People v. Schott

350 N.E.2d 49, 39 Ill. App. 3d 266, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2560
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 7, 1976
Docket75-8
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 350 N.E.2d 49 (People v. Schott) 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. Schott, 350 N.E.2d 49, 39 Ill. App. 3d 266, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2560 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE GUILD

delivered the opinion of the court:

The three defendants herein were each indicted for six counts of armed robbery against six different parties and a seventh count of aggravated battery committed on one Randy C. Hacker. Count IV of the indictments charging armed robbery of one H. D. Pratt was nolle prossed by the State as it appears in the record that Pratt had entered the armed services. The defendants were tried by a jury and found guilty of the five counts of armed robbery and the one count of aggravated battery. The trial court held that the aggravated battery was a “lesser offense” and set the conviction aside as to that offense. The court thereupon sentenced each of the three defendants to 6-18 years in the State Penitentiary as to each count of armed robbery with the sentences to run concurrently.

The evidence for the State was that on the night of January 3, 1974, Lana Beane and Randy C. Hacker were at the residence of one Doug Dawson on a farm in Nelson, Lee County, Illinois. About 9:30 in the evening a man came to the door, subsequently identified as the defendant John L. Lee, and stated that his car was in a ditch and asked to use the telephone. He was allowed to use the telephone and he then reentered the room where he produced a gun and told Randy C. Hacker and Lana Beane to lie down on the floor. Lee then opened the door and the two other defendants, subsequently identified as Andrew P. Schott, Jr. and James E. Sutton, entered the residence. They were disguised with nylon stockings placed over their heads. It further appears that Lee then placed a stocking over his head as well. All three men were armed. About 10 p.m. Derek Hunter and his wife Phyllis knocked at the door of the farmhouse and they were admitted. The three masked men then tied up and blindfolded Hunter with masking tape. Mrs. Hunter and Lana Beane were subsequently tied up and blindfolded. *220 was taken from Hunter. About 10:30 in the evening Tom Petitti, Dan Quigley, H. D. Pratt and Remigio “Ray” Jimenez arrived at the Dawson farmhouse in Quigleys car. Petitti went to the door and the other three remained in the car. A man with a nylon stocking over his head and with a gun in his hand took Petitti into the room where the other victims were sitting with their eyes taped and their hands tied. Money was taken from Petitti. Shortly thereafter Quigley, Pratt and Jimenez were ordered out of the car at gunpoint by a man with a mask and taken into the farmhouse. *22 was taken from Quigley and *160 was taken from Jimenez. All four were tied up and blindfolded with masking tape. About 11:30 in the evening Dave Jacobs, who resided at the Doug Dawson farm, arrived home. He was met at the door by Lee, taken into the room with the other victims, tied up and blindfolded. About *1000 was taken from the person of Dave Jacobs. At the trial Remigio Jimenez identified the defendant Lee; Tom Petitti identified the defendant Schott; Lana Beane identified both defendant Sutton and defendant Lee; and Mrs. Hunter identified all three defendants.

About 1:30 in the morning of January 4,1974, the three defendants left the farmhouse, leaving the above enumerated people tied up and/or blindfolded in the farmhouse. The victims were able to free themselves from their bonds and called the police shortly-after 1:30 a.m. An alert was sent out over the police radio describing the vehicle of the defendants as being a yellow 1969 Thunderbird and one of the occupants being described as wearing plaid pants and an Army-type jacket. The car also was described as having Iowa license plates. About 45 minutes later defendants were arrested by a State Trooper in Bureau County after having received the ISPRA message in reference to the armed robbery which occurred in Nelson, Illinois. The State Trooper stopped the vehicle of the three defendants, which was a yellow, 1969 Thunderbird with a white top. The defendants were handcuffed and taken to the Bureau County jail. The vehicle was removed to the police station and searched. In the trunk of the defendants’ car the police officers found three handguns, four shotguns, a .22-caliber rifle in a case, and David Jacobs’ firearms identification card. Marijuana was also found in the trunk of the car. The shotguns and rifle were subsequently identified by David Jacobs as being his property which was taken from the Dawson farmhouse during the robbery.

Prior to the trial the defendants filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized, including all the physical evidence found in the trunk of the defendants’ car. The motion to suppress was denied.

At the trial the three defendants testified that defendant Schott didn’t know how the guns could have gotten into his trunk and the other two defendants, likewise, disclaimed any knowledge of the firearms being in the trunk of the vehicle. The three defendants, in substance, testified that they knew Doug Dawson, the owner of the farmhouse where the robberies occurred; that they had gone there to see him and that they sat around and talked to all of the people above enumerated; and that they drank beer and smoked marijuana with the parties there. They all further testified that, inasmuch as Dawson did not return, they left at approximately 1 a.m., at the request of Dave Jacobs who stated to them that one of the parties thought one of them was a narcotics agent. At the time of the report of the robberies the victims stated that approximately *1503 had been taken from Petitti, Hunter, Quigley, Jimenez and Jacobs. *1384 was found in defendant Schott’s coat. Schott testified that he had about *1350 in his coat and that he was going to use it to purchaee drugs from Doug Dawson as soon as he returned from Chicago. However, at the time of his arrest Schott advised the State Trooper that the large sum was his and that he was in the real estate and construction business and, therefore, carried large sums of money.

The arresting officers testified that they had received the ISPRA message that the robbery had occurred, that the robbers had left in a late model yellow Thunderbird with Iowa license plates. The officer making the initial arrest testified that he observed the defendants’ vehicle at 2:17 a.m. near Buda, Illinois; that it was a late model 1969 Thunderbird, yellow with a white top; and further testified that the information in the ISPRA message was that one of the robbers was wearing plaid pants and a blue Army-type jacket. When the officer stopped defendants’ vehicle the defendant Schott came back to the officer’s car and the officer observed that he was wearing plaid pants with a blue Navy-type jacket. The three men were arrested and the Thunderbird was towed to the heated Bureau County Jail garage, it being -10° F. There was a key found between the hood and the fender of defendants’ car which opened its trunk and the guns enumerated above, ammunition, firearms identification card and marijuana were found in the trunk. The three handguns were loaded and apparently the shotguns and rifle were not.

Defendant has raised ten issues in this appeal and we shall consider them in numerical order. It is to be noted at the outset that contentions number 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were not raised at the trial.

The first contention of the defendants is that the arresting officer did not have probable cause to arrest the defendants and that the admission into evidence of the articles seized from the trunk violated their constitutional rights. We do not agree.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 N.E.2d 49, 39 Ill. App. 3d 266, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-schott-illappct-1976.