People v. Welch - corrected, uploaded 01/13/06

851 N.E.2d 584, 365 Ill. App. 3d 978, 303 Ill. Dec. 397, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1259
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided December 16, 2005·No. 5-03-0681 NRel·Unpublished·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE SPOMER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant appeals his August 6, 2003, conviction for armed robbery (720 ILCS 5/18 — 2(a) (West 2000)) and aggravated robbery (720 ILCS 5/18 — 5(a) (West 2000)). The proceedings took place in the circuit court of Madison County. Following a trial and a finding of guilty by a jury on both counts, the judge merged the convictions into one conviction for armed robbery (720 ILCS 5/18 — 2(a) (West 2000)). At the sentencing hearing on October 30, 2003, the defendant was sentenced to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The defendant raises the following claims of error on appeal: (1) the conviction was in violation of the defendant’s right to a speedy trial as codified by section 103 — 5(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/103 — 5(a) (West 2000)), and trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue, (2) the defendant’s motion to suppress his confession should have been granted, (3) the defendant was denied a fair trial by the misconduct of the prosecutor, and trial counsel was ineffective for his failure to object, and (4) trial counsel was ineffective for his failure to prepare for the trial, causing trial counsel to rely on an unsupportable assertion in his opening statement and closing argument. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the defendant’s conviction.

The facts necessary for our analysis of the speedy trial issue are as follows. On June 20, 2001, a warrant of arrest was issued for the defendant in Madison County for the offense of armed robbery (720 ILCS 5/18 — 2(a) (West 2000)). On June 27, 2001, the defendant was arrested by United States marshals in St. Clair County on the Madison County warrant. For reasons that are unclear from the record, the United States marshals delivered the defendant to the St. Clair County jail. While at the St. Clair County jail, the defendant was questioned by St. Clair County officials in connection with a separate armed robbery that had occurred in St. Clair County. On June 28, 2001, the defendant confessed to the St. Clair County armed robbery, and on June 29, 2001, St. Clair County filed a criminal complaint and issued a warrant of arrest for the defendant, setting bail in the amount of $150,000. The defendant was brought before a St. Clair County judge and arraigned on the St. Clair County armed robbery charge on July 2, 2001. The defendant was unable to make bail and remained in the St. Clair County jail until the disposition of the St. Clair County charge. The record of the St. Clair County proceedings is a part of the record for this appeal.

The defendant filed a motion to suppress his confession to the St. Clair County charge on October 8, 2001. After a hearing held on November 15, 2001, the defendant’s motion to suppress his confession to the St. Clair County charge was granted. At a December 10, 2001, pretrial conference, the St. Clair County prosecutor announced that the prosecution planned to file an interlocutory appeal on the suppression issue. The order of the St. Clair County judge entered that date states: “On motion of the defendant, the defendant’s bond is reduced to a $50,000 recognizance bond. Defendant remanded to the custody of Madison County pursuant to hold.” 1 On December 11, 2001, the day after the defendant was remanded to the custody of Madison County pursuant to the St. Clair County order, the defendant was first transported to Madison County for his arraignment.

The defendant argues that he was denied his right to a speedy trial because he was arrested on the Madison County warrant on June 27, 2001, and was not arraigned on the charge until December 11, 2001, a period of 167 days. The defendant contends that pursuant to the speedy trial statute (725 ILCS 5/103 — 5(a) (West 2000)), he was entitled to a trial on the Madison County charge within 120 days of his arrest. Section 103 — 5(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 provides, in relevant part, “Every person in custody in this State for an alleged offense shall be tried by the court having jurisdiction within 120 days from the date he was taken into custody unless delay is occasioned by the defendant ***.” 725 ILCS 5/103 — 5(a) (West 2000).

The defendant argues that, according to People v. Clark, 188 Ill. App. 3d 130 (1989), because the defendant was originally arrested on the Madison County warrant, Madison County is the only authority that held him and his 120 days ran the entire time St. Clair County was holding him on St. Clair County charges. The State argues that the defendant was in the custody of St. Clair County from the time that St. Clair County filed charges against the defendant. The State points to People v. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d 1 (1983), as authority for its position that the defendant was not in Madison County custody for speedy trial purposes during the time that St. Clair County was prosecuting its charges against the defendant.

In Davis, the defendant was in custody in the St. Clair County jail awaiting a trial and sentencing on pending St. Clair County charges. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 10-11. During that time, pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum, the sheriff of St. Clair County brought the defendant to Madison County, where he was served with a warrant and arraigned on a different offense. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 11. Following the arraignment, a preliminary hearing, and the appointment of counsel, the defendant was returned to St. Clair County for the disposition of the St. Clair County charges. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 11. After the defendant was sentenced and imprisoned on the St. Clair County charges, Madison County issued a second writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum, commanding the correctional institution to bring the defendant to Madison County for his trial. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 11. The defendant challenged the Madison County conviction on speedy trial grounds.

The Illinois Supreme Court in Davis held that although “[tjhere is no question that the 120-day period prescribed in section 103 — 5(a) commences to run on the date defendant is taken ‘in custody’ for the offense for which discharge is sought,” where a defendant is in custody awaiting trial in one county and there is a charge pending against him in another county, he cannot be deemed to be in custody for purposes of the latter offense until such time as the proceedings against him in the first county are terminated and he is then returned to, or held in custody for, the second county. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 11, 13. The Illinois Supreme Court recognized that this is the rule even where the defendant has appeared before the court in the second county but is subsequently returned to the first county for further proceedings. Davis, 97 Ill. 2d at 13.

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People v. Welch - corrected, uploaded 01/13/06, 851 N.E.2d 584, 365 Ill. App. 3d 978, 303 Ill. Dec. 397, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1259 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

851 N.E.2d 584 (People v. Welch - corrected, uploaded 01/13/06) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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