People v. Ward

347 N.E.2d 381, 37 Ill. App. 3d 960, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2287
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 9, 1976
Docket61010
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 347 N.E.2d 381 (People v. Ward) 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. Ward, 347 N.E.2d 381, 37 Ill. App. 3d 960, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2287 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE LORENZ

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of theft by deception (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, par. 16 — 1(b)) and was sentenced to a term of one to three years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. On appeal, she contends that the trial court erred by (1) denying her motion for a continuance to obtain an impeaching witness, (2) admitting incriminating admissions given in violation of her Miranda rights, (3) admitting a police officer’s hearsay testimony on an out-of-court identification of defendant made by the complaining witness, and (4) further denying her a fair trial by several evidentiary rulings.

The following evidence pertinent to this appeal was adduced at trial. For the State:

Stella Hollst

While she was shopping at a supermarket near her home in Maywood on August 26, 1971, she became engaged in a lengthy conversation with defendant. Defendant stated that she was from California and was carrying *7,000 because she distrusted the local banks. Throughout this conversation defendant stood close to Mrs. Hollst and the store’s lighting was good.

Thereafter, a third woman, Patricia Plunkett, approached and stated that she had found an envelope in a nearby telephone booth. Plunkett asked Mrs. Hollst and defendant to witness the opening of the envelope. After Mrs. Hollst demurred, Plunkett left the store. Defendant then suggested that they should have opened the envelope to check for money. When Mrs. Hollst “got a little greedy” and agreed, defendant left and returned with Plunkett.

Plunkett opened the envelope and stated that *15,000 was inside. She offered to inquire about their rights in the money from her employer — an attorney. She then drove defendant and Mrs. Hollst near an office building and went around the comer towards the building. When she returned she said that there was *21,000 and an uncut diamond in the envelope. Plunkett proposed that they divide the money into three *6,000 shares with the remainder going to her employer. She asked defendant and Mrs. Hollst to post some earnest money as security to insure that it would not look suspicious if they suddenly possessed a large sum of money. Defendant immediately gave Plunkett a wallet supposedly containing her *7,000 withdrawal.

Thereupon Mrs. Hollst gathered her own bank books and withdrew *4,000 from two banks. Defendant accompanied her into the banks and was present when Mrs. Hollst gave her *4,000 to Plunkett.

Plunkett, defendant and Mrs. Hollst then drove back to the office building where Plunkett left to give Mrs. Hollst’s *4,000 to her employer. When she returned to the automobile, Plunkett told Mrs. Hollst that she could now pick up her *6,000 share plus her *4,000 security. However, when Mrs. Hollst went to the designated office, she found a travel bureau. She quickly returned to where the automobile had been parked, but Plunkett and defendant were gone. She finished her shopping and called the police upon her return home.

Mrs. Hollst identified defendant in court as the shill in this confidence game. Although defendant’s hair was red at trial, it had been blonde on August 26, 1971. She had also identified Plunkett and defendant in police photographs prior to trial.

On cross-examination, she admitted previously testifying that she was in the store at 3 p.m. not at 1:30 p.m. She also stated that defendant had “shoulder length hair * * * she did not have short hair.”

On redirect, she stated that her husband suffered a heart attack a few days after this incident. Defendant objected and moved for a mistrial. The trial court immediately struck the answer and denied defendant’s motion.

Thereafter a hearing was held on defendant’s motion to suppress certain admissions made by defendant at her initial interrogation. Defendant testified that she was not given the Miranda warnings. Defense counsel then called Officer Guynne who detailed his interrogation of defendant. On cross-examination he stated he advised her, inter alia, that “she had the right to obtain the services of a lawyer” and that a lawyer would be appointed if she could not afford one. Defense counsel argued that defendant’s admissions were induced by promises or coercion. The State argued that defendant’s vague testimony and her record of prior warnings and arrests negated defendant’s arguments. The trial court denied the motion to suppress.

Jeffery Guynne

He was a Maywood police officer on August 26,1971. His investigation led him to suspect Patricia Plunkett. He took approximately ten photographs to Mrs. Hollst and she identified Plunkett and defendant. During his interrogation of defendant she stated that “she wasn’t very good at this and had messed up some of the other attempts that they had had.” Defendant also admitted that “she split fifty-fifty with Patricia Plunkett and then had to split fifty-fifty, her share, with Charles Pigrin.”

At the conclusion of the State’s case, defendant moved for a continuance in order to bring Sergeant Ronald Smith into court to testify to a description of defendant in his police report as having short blonde hair. The trial court denied the motion after specifically finding that defendant had the report for several days prior to trial and that it was not impeaching, in any event, since it did not indicate that Mrs. Hollst had given the description.

For Defendant:

Edward Genson

He is an attorney who represented Plunkett at a preliminary proceeding. He happened to walk into the courthouse hallway with Mrs. Hollst. She incorrectly identified a tall, stocky woman with blonde hair as being the defendant.

The State later introduced the appearance filed by Genson on defendant’s behalf in this case.

Defendant Sandra Ward on her own behalf

She denied committing the crime or making any admissions to the police. She was “probably at home” on the day of the crime.

On cross-examination, she denied knowing Patricia Plunkett, but later admitted that her friend, Patricia Paradise, was also known as Patricia Plunkett.

Opinion

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred by denying her motion for a continuance to obtain an impeaching witness. Motions for a continuance are within the sound discretion of the trial court and must be considered in light of the diligence shown by the movant. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, par. 114 — 4(e); People v. Hicks, 125 Ill. App. 2d 48, 259 N.E.2d 846.) In the instant case, defendant made a belated attempt to subpoena a policeman to testify to a conflicting description of defendant’s hair length. The record clearly shows that defendant had the police report for several days prior to trial.

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

Related

People v. Jones
652 N.E.2d 1068 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)
People v. Bonds
410 N.E.2d 228 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1980)
People v. Braxton
401 N.E.2d 1062 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1980)
People v. Creach
387 N.E.2d 762 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
People v. Whitley
364 N.E.2d 511 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
People v. Johnson
363 N.E.2d 41 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
People v. Saffold
365 N.E.2d 524 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
People v. Townsend
365 N.E.2d 110 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
People v. Hatcher
359 N.E.2d 1157 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
347 N.E.2d 381, 37 Ill. App. 3d 960, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ward-illappct-1976.