People v. Young

581 N.E.2d 241, 220 Ill. App. 3d 488, 163 Ill. Dec. 290, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1695
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 30, 1991
Docket1-88-1729
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 581 N.E.2d 241 (People v. Young) 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. Young, 581 N.E.2d 241, 220 Ill. App. 3d 488, 163 Ill. Dec. 290, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1695 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE MANNING

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Derrick Young, appeals his conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 56½, par. 1401(b)(2)), and raises the following issues for review: (1) whether the indictment should have been dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct in the presentation of evidence to the grand jury; (2) whether defense counsel’s failure to seek dismissal of the indictment on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel; (3) whether he was substantially prejudiced because of preindictment delay; (4) whether he was denied due process of law because of the State’s failure to inform the defense prior to trial that the suspect controlled substance had been destroyed prior to the indictment; (5) whether he was denied effective assistance of counsel where defense counsel failed to conduct an independent inspection and chemical analysis of the suspect controlled substances and thereafter stipulated to the results of the State’s chemical tests; and (6) whether the State proved him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offense of possession with intent to deliver more than 10 but not more than 30 grams of a controlled substance containing cocaine.

It is uncontroverted that pursuant to a search warrant of a single-family residence on September 25, 1986, the police recovered from the basement a brown paper bag containing three plastic bags and 58 white paper packets the State claimed was cocaine and two small handguns. In an upstairs bedroom where defendant, his girlfriend and son were present, the police recovered an Illinois Bell telephone bill in the defendant’s name.

Defendant was arrested and released on bond after a hearing. Defendant demanded a trial on October 22, 1986; however, on that date the court granted a continuance until December 10, 1986. On December 10, the State acknowledged that the lab report on the suspect controlled substance was unavailable and requested a continuance. The preliminary hearing court denied the State’s request for a continuance, but granted it leave to nol-pros.

On January 30, 1987, the lab report was completed, and on July 1, 1987, defendant was indicted by the grand jury. Thereafter, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment which was denied by the trial court on November 20, 1987, following lengthy arguments on the ground of preindictment delay. On December 31, 1987, counsel for defendant filed a motion to inspect the physical evidence and to conduct an independent analysis of the substances; however, he later withdrew the request.

During the bench trial which began in February 1988, Chicago police officers testified about the details of the search of defendant’s home and the items that were recovered. Officer Wozniak stated that when confronted with the contraband, defendant admitted to him that all of the items belonged to the defendant and that no one else on the premises was involved.

The parties stipulated to the testimony of Chicago police chemist Moka that on January 30, 1987, she analyzed the contents of the brown paper bag by chemically examining the contents of one of the three plastic bags and 1 of the 58 paper packets. In her expert opinion, an amount of 1.86 grams tested positive for the presence of cocaine and the weight of the entire amount of the substance received by her was 16.87 grams. It also was stipulated to by the parties that the entire amount of the substance confiscated from defendant’s house had been incinerated by the police on April 21, 1987, pursuant to a Chicago police department procedure to “[dispose of (the substances) according to law.” The trial court then denied defendant’s motion for a directed verdict.

In his own defense, defendant denied knowledge and possession of the controlled substance and stated that he never told the police that it was his. Following closing arguments and the sentencing hearing, defendant was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Defendant’s first contention on appeal asserts error by the trial court in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment. Defendant argues that he suffered prejudice because of prosecutorial misconduct in presenting false and misleading evidence to the grand jury, because of defense counsel’s failure to seek dismissal on the basis of the prosecution’s misconduct and because of preindictment delay.

It is well settled that trial courts are authorized to dismiss an indictment where there is a clear denial of due process, even though this is not a statutorily authorized ground for dismissal. (People v. Lawson (1977), 67 Ill. 2d 449, 455, 367 N.E.2d 1244.) In ascertaining due process violations on a motion to dismiss an indictment, a court must proceed with restraint and dismiss the indictment only when the violation is clear and has been found with certainty. (People v. Shaw (1985), 133 Ill. App. 3d 391, 478 N.E.2d 1142.) A defendant who seeks dismissal of the indictment bears a heavy burden of showing actual and substantial prejudice to him. (People v. Haag (1979), 80 Ill. App. 3d 135, 140, 399 N.E.2d 384.) Defendant here contends that the suspect controlled substances which formed the basis of the July 1, 1987, indictment were destroyed by the police on April 21, 1987, and that prior to the destruction, only a portion thereof, 1.86 grams, had ever tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Thus, he urges that in presenting its evidence to the grand jury, the prosecution knowingly and willingly misrepresented that the chemical analysis conducted by the chemist determined the substances to be positive for cocaine in the amount of 16.87 grams. Moreover, the prosecution failed to inform the grand jury that the substances had been previously destroyed and were unavailable for use as evidence at trial.

Defendant asserts that he was prejudiced because the return of the indictment compelled him to defend against adverse evidence without ever having any opportunity for meaningful confrontation of the evidence by way of an independent inspection and chemical analysis. He further urges that the State’s failure to inform defense prior to trial that the substance had been destroyed denied him due process of law where he had filed a motion for discovery requesting a list of physical evidence that the State intended to use at trial. He continues that because the State suppressed evidence in the face of a defense request for production, he was deprived of an opportunity to defend his case on the basis of reasonable doubt as to possession of more than 10 grams and to seek plea negotiations with respect to a lesser offense. With respect to further error, defendant claims that defense counsel’s failure to seek dismissal of the indictment on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel.

We have reviewed the grand jury transcription and the record below and find that the presentation of the evidence to the grand jury did not deprive defendant of his rights of due process. Officer Wozniak testified before the grand jury on the charge against defendant for the offense of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver cocaine, more than 10 grams but less than 30 grams, a Class 1 felony.

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Bluebook (online)
581 N.E.2d 241, 220 Ill. App. 3d 488, 163 Ill. Dec. 290, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-young-illappct-1991.