People v. Woods

588 N.E.2d 1224, 225 Ill. App. 3d 988, 167 Ill. Dec. 1094, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 303
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 4, 1992
Docket2-90-0365
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 588 N.E.2d 1224 (People v. Woods) 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. Woods, 588 N.E.2d 1224, 225 Ill. App. 3d 988, 167 Ill. Dec. 1094, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 303 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE McLAREN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Winnebago County, the court convicted defendant, Joe N. Woods, of residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 19—3(a)). The court subsequently sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of residential burglary and that he did not knowingly and understanding^ waive his right to a jury trial. We affirm.

Darrell Price and his family returned from a camping trip at 9 a.m. on June 18, 1989, to discover that their house had been broken into. Entry had been gained through a bedroom window on the north side of the house. A jewelry box, some guns and some change kept in a fish bowl were missing. Price found a trail of change leading from the bedroom out the window, through the backyard and beyond a fence at the rear of the backyard. At trial, Price stated that he knew the defendant, who lived down the street from him. Defendant had never been inside Price’s home, but it was possible that he had been near the outside of his home at times prior to the burglary. In fact, Price had seen defendant in the yard next door to his house on the south side less than nine days before the offense.

Police investigating the burglary discovered that the lower section of a double-hung window had been broken out. Broken glass was found on the ground outside the house. Officer John Genens opined that the glass had been taken out of the lower frame and placed on the ground by the perpetrator.

Defendant was arrested and charged by information with the burglary. On August 9, 1989, defendant’s counsel filed a motion to appoint a psychologist to determine defendant’s fitness to stand trial. The court granted the motion and appointed Frederick McNelly, Ph.D., to examine defendant.

At the subsequent fitness hearing, McNelly testified that defendant had a history of mental illness and was taking psychotropic medication on August 9, 1989. He found that defendant suffered from multiple substance abuse and schizophrenia disorganized. These conditions manifested themselves by an emotionally disturbed personality with irrational thinking. Defendant suffered from free flow thought disorders and had difficulty following a conversation.

McNelly further testified that defendant’s mental capability was in the very low, borderline handicapped range. His functional IQ was in the low borderline range, which was in the educable mentally retarded range of skill. The State conceded that it could not prove fitness to stand trial at that time. The court found defendant unfit for trial.

On November 7, 1989, the court conducted a fitness status hearing. Defense counsel stipulated that defendant would score a 52 on a fitness examination, which is the minimum score necessary to be found fit for trial. The court accepted the stipulation and found defendant fit for trial.

Defendant later filed a motion to suppress statements he made to the police during their investigation of the burglary. Dr. McNelly again testified at the suppression hearing. McNelly testified that defendant’s IQ was 75. This placed defendant in the range between mentally retarded and very low average. Defendant’s reading and spelling abilities were below the first percentile. Defendant was a functional illiterate with a reading level below the third grade.

McNelly testified that reading comprehension skills range from a scale of 0 to 100 and an individual’s oral reading skills are usually within one or two percentage points of his reading comprehension skills. The average person falls at 50 on the 0 to 100 scale. Defendant was between one and two on this scale.

McNelly further stated that defendant had regressed from January 1989 to August 9, 1989. His reading and spelling skills had not improved since January 1989. McNelly again stated that defendant suffered from schizophrenia. Based on this and other evidence, the court suppressed defendant’s statements.

On January 12, 1990, defendant appeared in court, and the following colloquy occurred:

“THE COURT: Now, as to this charge you have an absolute right to have this charge against you tried before a jury of twelve people; do you understand?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All twelve people on that jury would have to be chosen from Winnebago County, Illinois, and all twelve would have to believe, after hearing all the evidence and arguments of the lawyers and the instructions of the Court, that you had been proved guilty of the particular crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt before they could find you guilty; do you understand?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: You may waive or give up that right to a jury trial, only you can give it up. If you don’t waive jury then you will have a jury trial. Your counsel informs me that you wish to waive or give up your right to jury trial; is that true?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: That is do you want a bench trial by the Judge alone?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: I would like to have you read out loud the sentence that appears above the signature line.
MR. WILT: Could I read it for him? He doesn’t read too well, as you might recall from some of the testimony we had earlier, with the Court’s permission.
THE COURT: Do you understand what that means?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Now, do you understand that if you sign that piece of paper you will be telling me that you do not want a jury trial, you want the Judge to try the case.
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All right you can sign that. Now before I accept this, Mr. Woods, have you talked this over with your lawyer?
DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Have you talked this over with anybody else in your family that you might want to talk to?
DEFENDANT: I called my sister. She didn’t come down here today. I don’t know what’s up.”

On January 16, 1990, defendant again appeared in court, and the prosecutor and defense counsel announced a tentative plea agreement. At that time, the following conversation took place:

“THE COURT: Mr. Woods, I want you to read out loud the sentence that appears on that piece of paper above the signature line. Begin with the words, ‘And now comes?’
DEFENDANT: ‘And now comes the above named Defendant in his own — ’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
588 N.E.2d 1224, 225 Ill. App. 3d 988, 167 Ill. Dec. 1094, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-woods-illappct-1992.