People v. Borders

• Decision Date: 15 May 2020
• Docket Number: No. 2-18-0324,2-18-0324
• Citation: 168 N.E.3d 718,445 Ill.Dec. 843,2020 IL App (2d) 180324
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ali BORDERS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

2020 IL App (2d) 180324

168 N.E.3d 718

445 Ill.Dec. 843

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Ali BORDERS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-18-0324

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

Opinion filed May 15, 2020

James E. Chadd, Thomas A. Lilien, and Anthony J. Santella, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Elgin, for appellant.

Carl H. Larson, State's Attorney, of Freeport (Patrick Delfino, Edward R. Psenicka, and Katrina M. Kuhn, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE SCHOSTOK delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The defendant, Ali Borders, was convicted of two counts of resisting a peace officer's performance of authorized acts ( 720 ILCS 5/31-1(a) (West 2018)). He now appeals, arguing that (1) he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because the acts he resisted were not authorized and (2) he could not be convicted of resisting arrest because he did not know that he was being arrested until after the arrest occurred. We reverse.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 The following facts are drawn from the evidence at trial, which included the testimony of Freeport police officers Donald Heath and Andrew Laurent, the footage from Heath's bodycam, and Borders's testimony. Where precise times are stated, they are taken from the timestamps on the bodycam footage.

¶ 4 In the early morning of February 10, 2017, someone placed a 911 call but then hung up. At about 5:13 a.m., Heath was dispatched to 479 South Miami Street in Freeport, the location of the call. Heath and another officer arrived at the house about 5:17 a.m. and knocked on the front door.

¶ 5 Alicia Hall, Borders's sister, answered the door. Appearing calm, she said that she needed to get dressed and went back inside. The front porch door locked behind her. Heath commented to the other officer that Hall was "10-96," a term he defined at trial as "irrational" or "somebody with possibly some mental instability." About a minute later, Hall yelled that someone was going out the side window. The two officers began searching outside of the house, and Heath called for backup. Someone opened a side door and shut it again, but there was no sign of anyone leaving the house.

¶ 6 Heath could hear a baby crying, and another officer heard people arguing. Heath could not tell who was in the house and thought Hall could be hiding someone inside. Earlier that night, Heath had responded to a 911 call about an incident at the same house. That incident was resolved when Hall told Heath that she had had an argument with Borders, who lived with her, but everything was now fine. Heath testified that he had no reason to believe that Borders was involved in the current situation.

¶ 7 At 5:20 a.m., Heath knocked on the front door again. Other officers arrived, including Laurent; Heath told them that Hall "came to the door like nothing [was] going on" but then went back inside. Heath began walking back and forth near a corner of the house, keeping an eye on the side and front of the house. Hall came out another door, talking on a cell phone.

Over the radio, an officer reported that Hall said everything was fine, denied that anyone else was inside, and would not let the police enter the house. Heath responded, "Then why did she call?"

¶ 8 About 5:24 a.m., Hall appeared on Heath's bodycam, still talking on the phone. Heath tried to question her. Hall would not directly answer Heath's questions, but she told him that things were fine and that "the problem is removed." Heath told her that the police had to come in to check. Hall then yelled up to a second-floor window for Borders to come down and let her back into the house. She again stated that "the problem" was "removed." At 5:25 a.m., Borders came to the front door to let Hall inside. Laurent was standing nearby, talking with her. As she went inside, someone gave a phone to Laurent.

¶ 9 During Hall's interactions with police outside, the bodycam footage did not show any visible injuries, and Hall, while sounding somewhat upset, did not indicate that she was in fear or needed immediate assistance. At trial, there was no testimony that Hall appeared injured or that the police believed her safety was at risk.

¶ 10 Laurent, who was still near the front door, began talking with Borders. Laurent asked if they could come inside; Heath echoed this request. Borders, who was dressed only in shorts, said that he wanted to put on a shirt but would come back and talk with the officers. He went inside. Heath recounted events to Laurent, including his visit in response to the earlier 911 call. He told Laurent that it was not clear who was involved in the current dispute. He reported that, when he first arrived, everything had been calm until Hall yelled that someone was going out the window.

