People v. Savage

838 N.E.2d 247, 361 Ill. App. 3d 750, 297 Ill. Dec. 760, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1091
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided October 31, 2005·No. 4-03-1065·Published·Cited by 28 cases

Opinions

JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH

delivered the opinion of the court:

In July 2003, a jury convicted defendant, David L. Savage, of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(D) (West 2002)). The trial court later sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment and imposed a street-value fine totaling $96,070. Prior to defendant’s conviction and while he was incarcerated and awaiting trial, defendant filed a motion for relief from prosecutorial misconduct of Macon County jail officials who conducted a shakedown of jail cells with the intention of confiscating police reports held in the possession of inmates.

The shakedown was conducted after the Macon County State’s Attorney’s office informed the sheriff’s department and jail officials that Supreme Court Rule 415(c) (134 Ill. 2d R. 415(c)) requires an attorney to keep pretrial discovery in his or her exclusive custody. The trial court denied defendant’s prosecutorial-misconduct motion, and he was convicted and sentenced as stated.

Defendant appeals, arguing (1) the trial court erred when it denied his motion for relief from prosecutorial misconduct, (2) the enforcement of Rule 415(c) against only indigent and incarcerated defendants violates equal protection, (3) he is entitled to a $1,405 credit against his street-value drug fine pursuant to section 110 — 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Criminal Procedure Code) (725 ILCS 5/110 — 14 (West 2002)), and (4) the court’s written judgment order should be amended to reflect that he was convicted pursuant to section 401(a)(2)(D) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Controlled Substances Act) (720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(D) (West 2002)) and not section 402(a)(2)(D) (720 ILCS 570/402(a)(2)(D) (West 2002)). We affirm the court’s judgment as modified and remand with directions.

I. BACKGROUND

In December 2002, defendant was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (720 ILCS 570/ 401(a)(2)(D) (West 2002)) and unlawful possession of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/402(a)(2)(D) (West 2002)). In April 2003, while he was incarcerated in the Macon County Correctional Center and awaiting trial, correctional officers conducted searches of inmate cells and confiscated the State’s pretrial-discovery answers (specifically police reports) found in the possession of inmates. That same month, defendant filed a motion for relief from prosecutorial misconduct.

Defendant’s motion alleged the search of inmate cells and the confiscation of the State’s pretrial-discovery answers and police reports was improper because it impaired his ability to be effectively represented by his counsel and constituted an interference with the attorney-client relationship. Specifically, he maintained the actions taken were improper because (1) Rule 415(c) does not prohibit defense counsel from transferring custody of the State’s answers to pretrial discovery to a client; (2) the State’s Attorney’s office had no authority to direct or request that the jail conduct a shakedown and confiscate the State’s pretrial-discovery answers; and (3) documents including “notes, attorney correspondence, legal research, and other private papers” were confiscated during the shakedown.

Testimony at the hearing on defendant’s motion indicated that sometime prior to the shakedown, the State’s Attorney’s office became aware that defense attorneys in Macon County were providing copies of the State’s pretrial-discovery answers, and specifically police reports, to their clients. Immediately prior to the search and seizure at issue, they also became aware of instances of witness intimidation that they suspected were based upon information contained in police reports in the possession of jail inmates. The State’s Attorney’s office interpreted Supreme Court Rule 415(c) (134 Ill. 2d R. 415(c)) as prohibiting defense attorneys from giving pretrial-discovery materials, such as police reports, to their clients and requiring instead that they remain in the exclusive possession of counsel.

The State’s Attorney’s office sent letters to defense attorneys believed to be violating Rule 415(c). The letters requested the attorneys retrieve police reports that had been left in the possession of their clients in violation of Rule 415(c). They also entered into discussions with individuals from the sheriff’s department and the jail to decide how to deal with inmate possession of police reports and the State’s pretrial-discovery answers in general. Through these discussions it was decided that a shakedown of the jail would be conducted during which such documents would be confiscated along with other contraband. Testimony indicated shakedowns occurred at the jail regularly, two to three times a month. When the documents here were confiscated, it was time for a shakedown to be conducted.

Assistant State’s Attorneys Jack Ahola and Tamara Wagoner were present for the shakedown but did not enter into any inmate cells. During the shakedown, correctional officers went into the cells and searched for police reports and contraband in general. When the officers had questions about whether a particular document should be seized, they directed their inquiries at either the assistant jail superintendent or one of the assistant State’s Attorneys. These three individuals only conducted cursory inspections of the documents they were shown and did not read any of what was written on them. Once material was seized from a cell, it was put into a manila envelope with the inmate’s name written on the outside. The envelopes were then signed by the assistant jail superintendent and given to Ahola and Wagoner. Approximately 250 to 260 inmates were in the jail when this particular shakedown occurred and roughly 40 of them had documents confiscated.

The confiscated documents were held in the State’s Attorney’s office. The envelopes containing the confiscated documents were only opened at the request and in the presence of defense attorneys who wanted to inspect their contents. Shortly after the shakedown, defense attorneys were informed they could obtain their client’s seized materials by signing a statement acknowledging the requirements of Rule 415(c) and agreeing not to return the seized documents to their respective clients. Some attorneys complied, signed the document, and received their client’s confiscated documents back. Other attorneys, including defendant’s counsel, refused, and the confiscated documents were not returned.

Finally, several individuals who were incarcerated when the shakedown occurred testified as to what documents had been taken from them. Besides the State’s pretrial-discovery answers and police reports, the witnesses testified that other seized items included notes taken in preparation of defense, letters or paperwork from their attorneys, legal papers in general, and legal research. Further, some of the confiscated police reports or pretrial-discovery items had inmates’ notes on them. Additionally, one witness testified that another inmate’s police report was taken from his cell.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

People v. Savage, 838 N.E.2d 247, 361 Ill. App. 3d 750, 297 Ill. Dec. 760, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1091 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

838 N.E.2d 247 (People v. Savage) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Rodhouse
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2026
People v. Bealer
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2026
People v. Avery
2025 IL App (4th) 240922-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Bucio
2025 IL App (1st) 230321-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Burger
2025 IL App (5th) 231191-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Butler
2022 IL App (1st) 200998-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
People v. Wilson
2021 IL App (4th) 190843-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
Peters v. Keefe
2020 IL App (2d) 190244-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)
People v. Gliniewicz
2019 IL App (2d) 190401-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
People v. Walker
2019 IL App (3d) 170374 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
Turner v. Joliet Police Department
2019 IL App (3d) 170819 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
In re Michael D.
2015 IL App (1st) 143181 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2015)
Evans v. Godinez
2014 IL App (4th) 130686 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2014)
People v. McRae
2011 IL App (2d) 090798 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2011)
People v. Mobley
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008
People v. Lewis
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008
People v. Thompson
857 N.E.2d 924 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2006)
People v. Strickland
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2006
People v. Savage
838 N.E.2d 247 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2005)