People v. Shriner

555 N.E.2d 1257, 198 Ill. App. 3d 748, 144 Ill. Dec. 738, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 871
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 15, 1990
Docket2-88-0227
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 555 N.E.2d 1257 (People v. Shriner) 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. Shriner, 555 N.E.2d 1257, 198 Ill. App. 3d 748, 144 Ill. Dec. 738, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 871 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE REINHARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Edward Shriner, was indicted in the circuit court of Du Page County on two counts of home invasion (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 12—11), two counts of armed robbery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 18—2(a)), two counts of unlawful restraint (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 10—3(a)), four counts of armed violence (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 33A—2), and two counts of residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19—3(a)). The residential burglary and armed violence counts were nol-prossed, and, following a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of all counts of home invasion, armed robbery, and unlawful restraint. Defendant was determined to be a habitual criminal (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 33B—1 et seq.) and was sentenced to natural life imprisonment on the home invasion and armed robbery convictions.

On appeal, defendant raises the following issues: (1) whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding the testimony of an alibi witness as a sanction for defendant’s violation of the discovery rules; (2) whether one of defendant’s home invasion convictions should be vacated because defendant committed only one illegal entry; (3) whether the habitual criminal statute is unconstitutional; and (4) whether defendant’s previous conviction under a Federal armed bank robbery statute constitutes a prior offense for purposes of the habitual criminal statute.

The relevant facts are as follows. On April 1, 1986, at about 8 to 8:30 p.m., the victims, Salvador and Darlene Barrocas, were at home in Medinah, Illinois, when they heard a car pull into their driveway. Mr. Barrocas went to the front door while his wife turned on the outside and foyer lights. The Barrocases observed two men, one they identified in court as defendant, on their front sidewalk. After a brief conversation with the men, Mrs. Barrocas reentered the house and wrote down the license plate number, JXL 258, of the car driven by the men. The younger man, not the defendant, asked Mr. Barrocas to write down some directions to a particular address in the subdivision, which Mr. Barrocas entered his lighted garage to do. The younger man and defendant entered the garage, drew handguns, and ordered the Barrocases into a utility room, which was lighted. While in the utility room, the Barrocases were able to see the men’s uncovered faces.

The men then placed the victims in the bathroom. They observed both men again when the men removed Mr. Barrocas to help them unlock a gun cabinet. Again, when the men took him into the bedroom, Mr. Barrocas had another opportunity to view defendant. Both men left at about 9:45 p.m. after taking numerous items of personal property and money.

The Barrocases gave descriptions of both men to the police and described the perpetrators’ car as a blue compact with license plate number JXL 258. Later, the Barrocases picked defendant and William DeBusk from two separate photo arrays as the men who entered their home on the evening of April 1, 1986. They also separately picked defendant and DeBusk out of two separate lineups on April 3,1986.

On April 2, 1986, at approximately 1 p.m., the police stopped a blue, Ford Escort with license plate number JXL 258. This vehicle was leased to Terrence Maloney, who informed the police, and later testified, that he had leased the vehicle for his friend, defendant, who used the car and paid him for the rental. Defendant was driving the car, and DeBusk and another person were passengers. After removing all three occupants from the vehicle, the police observed a handgun protruding from an athletic bag in the car. Further examination revealed a second handgun in the bag. The three occupants were then taken to the police station, and the vehicle was driven to the police garage.

At the station, defendant was searched and $217.24 was found on his person, including a $100 bill and a $2 bill. Additionally, a ladies’ watch was removed from defendant’s pants’ pocket. Mrs. Barrocas identified the watch as hers and stated that it had been missing since April 1, 1986. According to the Barrocases, they habitually carried a $100 bill in their billfolds and that both billfolds were missing as of April 1. Their son’s $2 bill collection was also missing. Furthermore, numerous items seized from the vehicle driven by defendant were identified as property owned by the victims and missing from their home following the April 1 home invasion.

During trial and prior to the State’s final witness’ testimony, the prosecutor advised the court that he had talked to an “alibi witness” provided by defendant pursuant to discovery, who indicated that she had mailed a notarized affidavit summarizing her potential testimony to defendant and his defense attorney about one year earlier. The prosecutor then orally requested the affidavit. Defense counsel denied receiving such an affidavit, and defendant volunteered that the affidavit had been mailed to him at a time when he had elected to defend himself with only the assistance of standby counsel. A copy of the affidavit was then given to the prosecutor by defendant. The prosecutor indicated to the court that he would pursue the matter after presenting his last witness.

The matter regarding the affidavit was again taken up after the State rested. At that time, defense counsel indicated that he had interviewed the affiant and that she had indicated she would not testify to an exact time when defendant left her residence on the evening of April 1 but only that it was dark. The affidavit states that defendant left between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The trial court ruled that it would not allow the affiant to testify regarding an alibi.

Following further argument by both defense counsel and the prosecutor, the court allowed voir dire of the affiant, Jean Woody. Woody acknowledged preparing the affidavit at defendant’s request. She then stated that defendant and DeBusk arrived at her residence in Dixmoor, Illinois, at around 4 p.m. on April 1, 1986. She further stated that defendant and DeBusk left at about 8:30 p.m. or 9 p.m. According to Woody, she recalled the time because she ended up cooking out on her grill after dark because of the two men interrupting her original dinner plans and that after she had eaten, the 10 p.m. news was about to come on. Woody stated on cross-examination that she mailed a copy of the affidavit to both defendant and his trial counsel, but stated on redirect that she mailed a copy to trial counsel at a downtown Chicago address. The trial court acknowledged that trial counsel has never had a downtown Chicago office.

The trial court found Woody’s proposed testimony to constitute an alibi defense and again ruled that Woody would not be able to testify as an alibi witness.

DeBusk testified on behalf of defendant. According to DeBusk, on the evening in question, he and defendant went to Jean Woody’s residence near Blue Island, Illinois, at about 4 p.m. and he and defendant left at about 7:45 p.m. He and defendant then drove to defendant’s residence, he borrowed defendant’s blue Escort and, along with someone named Kenny, committed the offenses at the Barrocases’ residence. At about 12:10 a.m., DeBusk and someone named Wedlake picked up defendant, and the trio spent the night at a Holiday Inn. The following morning, DeBusk and Wedlake tried to pawn some of the jewelry.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
555 N.E.2d 1257, 198 Ill. App. 3d 748, 144 Ill. Dec. 738, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-shriner-illappct-1990.