¶ 11 The cell phone Laurent was holding began to ring, and Laurent answered it. Laurent identified himself to the caller (Hall's mother), noted that Hall had called 911 and had just gone into the house, and asked if the caller knew why Hall called 911. About two minutes after Borders had left to put a shirt on, he returned to the door, and Laurent passed the phone to him.

¶ 12 Laurent then asked Borders whether he wanted to step onto the porch, saying, "I mean, I'm not saying I'm going to go inside or anything." Although he was barefoot, Borders complied, stepping onto the top step of the porch. Borders told Laurent that he had been asleep and did not know what was going on at the house.

¶ 13 About this time, the dispatcher advised Heath that Hall had called 911 again and asked for the police to leave. Hall was told that she had to go talk with the officers before they would leave but said she did not want to go outside.

¶ 14 At 5:29:33 a.m., Borders asked if he could go in to get shoes and socks. Within the next 10 seconds, the following occurred. Borders began turning to go in the door. Laurent said that he wanted Borders to stay outside, and he put his hand on Borders's arm to keep him from entering the house. Borders tried to pull away; someone said, "If she says she doesn't want [inaudible] inside"; and Laurent held Borders outside.¹ Heath called over, "She has to come to the door and talk to us." The door closed with Borders still outside.

¶ 15 Held by Laurent on the steps, Borders again asked to go in to get shoes and socks. A second later, Heath began moving quickly toward them, stating, "No, we're done playing games." As he was grabbed by Heath, Borders shouted, "sir" and "lock the door, man." Heath and Laurent forced Borders to the ground, yelling at him to put his hands behind his back. Borders, who was lying facedown, shouted that if he had a seizure, it would be their fault. Other officers were shouting as well, threatening to use a taser on Borders. Heath and Laurent testified that Borders struggled and did not comply with their commands to stop resisting and put his hands behind his back. Borders denied this, testifying that he did not struggle and that the officers were hampered in bending his arm to handcuff him because Heath was kneeling on his shoulder. It is undisputed that Heath had Borders in handcuffs within 45 seconds of beginning to move toward him.

¶ 16 As Heath escorted Borders to the police car, Borders asked again whether he could get some shoes. Heath told him no. Borders asked what he had done, and Heath replied, "Resisting, right now." Borders asked, "Resisting? I wasn't the one being arrested." Heath said that Borders was the one being arrested because he was "resisting our attempts to investigate this," adding that Hall "need[ed] to quit calling 911." Heath then complained again that Hall kept calling 911. Borders said that he did not know why Hall had called 911; he had been sleeping. He also denied Heath's accusation that he intentionally shut the door on Laurent. When another officer pointed out that Borders still did not have shoes on, Heath ordered the officer to "get [Borders] out of here." Borders was later taken to a hospital.

¶ 17 On February 14, 2017, Borders was charged via complaint with a single count of violating section 31-1(a) ( 720 ILCS 5/31-1(a) (West 2016)), "resisting/obstructing a peace officer," by refusing to put his hands behind his back and pulling his arms away. The State later filed an amended information, charging him with two counts of violating the same statute. Count I charged Borders with resisting his arrest by Heath when he "stiffened his arms to prevent arrest." Count II charged Borders with resisting Laurent's performance of an authorized act when he "refused to comply with commands, pulled away, and refused to be handcuffed."

¶ 18 On March 27, 2018, the case proceeded to a jury trial. Heath was the first witness, and while he was on the stand, the footage from his bodycam (from his arrival at the house through Borders's arrest) was played for the jury. In addition to the above events, Heath testified to the following. When Heath first arrived at the house, he did not intend to go inside the house, he just wanted to "make contact to find out why 911 was called." However, if there was "any indication of a disturbance," the police needed to "verify everybody [was] okay." The police did not leave when Hall asked them to because they knew by then that someone else was inside.

¶ 19 Borders was generally cooperative with police requests. However, Heath decided to arrest him when the door closed because Heath believed that Borders had deliberately attempted to obstruct the investigation by closing the door. Before arresting Borders, Heath had not ordered Borders to move out of the way, to open the door, or to let them inside. Nevertheless, Heath believed that Borders knew that they were trying to get inside. Heath testified that Borders did not have to let them in but that closing the door and preventing them from gaining entry constituted obstruction.

¶ 20 Heath also initially testified that, prior to grabbing Borders, he...