The People v. Durkin

161 N.E. 739, 330 Ill. 394
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 1928
DocketNo. 18648. Judgment affirmed.
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 161 N.E. 739 (The People v. Durkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The People v. Durkin, 161 N.E. 739, 330 Ill. 394 (Ill. 1928).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Stone

delivered the opinion of the court;

Plaintiff in error was convicted in the criminal court of Cook county of the murder of Edwin C. Shanahan, a special agent of the United States Department of Justice. The jury fixed his punishment at thirty-five years in the penitentiary. He has sued out a writ of error from this court to reverse that judgment.

On Sunday evening, October 11, 1925, about six o’clock, plaintiff in error, Durkin, otherwise known as Marty West-ford, drove a Packard sedan car into the garage of Porter Bros., located at 6231 Princeton avenue, in Chicago. Shanahan approached him and attempted to arrest him for stealing the car then in his possession. He drew a revolver and shot Shanahan twice, one bullet entering his body near the heart, the other striking him in the right arm. Of these wounds Shanahan died an hour or two thereafter.

The evidence of the People tends to show the following: On the night of September 23, 1925, plaintiff in error broke open and entered the show-room of D. E. McDonald, in Pasadena, California, and removed therefrom a Packard automobile carrying model block No. 56181 and serial No. 65227. At that time he was accompanied by Elizabeth Andrews, known in this record as Betty Andrews. They drove to McDonald’s place in a Chrysler roadster. The place was dark at the time of the theft. From the room where the car was stolen plaintiff in error drove it to Hollywood, California, Betty Andrews following in the roadster. From Hollywood she drove the Packard to a garage in Santa Monica, while plaintiff in error drove the roadster. They then left in the Packard car for Chicago, taking with them a child of Betty Andrews, driving by wray of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they picked up Harlow George and his wife and baby, arriving in Chicago on the 7th or 8th of October. Attached to the Packard car was a California license plate. On arriving in Chicago, plaintiff in error, Betty Andrews and her son and George and his family went for the night to the home of Clarence Ward, whose wife is an aunt of Betty Andrews. The next day after their arrival George attempted to take from the home of Ward some of the clothing his wife had left there and some other articles of clothing which belonged to plaintiff in error, who was known to Ward as Marty Westford. Ward ordered George to leave his house. On Friday morning, October 9, Ward told plaintiff in error that he had stopped George from taking these articles and had put him out of the house, and that as he was leaving, George, who was angry, said: “I can get you all in trouble by turning West-ford in to the police; this car is a ‘hot’ car; the other stuff was stolen.” • Ward testified that plaintiff in error denied the car was stolen but said that he bought it in California; 'that it could be called a “hot” car because he owed $800 on it and had driven it out of the State, but he was going back and pay that amount before the next note was due. Ward testified that he told plaintiff in error that George said he was going to turn him in to the police. This car driven by plaintiff in error from California was kept in the alley back of Ward’s home. On October 9 George communicated with the United States Department of Justice, and the deceased, Shanahan, and special agent James Rooney, were assigned to arrest plaintiff in error. On Saturday, October 10, these men, with two Chicago police officers, Naughton and Rabbit, met George and received from him information that the Packard was a stolen car and that plaintiff in error kept a pistol in the pocket of the car. On Sunday afternoon, October 11, Shanahan, Rooney, the two police officers and George met near the garage of Porter Bros. About 5:15 o’clock plaintiff in error drove the Packard car into the Porter garage, followed by a Hudson car. Plaintiff in error was accompanied by Louis Jenkins, Andrew Cserep and Clarence Ward. Durkin and Ward rode in the Packard and Jenkins and Cserep in the Hudson. Jenkins had been called by Durkin that morning to do some repair work on the motor of the Packard car and had worked on it in the alley back of Ward’s residence until about five o’clock. They drove into the garage to fill the radiator with water. After so doing they all left the garage and went to a nearby restaurant for food. About six o’clock on that same evening Durkin, unaccompanied, again drove the Packard car into the Porter garage. This garage is located on the east side of Princeton avenue, a street extending north and south. The garage had two driveway-doors — one at the southwest corner and one at the northwest corner. The garage is located on the north side of and adjacent to an alley. Durkin drove out of the alley onto Princeton avenue, circled his car and drove in at the south door of the garage. He stopped the car facing east, about twenty-five feet east of the south entrance, opposite a gasoline pump. Porter, owner of the garage, and his assistant, Freeman Longtin, were standing just outside the garage, near the south doorway. Porter had been informed by the officers that they were looking for Durkin. When the latter drove into the garage Longtin started over toward the gasoline pump, and Porter told him not to go in. Shanahan was at that time standing across the street. The other officers and George had left, temporarily. Shanahan entered the north door of the garage alone and approached Durkin, who was leaning over the left front door of his car with his back to the north. Shanahan, with a gun in his right hand, touched Durkin, who wheeled around. Porter and Longtin saw Shanahan enter the garage and accost Durkin. They saw the two talking but could not hear what was said. They saw Durkin turn toward his car and back toward Shanahan, and two shots immediately followed. Shanahan immediately fell back out of the view of these witnesses. Durkin sprang into the car and was backing out of the garage when several more shots were fired from the place where Shanahan had fallen. Durkin drove north on Princeton avenue and disappeared. These witnesses testified that they saw Shanahan, before the shooting, throw back the left side of his coat with his left hand. The evidence also showed that Shanahan carried the badge of his office pinned in or on his lower left vest pocket.

Shanahan was found lying on the floor of the garage, just north of where the car was standing, with his head to the north. He had been shot with two 32-caliber bullets. One bullet was later found in his body, and the other, which had passed through his forearm, was found on the floor at the door leading into the office of the garage, having struck the jamb of the door about two inches from the floor. Shanahan’s gun contained four discharged shells and two loaded ones. Two empty shells from a 32-caliber automatic were also found on the floor of the garage. Shanahan’s gun was 38-caliber. One bullet fired by him grazed a pipe in the ceiling, directly above the place where the Packard stood, and passed through a skylight. The second bullet struck an overhead radiator pipe in the southwest corner of the garage and deflected into the south wall. The third bullet struck the left front door of the Packard seventeen inches above the bottom of the door and eight inches to the right of the hinges. It shattered the glass, which was lowered into the door, and dropped into the space inside the door without passing through the door.

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Bluebook (online)
161 N.E. 739, 330 Ill. 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-v-durkin-ill-1928.