People v. Rodgers

2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 7, 2025
Docket2-24-0327
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U (People v. Rodgers) 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. Rodgers, 2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U No. 2-24-0327 Order filed November 7, 2025

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

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Kane County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 22-CF-18 ) RONALD P. RODGERS, ) Honorable ) Salvatore LoPiccolo Jr., Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

PRESIDING JUSTICE KENNEDY delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Hutchinson and Mullen concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: Defendant’s seven-year sentence is not excessive for his conviction of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. Further, the statute establishing the offense of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon is not unconstitutional. Therefore, we affirm.

¶2 Following a bench trial, defendant, Ronald P. Rodgers, was convicted of unlawful

possession of a weapon by a felon (UPWF) (720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) (West 2020)). On this direct

appeal, he raises two issues: (1) whether his sentence of seven years is excessive, and (2) whether

the statute establishing UPWF (720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) (West 2020)) is unconstitutional. For the

following reasons, we affirm. 2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 On April 5, 2022, a grand jury indicted defendant of two counts of UPWF (Counts I and

II) (720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) (West 2020)) and one count of possession of a firearm without a Firearm

Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card (Count III) (430 ILCS 65/2(a)(1) (West 2020)). All three

counts were alleged to have occurred in Kane County on January 2, 2022.

¶5 Count I alleged possession of a handgun and Count II alleged possession of firearm

ammunition. For both Counts I and II, the indictment alleged that defendant had been convicted

of the following felonies: possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number (No. 20-CR-

0182701 (Cir. Ct. Cook County)) and aiding or abetting a stolen motor vehicle (No. 20-CR-

0294801 (Cir. Ct. Cook County)).

¶6 A. Bench Trial

¶7 Defendant’s bench trial commenced on July 7, 2023. The State’s first witness was Parole

Agent Jeffery White, who testified as follows. On January 2, 2022, he visited defendant’s address

in Elgin. Defendant was on mandatory supervised release (MSR), and White met with defendant

at his apartment. The purpose of White’s visit was a diversion review: an IDOC (Illinois

Department of Corrections) warrant had been issued for defendant because he had not returned

home within his allotted time.

¶8 White arrived with another parole officer, and defendant let them into the apartment.

Defendant was handcuffed for officer safety. Defendant was in his boxers, so White asked him

where his pants were. Defendant said they were in the bedroom, and White went to retrieve his

pants. In the bedroom, White observed a pile of clothes in the middle of the floor, and he grabbed

the first pair of pants that he saw. When White picked up the pants, he observed a firearm beneath

-2- 2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U

where the pants had been. The firearm was fully loaded. This prompted an immediate call to the

Elgin police.

¶9 Nothing at the apartment indicated to White that another person lived there with defendant.

The apartment had another bedroom, but nothing was in that bedroom; all the furniture and

furnishings were in the one room with the pants and gun. The room with defendant’s pants also

contained defendant’s wallet, ID, keys to the apartment, and two cell phones.

¶ 10 White’s partner at the apartment was Parole Officer Joyce Verdeyen, who testified

consistently with White’s testimony. She testified that defendant had his ankle bracelet on, and the

receiver for the bracelet was plugged into the apartment’s living room wall. They collected the

bracelet when they arrested defendant that day.

¶ 11 The State’s final witness was Officer Richard Free with the City of Elgin, who testified as

follows. On January 2, 2022, he responded to defendant’s apartment with Officer Russell Nisivaco

in response to a call by parole agents who had a subject in custody. Free met with the agents and

observed defendant in their custody. The agents directed him to a bedroom, which had a mattress

and clothes strewn about the floor. The other bedrooms in the apartment were bare. In the bedroom

with the clothing, Nisivaco collected a Glock 19, nine-millimeter handgun. In the Glock was a 30-

round magazine containing ammunition.

¶ 12 After calling its witnesses, the State introduced, and the court admitted, People’s Exhibit

8, which was a certified copy of defendant’s conviction in Cook County case number 20-CR-

182701. The copy of conviction showed that, on July 28, 2020, defendant had pled guilty to

possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number (720 ILCS 5/24-5(b) (West 2018)).

¶ 13 Following a continuance to August 23, 2023, defendant called Yamarciay Grant, who

testified as follows. He had known defendant for more than 10 years; they were friends. Around

-3- 2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U

January 1, 2022, Grant was a leaseholder at defendant’s apartment address, specifically

defendant’s unit number 7. Grant reviewed his lease, which began March 1, 2021, and ran until

March 31, 2022. The other leaseholder was his then-girlfriend, Sammarion Dungey. He and

Dungey had a “falling out” that resulted in him moving out of the apartment “[w]ay before

December” of 2021. Dungey remained in the apartment after he left. Grant did not know when she

moved out of the apartment, but she did move out at some point.

¶ 14 Around New Year’s Day of 2022, Grant allowed defendant to stay at the apartment. Grant

let defendant into the apartment, which had no furniture and “[o]ne bedroom [where] they left a

bunch of crap in there.” By “crap” he meant “[c]lothing, garbage. You name it, it was there.” On

cross-examination, Grant acknowledged that defendant had asked him to testify at his trial, and he

answered that he had not seen a firearm in the bedroom with all the junk on the floor. He had not

gone through any of the items on the floor.

¶ 15 The court then questioned Grant. 1 It asked whether there was a bed in the bedroom with

all the clothes and trash, and he answered that there was an air mattress. Grant confirmed that

defendant had arrived at the apartment in defendant’s car and that the charger for defendant’s

electronic monitoring device was already in the apartment. Grant had signed for defendant to be

at the apartment after speaking with defendant’s parole officer. Grant acknowledged that he had

been to the apartment at least once previously with defendant, when defendant would have left his

electronic monitoring device at the apartment. Following Grant’s testimony, the defense rested.

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2025 IL App (2d) 240327-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rodgers-illappct-2025.