People v. Saucier

581 N.E.2d 852, 221 Ill. App. 3d 287, 163 Ill. Dec. 698, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1877
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 6, 1991
Docket2-89-1112
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 581 N.E.2d 852 (People v. Saucier) 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. Saucier, 581 N.E.2d 852, 221 Ill. App. 3d 287, 163 Ill. Dec. 698, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1877 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE McLAREN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Joseph Saucier, appeals from the revocation of his order of probation and the court’s order of October 24, 1989, sentencing him to five years’ imprisonment. We reverse the judgment revoking defendant’s probation, we remand the cause, and we vacate the sentence imposed in the order of October 24, 1989.

On June 14, 1989, defendant pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 12 — 16(e)). The factual basis of the plea was that, on or about April 11, 1987, defendant, who was born April 13, 1926, placed his finger inside the vagina of his 10-year-old stepdaughter, K.E, and fondled her breasts. After admonishing defendant of his rights, the trial court accepted the plea. The original sentencing order provided that defendant be placed on probation for a period of 36 months. Among other things, as a condition of probation, defendant was to serve 12 months’ periodic imprisonment and was to be confined for 24 hours each day except that he was to be “released for any purpose of counselling or transfer to work release.” Another condition was that defendant have “[n]o unsupervised contact with any minors whatsoever.”

On September 20, 1989, the State filed a (second) petition for revocation of defendant’s probation in which it alleged that he had willfully violated the terms of his probation by having unsupervised contact with the victim on September 3, 1989, and by violating the “Lake County Work Release Rules and Regulations” on September 3, 1989, when he went to an area not authorized by the work release facility.

On September 20, 1989, after a hearing, the trial court found that defendant had violated the conditions of his probation which had been imposed on August 15, 1989. At the hearing, Vanessa Norsworthy testified for the State. Norsworthy worked for the Lake County sheriff’s office in the work release program where she supervised and maintained security in the building and residence. On September 3, 1989, defendant was a resident at the work release facility. At 7:23 p.m. on that date, Norsworthy was at 2160 Hebron Street in Zion, Illinois, where she was picking up her daughter at her girlfriend’s home. Her girlfriend is Annette Cecil, the sister of Diane Saucier. Diane is defendant’s former wife and the mother of the victim. Norsworthy, Cecil, and Diane Saucier were outside talking; they were on the street near the car. Norsworthy could not recall if K.E. was present.

Norsworthy noticed defendant drive down Hebron Street. She called his name; he looked at her but kept driving by. He twice turned around and drove by. He was driving slowly. The next morning, Norsworthy pulled defendant’s file at the work release facility to examine defendant’s leave agreement. She identified the agreement as the State’s exhibit, and it was admitted into evidence. Defendant had filled out a leave agreement for a 12-hour pass in which he listed the locations of his planned activities on September 3: “Go to church & spend the rest of the time at home,” and “Church. Evanston. Home N. Chicago.” In response to the item stating with whom he would be, he wrote in “Family.” At the top of the form, the address and telephone number of his brother was listed under the rubric “APPROVED LEAVE SITE.” Regarding transportation, defendant wrote in: “Driving myself.”

Norsworthy said that a leave agreement is used so that the staff will know where an inmate resident is supposed to be at all times. Defendant never said he was going to Zion, nor did he call to say that he was changing his leave site. According to Norsworthy, defendant’s presence in Zion was considered a violation of his periodic imprisonment/work release agreement. She stated that a handbook of rules and regulations is given to the residents. Norsworthy said a resident must notify the center immediately if there is a change of leave site.

Diane Saucier, the victim’s mother, testified that she was standing outside her sister’s house at 2160 Hebron Street at 7:23 p.m. on September 3. She was talking with Annette Cecil and Vanessa Norsworthy. K.F. was at a playground on the opposite side of the street, about 10 or 15 feet away from the road. Diane saw defendant drive by slowly; he honked and waved. He drove by three times.

Diane decided to get her children, Aaron and K.F., and go home, about three blocks away at 2413 Joppa Street. She parked in the driveway. As they were getting out of the car, defendant drove slowly through the alley by the house; he waved and smiled. He drove by a second time smiling. Diane reported the incident to the periodic imprisonment/work release facility.

K.F. testified that she also saw defendant drive by twice while she was in the park. He blew the horn, smiled, and waved. Defendant’s conduct was repeated twice as she arrived home with her mother.

Annette Cecil also testified that defendant drove by slowly; he waved and blew his horn.

Defendant’s girlfriend, Dorothy Rogers, testified that defendant visited her at about 7 p.m. at her home at 1915 Hebron Street. He left at 9:35 p.m. because he had to go back to the periodic imprisonment/work release facility by 10 p.m. Her home was 21k blocks from 2160 Hebron Street.

Defendant testified, acknowledging that he filled out the leave agreement; he had planned to go to his church in Evanston and to his home in North Chicago. On his way back from those places, he went to Hebron Street to see a former employer named Underwood about a windshield for his nephew. He passed Underwood’s house but did not see his car. He came back around Hebron and went to Dorothy’s house. As he drove by, he recognized his ex-wife’s sister, but not Vanessa Norsworthy. He did not honk, but he may have waved. He said he did not see K.F. and Diane. He denied knowing where Diane Saucier lived or that he drove by her house. On cross-examination, defendant stated that he never went to Joppa Street because he was warned by the judge never to go where Diane lived.

The trial court found that defendant went to an area that was not authorized by his pass; that he went out of his way to harass and annoy his ex-wife; and that he saw her and her daughter and passed by them again. The court concluded: “I think Joe is just playing games with them, with Work Release program, and with my order. So, I will find him in violation.”

Defendant’s motion to reconsider was denied, and he was sentenced to a five-year term of imprisonment.

On appeal, defendant argues that (1) where the probation order did not specify that he not violate any periodic imprisonment/work release rule or regulation, there could be no violation of the probation order on that basis; and (2) the State failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant had “unsupervised contact with a minor” as specified in the order when he drove by the mother and her daughter. We agree in part.

A probationer whose probation the State seeks to revoke must be accorded substantial justice. (People v. White (1975), 33 Ill. App.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
581 N.E.2d 852, 221 Ill. App. 3d 287, 163 Ill. Dec. 698, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-saucier-illappct-1991.