People v. Sanchez

904 N.E.2d 162, 388 Ill. App. 3d 467, 328 Ill. Dec. 400, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 94
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 3, 2009
Docket1-07-1855
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 904 N.E.2d 162 (People v. Sanchez) 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. Sanchez, 904 N.E.2d 162, 388 Ill. App. 3d 467, 328 Ill. Dec. 400, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 94 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE KARNEZIS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Omar Madrid was arrested on January 20, 2004, for possession of a controlled substance. While in custody, he spoke with Investigator Anthony Aguirre (Tony) of the Cook County sheriffs department and agreed to become a confidential informant. In exchange for Madrid’s help, the charges against him were dismissed.

After agreeing to supply cocaine and participating in the delivery of the cocaine to Madrid’s friend Tony, defendant Gustavo Sanchez was indicted for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver more than 900 grams of cocaine (720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(D) (West 2004)). Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment.

On appeal defendant argues: (1) the State violated Supreme Court Rule 412(a)(ii) (188 Ill. 2d R. 412(a)(ii)) when it failed to disclose the substance of a statement defendant made to Madrid; (2) the trial court erred when it failed to provide the jury with definitions of the terms “incite,” “induce” and “predispose,” in response to the jury’s question; and (3) defense counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the court’s response to the jury’s question. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

BACKGROUND

Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to disclose the identity of any and all informants who assisted the police in this case. Defendant asserted that he was planning on utilizing an entrapment defense. In an affidavit filed in support of his motion, defendant alleged that he believed Madrid, an acquaintance and coworker, was acting as a confidential informant. Defendant stated that Madrid repeatedly asked him to obtain a kilogram of cocaine for a friend of his friend. Defendant told Madrid that he “knew someone who dealt cocaine” but that he did not wish to get involved. After a hearing on the motion, the trial court ordered the State to give defendant any police reports pertaining to Madrid’s involvement as a police informant, to disclose to defendant whether Madrid had been compensated for his services, and to produce Madrid so that the defendant could interview him. Defendant interviewed Madrid on November 13, 2005, and according to defendant, Madrid refused to answer defense counsel’s questions. In addition, the police reports tendered made no reference to any statements defendant made to Madrid.

At trial, on direct examination, Madrid testified that the day after his case was dismissed he went to work at Carlisle Carpets, where he spoke with defendant about obtaining a kilo of cocaine for a friend of a friend named Tony. According to Madrid, defendant had previously told him that “he knew people who had drugs and could get whatever [Madrid] needed.” Defense counsel objected to this line of questioning because the State failed to produce or tender any statements allegedly made by defendant to Madrid. Despite the State’s admission that Madrid was testifying to a statement made by defendant, the court overruled the objection.

Madrid testified that defendant told him that he would get back to him. A few days later, Madrid called defendant and defendant again told Madrid that he was looking into his request. Madrid then gave defendant “Tony’s” phone number so that defendant could deal with him directly. Subsequently, Madrid spoke with defendant several times to check on the status of the deal. This ended Madrid’s involvement in the narcotics transaction.

Investigator Aguirre received a phone call on January 27, 2004, from defendant, who stated that he had gotten the phone number from Madrid. Defendant asked “Tony” if he was looking for “work,” meaning drugs. Tony told defendant that he was looking for cocaine and defendant informed him that a kilo of cocaine would cost “20 stacks,” meaning $20,000. Defendant told Tony that he would bring him a sample of the cocaine the next day.

Defendant phoned Tony three days later and told him that he had a sample of the cocaine. The men agreed to meet at defendant’s workplace. After coordinating surveillance for the meeting, Tony arrived at the agreed-upon location. Defendant got into Tony’s car and handed him a small bag of white powder, which later tested positive for cocaine. Tony asked defendant for a larger sample because the sample he had been given was too small to test for purity. Defendant made a phone call and Tony heard defendant say “his guy wanted a bigger sample.” Defendant told Tony that he would call when he had a larger sample and exited Tony’s car.

Defendant called Tony later that day and told him that “his guy Andy” was ready to go through with the deal. Defendant sounded disappointed when Tony told him the deal would have to wait a few days. Tony then received a call from Andres Aguirre, 1 who asked Tony why they could not do the deal that day. Tony told Andres that he was watching his kids over the weekend and was not available until Monday.

On Monday, defendant called Tony and said that “Andy” was ready to deal. They agreed to meet in a mall parking lot at 3 p.m. Tony arranged for surveillance. At about 2:23 p.m., Tony received a call from Andres Aguirre, who was confirming their meeting time and location. Shortly after Tony arrived at the meeting place, defendant arrived with a little girl. Defendant waved across the parking lot and Andres came over. Defendant and Andres got into Tony’s car and Andres made a phone call. Andres then left to pick up the kilo of cocaine.

Andres was followed by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Jeff Hoyt and Investigator Majcher to a home nearby. About five minutes, later Andres drove away.

When Andres arrived back at the parking lot about 4:30 p.m., defendant and Tony got into Andres’ van. Andres pulled out a large Ziploc bag containing an off-white chunky substance from the overhead compartment. Andres handed the bag to Tony and Tony inspected it. Tony then handed the bag back to Andres, who replaced the bag in the overhead compartment. Tony then said that he needed to call the guy with the money so the three got out of the van. Once outside, Tony activated the arrest signal and both defendant and Andres were arrested at the scene. The cocaine was recovered from the overhead compartment of Andres’ van. It was inventoried and later submitted for lab testing. Tests confirmed that the bag contained an estimated weight of 968.1 grams of cocaine.

Following his arrest defendant was “Mirandized.” Defendant waived his rights and gave a handwritten statement. Defendant’s statement of the events essentially coincided with the testimony of Madrid and Investigator Aguirre. However, in his statement, defendant stated that when Madrid asked him to obtain cocaine for a friend, defendant told him “yeah, I could probably come up with it.” When he eventually contacted his drug supplier to obtain the cocaine, the drug supplier told him that a kilo of cocaine would cost $19,000.

Defendant also testified in his defense. He acknowledged his participation in the undercover drug transaction but stated that he was entrapped. Again, his version of the events substantially coincided with Investigator Aguirre’s and Madrid’s testimony.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
904 N.E.2d 162, 388 Ill. App. 3d 467, 328 Ill. Dec. 400, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sanchez-illappct-2009.