People v. Pollard

575 N.E.2d 970, 216 Ill. App. 3d 591, 159 Ill. Dec. 163, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1227
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 18, 1991
Docket4-91-0080
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 575 N.E.2d 970 (People v. Pollard) 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. Pollard, 575 N.E.2d 970, 216 Ill. App. 3d 591, 159 Ill. Dec. 163, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1227 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE LUND

delivered the opinion of the court:

On November 5, 1990, following a stipulated bench trial in the circuit court of Woodford County, defendant Yvonne Pollard was found guilty of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, being less than 15 grams of cocaine. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 56V2, par. 1402(b).) She was subsequently placed on 30 months’ probation and ordered to serve 48 days’ incarceration as a condition. She now appeals.

Defendant was arrested for the instant offense on April 22, 1990. On June 4, 1990, defendant filed a motion seeking to quash her arrest and suppress the evidence seized. In the motion, she alleged she was arrested by Metamora police and that said arrest occurred outside the city limits. Accordingly, she argued that the police, being outside their jurisdiction, were without authority to make this arrest.

The evidence presented at the motion to suppress hearing establishes that on April 22, 1990, at 4:30 a.m., Metamora police officer Jeff Wernsman stopped the vehicle for a broken taillight. Defendant, a black female, was driving the car which also contained three other occupants. Shortly after the stop, Officer Allen Smallwood arrived at the scene. After a warning about the taillight, the officers let the vehicle go.

Just then the officers received a report over the radio, in response to a computer check Wernsman requested, to the effect that if a black female was driving the car, she had a suspended driver’s license. The officers proceeded to chase the vehicle and stopped it in Germantown Hills, which is outside the Metamora city limits. It was determined after an investigation that defendant did, in fact, have a suspended driver’s license, and she was placed under arrest. The other occupants were asked to exit the car and did so.

Wernsman then observed a handgun jutting out from under one of the seats and seized it. At this point, all the occupants of the car were arrested. Defendant indicated she was cold and asked the officers to retrieve her coat from the car. They did so but, before returning it to her, Wernsman patted it down. He discovered a small plastic bag in the pocket which contained a substance subsequently identified as cocaine. The court denied the motion to suppress.

On November 5, 1990, a stipulated bench trial occurred. The parties presented the court a written stipulation of facts which indicated that Wernsman would testify to the stop and arrest; that a detective would testify defendant subsequently admitted to him the substance was hers; and that an employee of the crime laboratory would testify the substance was cocaine. The court found defendant guilty and, on December 27,1990, imposed sentence. This appeal followed.

Defendant’s first contention is that, since her stipulated bench trial was tantamount to a guilty plea, she should have been admonished pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 402 (134 Ill. 2d R. 402). (See People v. Smith (1974), 59 Ill. 2d 236, 319 N.E.2d 760; People v. Stepheny (1974), 56 Ill. 2d 237, 306 N.E.2d 872.) She maintains that since this was not done, her case must be remanded for a new proceeding.

In People v. Horton (1991), 143 Ill. 2d 11, 570 N.E.2d 320, the supreme court again addressed the question of when a stipulated bench trial was legitimate and when it was tantamount to a guilty plea requiring the giving of the Rule 402 admonitions. In Horton, the defendant was involved in two stipulated bench trials involving separate offenses. In each case, defendant had filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress the evidence seized which was denied.

In the first case, it was stipulated as to what the witnesses would testify. In closing argument, counsel stated that defendant was not contesting the sufficiency of the evidence. (Horton, 143 Ill. 2d at 16-17, 570 N.E.2d at 322.) The supreme court concluded this was not tantamount to a guilty plea. The court explained:

“In the case at bar, defense counsel did not stipulate to the legal conclusion to be drawn from the evidence, as counsel did in Smith. Rather, defense counsel stipulated to the State’s evidence, and then during closing argument, commented that the evidence was sufficient to convict. Comments during closing argument are not considered evidence. Thus, when counsel conceded the sufficiency of the evidence to convict, defendant was not, in effect, entering a guilty plea. Furthermore, we do not believe that defendant’s first stipulated bench trial was a ‘mere formality,’ as was the defendant’s trial in Stepheny. In Stepheny, the attorneys and the judge privately agreed that the defendant was guilty, and merely went ‘through the motions of a trial.’ (Stepheny, 56 Ill. 2d at 238.) In defendant’s first stipulated bench trial, despite the fact that defense counsel conceded the sufficiency of the evidence, the State still had to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There was no private agreement that defendant was guilty. Thus, we conclude that defendant’s first stipulated bench trial was not tantamount to a guilty plea even though counsel conceded the sufficiency of the evidence.
In so holding, we adopt the rule uniformly applied by the appellate court that a stipulated bench trial is not tantamount to a guilty plea if the defendant presented and preserved a defense. A guilty plea waives all nonjurisdictional defenses or defects. (People v. Jackson (1970), 47 Ill. 2d 344, 348.) As noted in the appellate court opinion, a stipulated bench trial can avoid the waiver rule while still allowing the parties to proceed with the benefits and conveniences of a guilty plea procedure. (193 Ill. App. 3d at 702; see People v. Sullivan (1979), 72 Ill. App. 3d 533, 538.) We believe that this is what counsel did in defendant’s first stipulated bench trial. Counsel realized that defendant’s only viable defense theory was the suppression of the identification and fingerprint evidence. Thus, he opted to proceed through a stipulated bench trial, and preserve defendant’s suppression issue.” Horton, 143 Ill. 2d at 21-22, 570 N.E.2d at 324-25.

In the second bench trial, the State indicated to the court what its evidence would show. Defense counsel then stated: “ ‘[I]n terms of [the] sufficiency of the evidence, we are stipulating.’ ” (Emphasis in original.) (Horton, 143 Ill. 2d at 18, 570 N.E.2d at 323.) The court found this procedure called for an opposite result:

“Regarding defendant’s second stipulated bench trial, we find that defense counsel not only conceded the sufficiency of the evidence, but he in fact stipulated to the sufficiency of the evidence to convict. As stated earlier, after the State detailed the stipulation pertaining to Mr. Marzolo’s testimony, defense counsel stated ‘[b]ut, in terms of [the] sufficiency of the evidence, we are stipulating.’ This comment places defendant’s second trial directly within the confines of our prior holding in Smith. Thus, even though defendant presented and preserved a defense in his second stipulated bench trial, Smith applies and defendant should have ‘be[en] afforded the protections set forth by Rule 402.’ See Smith, 59 Ill.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
575 N.E.2d 970, 216 Ill. App. 3d 591, 159 Ill. Dec. 163, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pollard-illappct-1991.