People v. Pugh

516 N.E.2d 396, 162 Ill. App. 3d 1030, 114 Ill. Dec. 241, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3466
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 14, 1987
Docket86-1338
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 516 N.E.2d 396 (People v. Pugh) 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. Pugh, 516 N.E.2d 396, 162 Ill. App. 3d 1030, 114 Ill. Dec. 241, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3466 (Ill. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

JUSTICE FREEMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Edward Pugh, was charged by information (as amended in open court before trial) with unlawful restraint (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 — 3(a)), aggravated kidnapping (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 — 2(a)(3)), and aggravated battery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 12 — 4(b)(8)). After a bench trial he was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery. The unlawful restraint count was merged. The trial court sentenced defendant to four years’ imprisonment for aggravated kidnapping and two years for aggravated battery. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Defendant appeals and contends that the trial court erred in entering judgment on both aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery charges. Alternatively, assuming arguendo that there was sufficient evidence to support both convictions, defendant contends that one conviction must be vacated pursuant to the “one-act-one-crime” principle.

For the reasons stated below, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

The evidence at trial indicated the following. On March 9, 1985, at about 2 a.m., the victim arrived at the parking lot next to her apartment building complex at 1223 Williams Street, Calumet City, Illinois. As the victim walked through the parking lot, she passed between two cars, one of which was a four-door gray Cadillac. Two black men were seated in the Cadillac. Defendant was sitting in the backseat. Defendant called the victim a “white bitch,” then got out of the car, punched her in the face five or six times, and forced her into the car. Andrew Steward, who was driving, backed up the car and drove away. Defendant held the victim down on the backseat of the car. The victim could not see where they were going, as she was lying on her back. Defendant punched the victim in the face, and fondled her breasts and felt between her legs. After a few minutes, Steward stopped the car and he and defendant exchanged places in the car.

While defendant was driving, police officer Bulczak of the Berwyn police department saw the Cadillac from his position on the northbound ramp of the Calumet Expressway at Dolton Road. Bulczak followed the car. As defendant accelerated and exited the expressway, Bulczak turned on his lights and siren and continued to follow the car until it blew a tire. The Cadillac turned into the path of Bulczak’s car, which struck the Cadillac on the driver’s side. Defendant began to drive again, but lost control of the car about one-half block away and stopped on the median strip, where he was surrounded by squad cars. The victim was taken to a hospital where she was treated.

On appeal defendant initially asserts that the trial court erred by entering judgment on both aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery. Defendant asserts that the entry of judgment on both offenses violates the due process clause as double enhancement. We note that the information charged defendant with aggravated kidnapping in that he allegedly kidnapped the victim (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 — 1(a)(2)) and committed another felony, aggravated battery, upon her (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 — 2(a)(3)). Defendant was charged with aggravated battery in that he allegedly committed a battery upon the victim (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 12 — 3(a)(1)) while on a public way (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 12 — 4(b)(8)).

Defendant contends that the element of being on a public way was used both to enhance the battery to a felony and as an element of proof of asportation for the aggravated kidnapping, in which the same aggravated battery was a circumstance. Therefore, the convictions on the enhanced charges should be reversed as having resulted from multiple use of the same element to prove both the predicate charge and the greater charge. People v. Payne (1983), 98 Ill. 2d 45, cert. denied (1984), 465 U.S. 1036, 79 L. Ed. 2d 708, 104 S. Ct. 1310.

Additionally, defendant asserts that he was not properly convicted of aggravated kidnapping where the asportation of Jones was incidental to the offense of aggravated battery. Defendant asserts that when temporary seizure, asportation, or detention plays an incidental part to the commission of a lesser offense, a conviction for aggravated kidnapping may not stand unless certain conditions are met. (People v. Smith (1980), 91 Ill. App. 3d 523, 414 N.E.2d 1117.) Factors to be considered are: (1) the duration of the detention or asportation; (2) whether the detention or asportation occurred during the commission of a separate offense; (3) whether the detention or asportation which occurred is inherent in the separate offense; and (4) whether the asportation or detention created a significant danger to the victim independent of that posed by the separate offense. 91 Ill. App. 3d 523, 529, 414 N.E.2d 1117, 1122.

Defendant applies the Smith factors to the instant case. Defendant contends that the duration of the victim’s detention was a fairly short time, as Officer Bulczak testified he saw the Cadillac -within several minutes of receiving a radio report regarding a possible abduction. Bulczak testified that he received the radio message at about 1:57 a.m. The victim testified that she first saw defendant and the car some minutes before 2 a.m. Therefore, not much time passed during the alleged offense. Second, defendant asserts, the victim allegedly was struck by defendant on a public way while being asported. Third, asportation was necessary to commit the crime of aggravated battery as the aggravation used was the commission of a battery on a public way. Fourth, the danger inherent to a victim of an aggravated battery is the danger of bodily harm arising out of the use of force. The section of the statute under which defendant was charged with aggravated kidnapping includes the element of the use of force to secretly confine. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 — 1(a)(2).

Defendant asserts that his intent, if any, was to commit a battery. As the asportation of the victim was incidental to this intended purpose, the aggravated kidnapping became derivative and circumstantially related. (People v. Kuykendall (1982), 108 Ill. App. 3d 708, 439 N.E.2d 521.) Therefore, defendant asserts, the conviction for aggravated kidnapping must be reversed.

The State responds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of both offenses. The State asserts that the aggravated battery occurred first in the parking lot when defendant struck the victim and later as Steward was driving the Cadillac on a public way when defendant struck and fondled her. The transportation of the victim against her will, coupled with the felony of aggravated battery on a public way, constituted aggravated kidnapping.

Further, the State asserts that defendant has misconstrued the aggravating factor in both offenses as being the transportation of the victim. The State asserts that, since the elements of the two offenses are different, the issue of double enhancement never arises. The aggravating factor for aggravated battery is a battery committed on or about a public way.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
516 N.E.2d 396, 162 Ill. App. 3d 1030, 114 Ill. Dec. 241, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3466, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pugh-illappct-1987.