People v. Robinson

572 N.E.2d 1254, 213 Ill. App. 3d 1021, 157 Ill. Dec. 790, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 920
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided May 29, 1991·No. No. 5—89—0855·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE CHAPMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

David Robinson was charged with residential burglary on September 18, 1989, for knowingly and without authority entering the home of Kay Burroughs with the intent to commit aggravated criminal sexual abuse upon a 15-year-old girl (JK). A petition to revoke Robinson’s probation on an earlier drug possession charge was also filed.

On October 27, 1989, a bench trial was conducted on both the residential burglary charge and the petition to revoke probation. The court found David Robinson guilty of residential burglary and revoked his probation. Robinson was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. Two issues are raised by the defendant on appeal: (1) whether JK’s identification of Robinson is sufficiently trustworthy to sustain the verdicts; and (2) whether Robinson was denied effective assistance of counsel. We affirm.

Testimony at trial revealed that on September 15, 1989, Kay Burroughs left JK at her home to babysit Burroughs’ daughter. Shortly after 5:30 p.m. JK and Burroughs’ daughter went outside to the front yard and talked with the neighbors. JK testified that while talking with the neighbors she noticed a black man wearing a black coat with a white shirt and black pants walk along the other side of the street. She had never seen the man before, and her attention was focused on the man for “not more than a minute or so.” The girls returned to the house to watch television at approximately 6 p.m. Burroughs’ daughter went to bed at approximately 8:30 p.m. JK then opened the front door, which was located in the living room, and continued to watch television on the couch until she fell asleep.

JK was awakened by someone who came in the front door. She saw the person quietly shut the door and turn off the television, which left the only light in the room that which came from an outside streetlamp. She testified that the light from the streetlamp shined through the window located next to the front door, which is approximately 5 to 10 feet from the couch where she was lying. JK recalls that the person tugged at her blanket. She pushed the person away and asked, “[W]ho is it? Is it you Robert?” The intruder answered, “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me, Robert.”

JK explained that Robert is Kay Burroughs’ boyfriend. She testified that once the intruder spoke to her she knew he was not Robert because she had met Robert once or twice before and would have recognized his voice. JK described Robert as a white skinny male with brown hair. She described the person in the living room as a black male of medium build, who had stringy hair. JK testified that on the night of the incident, the intruder had on strong cologne and was wearing black pants, a black jacket, and a white shirt.

JK testified that she asked the intruder what time it was and was told it was 11 p.m. The intruder then asked, “What time does she get home?” JK responded, “She works at Good Sam. She gets home at 11:00.” By this time JK was sitting on the couch and the intruder was standing at the edge of the couch, approximately one or two feet away. He told her, “pull down your pants. I want to show you something.” JK edged away from him and saw the light from a passing car through the living room window. She said, “Oh, God, she’s home.” The intruder headed quickly for another room in the house when JK ran out the front door. She ran next door and told the Richardsons what had happened. The police were called, and within a few hours JK was taken to the police station, where she identified the defendant as the intruder in a display of photographs.

Tommy Melton testified on behalf of the State. On the night of the incident he was at the Richardson house, located next door to the Burroughs residence. At around 10:30 p.m. he and the Richardson children and Mrs. Richardson were talking when they heard JK knocking on the front door. One of the Richardson children went to the back door and told JK to come to the back door. JK ran into the house and told them that a black man had tried to rape her. Melton testified that earlier that evening he had spoken with David Robinson at Robinson’s parents’ home, which is located diagonally across the street from the Richardson house. At that time Robinson had on black dress pants, a dark jacket, a white shirt, and smelled of strong cologne.

David Robinson testified on his own behalf. He lives with his mother and stepfather approximately four houses down the street from the Burroughs residence. According to Robinson, on the evening of the incident he finished mowing his lawn at around 4:30 p.m., took a shower, and got dressed. He put on black pants, a black and blue shirt, and a black jacket, and at around 5:30 p.m. he walked down the street to a friend’s house. Later that evening Robinson and his sister went to a disco and returned home at approximately 10:30 or 10:40 p.m. Both Augusta Gates and Murphy Peterson, defendant’s mother and stepfather, were asleep when Robinson arrived home. Robinson testified that 15 or 20 minutes after he arrived home, his dog and other dogs in the neighborhood started barking. He got up to investigate, and about 10 or 15 minutes later his parents awoke. Robinson stated that it was past 11:30 p.m. when he went to bed.

Defendant’s mother, Augusta Gates, testified that on the night of the incident she awoke at approximately 10:55 p.m. with a stomach ache. When she awoke she saw her son, the defendant, standing with the light on and the front door open. She asked him what was going on and he told her that he was trying to see why the dogs were barking.

Robinson claims that his conviction and probation revocation must be reversed because JK’s identification was not sufficiently trustworthy to sustain the verdicts. He argues that the lighting conditions in the Burroughs living room the night of the incident were so poor that the victim mistakenly identified the defendant as the intruder since she had seen the defendant earlier that evening. Although different burdens of proof were necessary to sustain the conviction and the probation revocation, the State maintains that the evidence presented not only proved the defendant guilty by the preponderance necessary for the probation revocation (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 1005—6—4(c)), but also was sufficient to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (In re Winship (1970), 397 U.S. 358, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368, 90 S. Ct. 1068). We agree.

A single witness’ identification is sufficient to convict if the witness is credible and she had the opportunity to view the accused under such circumstances as would permit a positive identification to be made. (People v. Manion (1977), 67 Ill. 2d 564, 578, 367 N.E.2d 1313, 1320.) JK positively identified the defendant both from a photographic display and in court. JK testified that, although the living room was not directly lighted, light was provided via a streetlamp which shined through the living room window. Although she testified that for a portion of the time the defendant’s features were “shadowed” because of the lighting conditions, at one point the intruder was standing directly in front of JK not more than one or two feet away.

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People v. Robinson, 572 N.E.2d 1254, 213 Ill. App. 3d 1021, 157 Ill. Dec. 790, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 920 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

572 N.E.2d 1254 (People v. Robinson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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