bags and got a gross weight of 6.4 grams; (3) he then proceeded to weigh the content of each smaller bag individually; (4) he weighed the content of each of the small bags using a top-loading analytical balance, by placing a small plastic weight boat on top of the balance, resetting the scale to zero, and placing the powdery substance in the weight boat; and (5) he added the weight of the contents of each of the 17 bags and obtained an aggregate weight of 5.03 grams of the 17 bags together, and in his opinion, the aggregate weight of those bags was 5.03 grams.

On cross-examination, Paiva stated the following: (1) by the manufacturer’s specifications the scale he used to weigh the substance had a plus or minus margin of error of .005 grams; (2) there is no way of determining whether the scale was erring on the low or high side, or was perfectly accurate; (3) the scale weighs to the thousandth of a gram, but automatically rounds up to the hundredth of a gram for easier readability; and (4) the margin of error was always present. Paiva also testified on cross-examination that the scale does not give a weight to the third figure after the decimal point but rather registers to the nearest figure second from the decimal point. The testimony was not clear as to whether this process creates the .005-gram margin of error concerning which he had previously explained.

On redirect examination, the defense asked Paiva if any way existed by which he could determine whether “the scales were reading the deviant amounts of .005 grams.” Paiva responded that no way existed to make that determination by an individual weighing but he said “over a period of time [he thought] it would pick up a bias if it was, if it was terribly high or terribly low.” He then stated “we have 3 balances in the laboratory” and he sometimes used one and sometimes another. He stated he thought he “would notice the difference if there was something that was continuously off.” Paiva then explained the steps he took to check the accuracy of the scales. However, nothing in his testimony negated the existence of a .005-gram margin of error which was applicable to each weighing.

The State does not dispute that it had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the cocaine possessed by defendant had a weight in excess of five grams in order to convict defendant under count I. This requirement is similar to the duty on the State in People v. Hayes (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 95, 429 N.E.2d 490, where proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a prior conviction for theft was held to be necessary to enhance a subsequent theft conviction to a felony. The enactment of section 111 — 3(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 111—3(c)), making the prior conviction no longer an element of an offense enhanced, thereby changes the rule of Hayes but does not negate the analogy to the law at the time of Hayes. Similarly, in People v. Speed (1982), 106 Ill. App. 3d 890, 436 N.E.2d 712, proof of the weight of cannabis possessed by an accused was deemed to be insufficient to meet the reasonable doubt standard and a conviction for felony possession of more than 30 grams but not more than 500 grams of cannabis (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 56½, par. 704(d)) was reduced on appeal to a misdemeanor.

When a trier of fact has found an accused guilty of an offense, a reviewing court will not set that finding aside as long as “after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis in original.) (Jackson v. Virginia (1979), 443 U.S. 307, 319, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 573, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789; see also People v. Eyler (1989), 133 Ill. 2d 173, 191, 549 N.E.2d 268

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People v. Davis
610 N.E.2d 150 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
590 N.E.2d 535, 226 Ill. App. 3d 1001, 168 Ill. Dec. 898, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pickens-illappct-1992.