People ex rel. Madigan v. Baumgartner

• Decision Date: 16 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. 4-04-0334.,4-04-0334.
• Citation: 355 Ill. App.3d 842,823 N.E.2d 1144,291 Ill.Dec. 558
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois ex rel. Lisa MADIGAN, Attorney General State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Wade BAUMGARTNER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

823 N.E.2d 1144

355 Ill. App.3d 842

291 Ill.Dec. 558

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois ex rel. Lisa MADIGAN, Attorney General State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Wade BAUMGARTNER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-04-0334.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Argued January 11, 2005.

Decided February 16, 2005.

E.C. Eberspacher (argued), Dove & Dove, Shelbyville, for William Wade Baumgartner.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Gary S. Feinerman, Solicitor General, Linda D. Woloshin, Domenica A. Osterberger, Jonathan J. Silbermann (argued), Assistant Attorneys General, Chicago, for the People.

Presiding Justice COOK delivered the opinion of the court:

In February 2004, a jury convicted defendant, William Wade Baumgartner, of one count of felony perjury for filing a statement of candidacy in which he allegedly falsely stated under oath that his address was in Moultrie County, Illinois (10 ILCS 5/29-10 (West 2002)). In March 2004, the trial court sentenced defendant to 12 months' conditional discharge and ordered him to pay a $500 fine and perform 75 hours' public service. Defendant appeals, arguing, inter alia, that the indictment charging him with perjury is void. We reverse.

Defendant was born in 1974 and was raised exclusively in Moultrie County, Illinois. In 1992, defendant graduated from high school in Moultrie County and enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) in the College of Agriculture. While at U of I, defendant returned to his home in Moultrie County regularly to work on the family farm with his father. Throughout his undergraduate years at U of I, defendant lived both on and off campus in Champaign-Urbana but continued to hold a Moultrie County driver's license and a Moultrie County voter's registration.

Defendant received his bachelor of science degree in animal science from U of I in 1996 and immediately began to study for a master's degree, also at U of I. Although he continued to live in Champaign-Urbana, he continued to hold his Moultrie County driver's license and voter's registration.

In 1997, defendant married his wife Jenny, and they moved into an apartment in Mahomet together. When Jenny changed her name to Baumgartner, she changed her legal address, including her driver's license and voter's registration, to Champaign County. Defendant however, maintained his driver's license and voter's registration in Moultrie County. The couple later moved to a townhouse in Champaign, with Jenny once again changing her legal residence to that address and defendant keeping his address in Moultrie County. Defendant continued to spend a great deal of time in Moultrie County helping his father on the family farm.

In January 1999, defendant received his master of science degree from U of I. He immediately began work on a doctoral degree in animal genetics and later enrolled in the College of Law as well. Jenny had also begun studying for a master's degree with the intention to seek a doctorate as well. To save money on rent while they completed their studies, in June 1999 they purchased a house in Champaign. Defendant testified that they were not represented by an attorney and did not read all of the paperwork fully but the mortgage contained a clause requiring the borrower to use the real estate as a principal residence for one year after the purchase. The Champaign house also received a real-property-tax homestead exemption.

In August 1999, defendant and his cousin purchased an 86.7-acre Moultrie County farm from their grandmother Baumgartner, which had been used for the family farm. In October 2000, defendant acquired his grandfather's home in Sullivan in Moultrie County from his mother and grandmother. One of the preconditions of the conveyance was a requirement that defendant's school address be listed and not his father's address in Moultrie County because of a conflict between the mother and father, who were divorced. Also around this time, defendant and Jenny purchased two used automobiles, both of which were registered at the Champaign address.

Despite living in Champaign while he attended school, defendant returned to his home in Moultrie County frequently. He averaged two or three days a week spent at the house in Moultrie County, and as his academic schedule became more flexible, he would often spend three or four days in a row in Moultrie County. During these times at home, he would stay in his room at his father's house. Defendant returned to Moultrie County to vote in each general election from 1994 through 2002 and several others. He received a General Assembly Scholarship for the 2001-02 school year at U of I, which required that he be a resident of the district including Moultrie County but not Champaign County.

