People v. Rangel

432 N.E.2d 1141, 104 Ill. App. 3d 695, 60 Ill. Dec. 242, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 19, 1982
Docket80-2095
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 432 N.E.2d 1141 (People v. Rangel) 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. Rangel, 432 N.E.2d 1141, 104 Ill. App. 3d 695, 60 Ill. Dec. 242, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555 (Ill. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

JUSTICE LORENZ

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Roger Rangel was charged with burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 19 — 1) and convicted of attempt burglary (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 8 — 4(a)) after trial by jury. The trial court imposed a sentence of two years imprisonment with credit for the time which defendant spent in jail and in the custody of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) pending trial.

Defendant’s appeal presents two issues:

First, whether there was a bona fide doubt about his fitness to stand trial because he had been adjudicated unfit two years before he was placed on trial and there was no subsequent fitness hearing.

Second, whether it was improper to instruct the jury on the offense of attempt burglary when all the evidence.proved that he entered the complainants’ house without authority, and the only dispute was whether he acted innocently or with the criminal intent which is a prerequisite of burglary.

Pertinent to this appeal is the following evidence:

Delores Beskoon was playing cards with her daughter in the front room of their house around midnight on July 20,1976, when, responding to the barking of the family dog, Mrs. Beskoon found defendant crouching in the corner of her daughter’s bedroom. Screaming, she ran out of the house with her daughter. Her husband Donald woke up and saw defendant walk out of the bedroom and out of the house. No property was taken or disturbed, and there was no damage to the house nor any sign of forced entry. The police officer who arrested defendant several blocks away confirmed that defendant had been drinking.

Defendant was indicted for burglary, and his attorney filed a petition alleging that defendant was not fit to stand trial.

Responding to a court order, Dr. Frank Lorimer, a staff psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Institute of the Circuit Court of Cook County, filed a report which concluded that defendant could not “adequately” cooperate with his attorney “because of his impulsive and threatening suicidal behavior.” Hospitalization was recommended because of the danger that defendant would harm himself or others.

On March 8, 1977, following a hearing at which the only evidence was presented by stipulation, the court found defendant unfit to stand trial, and he was committed to the custody of the Department of Mental Health. On November 8, 1977, after treatment at the Chester Mental Health facility, defendant was discharged by DMH as no longer in need of mental treatment.

Pursuant to the trial court’s order, defendant was again examined by the Psychiatric Institute of the Circuit Court, and Dr. Lorimer filed a report in which he concluded that defendant had become fit to stand trial. The prosecution then petitioned for a fitness hearing, but the record does not indicate that a hearing was had or a ruling made on this request.

Eventually, this case was assigned to the calendar of another trial judge, and trial by jury commenced on April 9, 1979 — two years after defendant was adjudicated unfit to stand trial. The record does not show that the new trial judge was informed of the prior adjudication of unfitness, or that the judge either observed or was notified of anything that would have raised a bona fide doubt about defendant’s fitness.

At trial, defendant testified that he was a chronic alcoholic and, because of a drunken stupor, he mistakenly entered the Beskoon house believing that he was entering his own house and going into his own bedroom. He further testified that when he heard screams and realized his mistake, he mumbled an apology and walked out.

Over objection, the court gave instructions for both burglary and attempt burglary. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of attempt burglary, and wrote on the verdict form: “We recommend leniency and enrollment in a program for alcoholism rehabilitation.”

Defendant’s post-trial motions preserved the issue of whether it was proper to give an attempt instruction. However, there was no question raised about his fitness to stand trial.

Initially, defendant contends that his conviction must be reversed on the grounds that there is a bona fide doubt about whether he was fit to stand trial. This argument is premised solely on the notion that after an adjudication of unfitness, it must be presumed that this disability continues until there has been a subsequent adjudication of fitness. *

We agree that it would violate the fundamental constitutional guarantee of due process of law to convict a defendant who is mentally unfit to stand trial. (People v. Murphy (1978), 72 Ill. 2d 421, 430, 381 N.E.2d 677.) Thus, a fitness hearing is required whenever the trial court becomes aware, either before or during trial, of facts which raise a bona fide doubt about a defendant’s fitness to stand trial. (People v. Murphy; Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—1(c) (now at ch. 38, par. 104 — 11(a), Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, par. 104 — 11(a) (Smith Hurd 1980)).) The standard used for determining fitness is whether a defendant is both: (1) able to understand the nature and purpose of the proceedings against him, and (2) able to assist in his defense. People v. McKinstray (1964), 30 Ill. 2d 611, 615, 198 N.E.2d 829; Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 2—1(a) (now at ch. 38, par. 104 — 10, Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, par. 104 — 10 (Smith Hurd 1980)).

The crucial question in disposing of the first issue in this case is whether there is a bona fide doubt concerning defendant’s fitness when he was placed on trial. Defendant argues that there is a bona fide doubt because (a) he was adjudicated unfit two years before being placed on trial, and (b) there has been no subsequent adjudication of fitness.

Although he relies upon several appellate court cases (People v. Davis (1975), 25 Ill. App. 3d 1007, 324 N.E.2d 58; People v. Williams (1980), 92 Ill. App. 3d 608, 415 N.E.2d 1192; People v. Greene (1981), 102 Ill. App. 3d 639), we find that our decision is controlled by the supreme court’s decision in People v. Barkan (1970), 45 Ill. 2d 261, 259 N.E.2d 1.

The defendant in that case had been adjudicated mentally ill several years before he entered a plea of guilty in a criminal case. Since he had never been adjudicated as restored to sanity, it was argued that this fact alone was sufficient to require an after-the-fact finding that there was a bona fide doubt about his fitness to stand trial.

The key contention in Barkan, as in the present case, was that there is a presumption of incompetency which was created by the prior adjudication, and that this presumption could only be rebutted by a subsequent adjudication of restoration. But the supreme court explained,

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Bluebook (online)
432 N.E.2d 1141, 104 Ill. App. 3d 695, 60 Ill. Dec. 242, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rangel-illappct-1982.