People v. Taylor

2019 IL App (1st) 160173
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 9, 2020·No. 1-16-0173·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

Digitally signed by Reporter of Decisions Reason: I attest to the

Illinois Official Reports accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2020.07.09

Appellate Court 12:45:10 -05'00'

People v. Taylor, 2019 IL App (1st) 160173

Appellate Court THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Caption MICHAEL TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant.

District & No. First District, Sixth Division No. 1-16-0173

Filed November 15, 2019 Rehearing denied December 9, 2019

Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 14-CR-17533; the Review Hon. Dennis J. Porter, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Affirmed and remanded.

Counsel on James E. Chadd, Patricia Mysza, and Drew A. Wallenstein, of State Appeal Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Annette Collins, and Veronica Calderon Malavia, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Panel JUSTICE HARRIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

Justice Connors concurred in the judgment and opinion. Presiding Justice Mikva dissented, with opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Following a 2015 bench trial, defendant Michael Taylor was convicted of aggravated stalking and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with fines and fees. On appeal, defendant contends that his conviction for aggravated stalking (720 ILCS 5/12-7.4 (West 2014)) must be vacated because the underlying stalking statute (id. § 12-7.3) is facially unconstitutional due to vagueness. Defendant also contends for the first time on appeal that two of his fees are erroneous and that certain fees are actually fines for which he must receive presentence incarceration credit. For the reasons stated below, we remand for defendant to raise his fines and fees claims in the circuit court and otherwise affirm.

¶2 I. JURISDICTION

¶3 On October 8, 2015, the circuit court found defendant guilty of aggravated stalking. On December 4, 2015, the court sentenced defendant to four years’ imprisonment with fines and fees. Defendant filed his notice of appeal that day. Accordingly, this court has jurisdiction pursuant to article VI, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 6) and Illinois Supreme Court Rule 603 (eff. Feb. 6, 2013) and Rule 606 (eff. July 1, 2017) governing appeals from a final judgment of conviction in a criminal case.

¶4 II. BACKGROUND

¶5 Defendant was charged with two counts of aggravated stalking (720 ILCS 5/12-7.4(a)(3) (West 2014)) for, between August 18 and August 30, 2014, in violation of an order of protection in case No. 14-DV-74667, knowingly engaging in a course of conduct against Tiffany DeShields by, on two or more occasions, surveilling her, calling her, sending her text messages, and threatening her. The counts alleged that defendant knew or should have known that his course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to, in count I, fear for her safety, and in count II, suffer emotional distress. See id. § 12-7.3(a)(1), (2).

¶6 Defendant was also charged with four counts of stalking allegedly committed between July 12 and August 30, 2014. Two counts (counts III and IV) mirrored the two counts of aggravated stalking except for not alleging that defendant violated an order of protection. Id. Count V alleged that defendant knowingly and without justification followed or surveilled DeShields on or about July 12 and August 23 and transmitted a threat of bodily harm to DeShields by threatening to kill her, while count VI alleged the same two instances of surveillance and alleged that defendant placed DeShields in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm. Id. § 12-7.3(a-3)(1), (2).

¶7 At trial, DeShields testified that, in August 2014, she had been dating defendant for about two months. She broke up with him on July 12, 2014, because she learned that he was not employed. He was at her home when she told him she was breaking up with him, and he left but then began “banging on” the back door. When she told him to go away, he made various remarks including, “I will kill myself. I will kill you,” so she called the police. On July 24, defendant came to her home, told her that he had a job, and asked her to “give me another chance.” Because he had a job, she “did get back with him at that time.” However, on July 29, after defendant borrowed her cell phone, she broke up with him again. He left with her cell phone and took her car. When he returned the car on July 31, he apologized for taking her car

and home keys. She asked him to get into her car, and she drove him to the police station. As they were in the car, he said he would kill her and himself “if you don’t get back with me.” When she brought defendant to the police station, she obtained an emergency order of protection against him.

¶8 On August 18, 2014, the circuit court granted DeShields a plenary order of protection against defendant. At trial, she identified copies of the August 1 emergency and August 18 plenary orders of protection. On August 23, defendant was at DeShields’s home “as usual,” talking with her through the back door and stating that he would “kill you” and “kill myself.” She told him to leave, reminded him that he was “not supposed to be here,” and mentioned calling the police. As he left, she saw him take her daughter’s bicycle from the backyard, throwing it over the fence. She called the police, then called defendant to demand the return of the bicycle. When he refused “[be]cause you won’t be with me,” she said that “we could be together, just bring the bike.” She said so to induce him to return the bicycle. He returned the bicycle later that day by bringing it “close” to her home.

¶9 On August 25, defendant was again in DeShields’s backyard cursing, begging, and “banging” on her back door “trying to break down the door.” In his begging, he repeated that he would kill himself if they were not together. She called the police, and he left. On the afternoon of August 29, defendant called her on the telephone; she recognized his voice. He said he was outside her home and asked her to come outside and “please be together.” She called the police, but he was gone when they arrived. That night, two back windows of her home were broken by thrown bricks, and she saw defendant in the backyard with another brick in his hand that he threw “but missed.” She called the police, and he fled.

¶ 10 Defendant sent DeShields “a lot” of text messages in the latter half of August 2014, using the cell phone he borrowed from her. Many of his messages said that he would “get back with” her, and some were threatening, including one threatening to kill DeShields and break her car windows. DeShields was shown a copy of an August 12 message in which defendant threatened to kill DeShields and Shavon Clash, her neighbor and babysitter; she agreed that the copy was accurate. The copy includes messages that DeShields should “[w]atch car before it blow up” and “d[o]nt get yo[ur] nieghbor [sic] killed.” This threat left her “very terrified for me and my children.” Indeed, all of these incidents left her feeling “threatened for my safety because of the defendant [a]ll the time” and also afraid for her two children.

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