In the summer of 2001, defendant's father asked defendant to run for election to the county board of Moultrie County. Defendant's father made several inquiries with a number of lawyers about defendant's eligibility to run for office even though he was a full-time student in Champaign. After receiving several informal opinions that defendant was eligible to run for office, defendant filed a statement of candidacy in the form provided by the statute (10 ILCS 5/7-10 (West 2002)), which provided in pertinent part:

"I, W. Wade Baumgartner, being first duly sworn, say that I reside at R.R. # 1 Box 133 Street, in the ___ of Windsor Zip Code 61957 in the County of Moultrie State of Illinois; that I am a qualified voter therein and am a qualified [p]rimary voter of the Republican Party; that I am a candidate for nomination to the office of County board in the ___ District, to be voted upon at the primary election to be held on March 19, 2002, and that I am legally qualified (including being the holder of any license that may be an eligibility requirement for the office I seek the nomination for) to hold such office and that I have filed (or I will file before the close of the petition filing period) a Statement of Economic Interests as required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act and I hereby request that my name be printed upon the official Republican Primary ballot for nomination for such office. /s W. Wade Baumgartner."

At the top of the form were boxes for "name," "address-zip code," "office," "district," and "party." In those boxes, defendant put substantially the same information as he did in the form of the statement, including the address at R.R. # 1 in Windsor. Although Windsor is in Shelby County, the location of defendant's family farm at R.R. # 1 is in rural Moultrie County. Defendant then campaigned for and was successfully elected to the County board for Moultrie County. No one challenged his qualifications or election either before or after his election. He was seated and held office until this prosecution was filed in August 2003.

On August 27, 2003, the office of the Illinois Attorney General filed an information against defendant, charging him with perjury pursuant to section 29-10 of the Election Code (10 ILCS 5/29-10 (West 2002)). On October 15, 2003, a bill of indictment was filed against defendant for the same charge, which provided in pertinent part:

"that W. Wade Baumgartner, on or about December 15, 2001, at and within said County of Moultrie, State of Illinois, committed the offense of PERJURY in that the said [d]efendant made a false statement in an affidavit required by the Illinois Election Code [(10 ILCS 5/7-10 (West 2002))] to-wit: a Statement of Candidacy: stating that his address was R.R. # 1, Box 133, Windsor, Illinois, material to the issue in question which he did not believe to be true, in violation of Act 5, Section 29-10, Chapter 10 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes."

Defendant made several objections to both the form and substance of the indictment, all of which were denied by the trial court. The court also rejected each of four nonpattern jury instructions submitted by defendant that attempted to explain the law of residency. The court held that "residence" was a common and clearly understood concept requiring no further explanation. Upon the preceding evidence, the jury convicted defendant of one count of perjury. The trial court sentenced him as stated. This appeal follows.

Defendant is charged with violating section 29-10(a) of the Election Code (10 ILCS 5/29-10(a) (West 2002)), which provides in pertinent part as follows:

"Any person who makes a false statement, material to the issue or point in question, which he does not believe to be true, in any affidavit, certificate[,] or sworn oral declaration required by any provision of the [Election] Code shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony."

A person seeking the office of county board member must be a legal voter and have been a resident of the county for at least one year preceding the election. 55 ILCS 5/2-3015 (West 2002). The indictment charges that defendant made a false statement in a required affidavit by stating that his address was R.R. # 1 Box 133, Windsor, in Moultrie County, Illinois. The State's position is that defendant was at the relevant time a resident of Champaign County and not Moultrie County. Defendant argues that the indictment against him is unconstitutionally vague because the terms "residence" and "address" are not sufficiently defined in the statute. Because the statute is fairly clear that "address" refers to the address of a candidate's "residence," we will treat the indictment as charging defendant with falsely representing his residence and only examine the term "residence" as it is used in the statute.

Although defendant makes the argument that the right to run for office is guaranteed by the first amendment and the statute is therefore invalid on its face, the case he cites in support is inapposite on this issue, so we will examine the constitutionality of the statute only as applied in this case. "To prevail in a vagueness challenge to a statute that does not implicate first amendment concerns, a...