People v. Pintelon

2022 IL App (3d) 190434-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 19, 2022
Docket3-19-0434
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2022 IL App (3d) 190434-U (People v. Pintelon) 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. Pintelon, 2022 IL App (3d) 190434-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

2022 IL App (3d) 190434-U

Order filed August 19, 2022 ____________________________________________________________________________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

THIRD DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ILLINOIS, ) of the 21st Judicial Circuit, ) Iroquois County, Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) Appeal No. 3-19-0434 v. ) Circuit No. 15-CF-108 ) JERRY M. PINTELON, ) Honorable ) James B. Kinzer, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ____________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE McDADE delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Daugherity and Holdridge concurred in the judgment. ___________________________________________________________________________

ORDER

¶1 Held: (1) The State’s closing argument errors did not rise to the level of second-prong plain error; and (2) defendant’s convictions for aggravated discharge of a firearm within 1000 feet of a school and aggravated battery with a firearm violate the one- act, one-crime doctrine.

¶2 Defendant, Jerry M. Pintelon, appeals from his convictions for aggravated discharge of a

firearm within 1000 feet of a school and aggravated battery with a firearm. Defendant argues that

the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument and that his convictions

violate the one-act, one-crime doctrine. We affirm in part and remand with directions. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 The State charged defendant by three-count indictment with attempted first degree

murder (720 ILCS 5/8-4(a), 9-1(a)(1) (West 2014)), aggravated discharge of a firearm within

1000 feet of a school (id. § 24-1.2(a)(2)), and aggravated battery with a firearm (id. § 12-

3.05(e)(1)). Count I alleged that defendant knowingly discharged a 9-millimeter semiautomatic

pistol multiple times at Kylie Schwartz. Count II alleged that defendant, “while located at 112 E.

Ash Street, Watseka, and within 1000 feet of the Nette [sic] Davis Elementary School,

knowingly discharged a firearm, a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, in the direction of *** Schwartz.”

Count III alleged that defendant “while located at 112 E. Ash Street, Watseka, knowingly and by

means of discharging a firearm, caused injury to *** Schwartz, in that he shot *** Schwartz

three times with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol striking her arm, abdomen, and foot.”

¶5 The case proceeded to jury trial on May 22, 2018. The jury found defendant not guilty on

count I and guilty on counts II and III. On August 3, 2018, the court granted defendant’s motion

for a new trial on counts II and III.

¶6 At defendant’s second jury trial, Schwartz testified that on August 22, 2015, she and

Arizona Harwood went to the residence of Lawrence Hemp located at 114 East Ash Street in

Watseka. They spent the day outside with friends listening to music. At approximately 10:30

p.m., while Schwartz was talking on her cell phone, she saw a laser light shine on her friend’s

face. She described the light as a long red beam directed at the middle of her friend’s forehead.

The light moved from the forehead of one friend to the chest of another. Schwartz was told to

run. She bent down to put her cell phone in the bottom of a stroller and heard a gunshot. She

stood and pivoted slightly, facing the east. She observed a male standing with his arm extended

and a red beam of light pointed at her. She put her hands up and said “don’t shoot me, don’t

2 shoot me. Please don’t shoot me.” Schwartz heard another gunshot and froze. She looked down

and observed blood pouring from her arm. She heard more gunshots as she fled into the house.

She discovered she had been shot in the arm, the side, and the heel. Schwartz identified

defendant as the shooter, stating that she watched him shoot her in the arm.

¶7 Officer Ryan Garfield of the Watseka Police Department testified that he and Officer

Ashley Butt responded to the scene. Garfield and Butt located the victim and called for an

ambulance. After the ambulance arrived, Garfield began interviewing witnesses. Defendant told

Garfield that he did not know what was happening. When other officers arrived, defendant

became very upset and was yelling and screaming. Defendant said to Garfield, “[D]on’t you

think if I was going to do something like this I would have used my 357? Just blink for 10

minutes and I will have the house burnt to the ground.” Defendant was detained due to his

agitated state. A neighbor, Joseph Seibring, informed Garfield that he had witnessed the

shooting. Defendant’s driveway was visible from Seibring’s porch, and Seibring identified

defendant as the shooter. Defendant was placed into Garfield’s patrol vehicle. Defendant began

banging his head on the glass divider. Garfield testified that defendant smelled strongly of an

alcoholic beverage. In addition to the three bullets that struck Schwartz, a fourth bullet was

located in the front exterior wall of the Hemp residence. Four 9-millimeter shell casings were

located in defendant’s driveway.

¶8 Lieutenant Josh King of the Watseka Police Department testified that he searched

defendant’s residence and located a 9-millimeter Ruger pistol with a laser pointer underneath the

mattress in defendant’s bedroom. This bedroom contained a door that led directly outside. King

retrieved a bullet and bullet fragment, which had been removed from Schwartz, from the hospital

3 where he went to interview Schwartz. He further testified that defendant’s residence was 697 feet

from the Nettie Davis School.

¶9 Harwood testified that she went to Hemp’s residence with her one-year-old daughter and

Schwartz. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Harwood saw a large man walk outside of the residence

to the east of Hemp’s residence. She observed red lasers pointed at two different individuals’

foreheads and heard someone ask the man if he had a problem. She heard a gunshot coming from

the east. She observed Schwartz’s arm bleeding.

¶ 10 Officer Butt of the Watseka Police Department testified that she responded to the

shooting with Garfield. She indicated that defendant’s emotions were erratic. After defendant

was arrested, she transported him to the Iroquois County jail. During the ride, defendant

spontaneously declared that “he had no problem shooting a witness or shooting a police officer.”

¶ 11 Deputy Drew Watts of the Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department testified that while

investigating the incident, defendant became angry and was yelling and shouting. Watts observed

defendant move very close to another officer’s face, coming mere inches from the officer.

Defendant made a comment about “clean[ing] up the streets himself if [the officers] were not

going to” do anything.

¶ 12 Lieutenant Ryan Morefield of the Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department testified that

defendant was highly intoxicated, profane, and belligerent. Defendant attempted to entice

Morefield to tase defendant. Defendant told Morefield that if they “ha[d] done [their] job the first

time, this wouldn’t have happened.”

¶ 13 Forensic scientist Katherine Sullivan testified that DNA extracted from swabs of the 9-

millimeter Ruger pistol matched DNA obtained from defendant’s buccal swabs.

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Bluebook (online)
2022 IL App (3d) 190434-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pintelon-illappct-2022.