People v. Brogan
| Decision Date | 26 August 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-03-0829.,1-03-0829. |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of The State of Illinois, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Timothy BROGAN, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Larry Axelrood and Nancy Braun, Offices of Larry Axelrood, Chicago, for Defendant-Appellant.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney of Cook County, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, Judy L. DeAngelis, of counsel), for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Defendant Timothy Brogan was charged with multiple counts of concealing or aiding a fugitive, official misconduct, and obstruction of justice. Following a bench trial, the defendant was found guilty on all counts charged. His motion for a new trial was denied, and he was sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment. Defendant then filed a motion for bond pending appeal that the trial court denied, but we granted, on April 2, 2003. Defendant now appeals from his conviction and sentence, and for the reasons that follow, we reverse in part and affirm in part.
The facts of this case involve the highly publicized events surrounding two wedding receptions on August 5, 2000, at the William Tell Holiday Inn in Countryside, Illinois. Because we have previously recounted those facts in great detail in our previous opinion, People v. Schickel, 347 Ill.App.3d 889, 283 Ill.Dec. 354, 807 N.E.2d 1195 (2004), we will only provide those facts necessary for the disposition of the issues at hand.
As the record bears out, on the evening of August 5, 2000, the defendant was employed as a Cook County correctional officer and was off duty during the time that he attended one of the two weddings at the Holiday Inn. The record also demonstrates that after the two wedding receptions had concluded at approximately midnight, people from both parties went to the hotel bar. Apparently, the defendant and codefendant, Ronald Schickel1, along with 10 to 15 other people, lined the wall of the hotel that led from the lobby to the bar. When other wedding guests would walk past, the people lined up against the wall began making harassing comments to female guests and verbally challenging the male guests to fight.
At this time, one of the guests, Richard Lange, told the bartender to call security. Eventually, the hotel manager, William Pishotta, called the Countryside police to assist in closing down the hotel bar. After the Countryside police arrived, the defendant told them that he was a Cook County sheriff's deputy, he showed them his badge, and he told them that he was sorry and that he would take care of everything. Apparently, Mr. Pishotta then informed the police that hotel security could handle the situation. However, when hotel security arrived, defendant again flashed his badge and told the security officers that he was a Cook County sheriff. He then explained to one of the security guards, Mr. Rob Howe, Mr. Howe then left the hotel.
Later that night, the security guards were called upon to control another incident in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn. Upon arrival, they again encountered the defendant flashing his badge, declaring that he was a Cook County sheriff and that he would handle the situation in the parking lot. Schickel, apparently, was also with him and was also claiming to be a Cook County Sheriff. After the Countryside police returned to the hotel, defendant again showed his badge and identification card, identified himself as a Cook County sheriff, and stated that he had the information of the drivers of the vehicles involved in the incident.
At that time, or soon thereafter, fights began breaking out in the area outside the bar and near the lobby, resulting in complete chaos. Objects in the lobby were smashed, furniture was upended, and people were crying. One of the wedding guests, Mr. Rademacher, had been punched in the face and shoved to the ground, and was being choked by another individual. After another wedding guest intervened, Mr. Rademacher was released from the chokehold, but was hit immediately from behind by the defendant, who slammed him against a window and held him there for approximately 15 seconds. After Mr. Rademacher's wife slapped the defendant and yelled at him while he was holding her husband, the defendant said "I'm a cop, my name is Tim, I'm a cop." At that point the defendant released Mr. Rademacher from the window and forcibly took him to a bench in the hallway. After Mrs. Rademacher asked the defendant whether he was going to arrest her husband, defendant said "no, but if he gets off the bench, I'll kill him."
At approximately the same time, the victim entered the hotel and noticed that the men lining the wall were still harassing some women. As the victim tried to get the women away from the men, the defendant allegedly told the victim to "back off mother f_____." The record demonstrates some evidence that, at that point, the defendant and Schickel pushed and punched the victim in the face. After Schickel hit the victim, the victim tried to flee into the lobby, but was grabbed by the men in the hallway, who pulled him into the vestibule by the neck, got on top of him, and kicked and beat him.
At that point, Mr. Howe, accompanied by another security guard, Mr. Aguirre, had been called back to the hotel and had witnessed the defendant pushing the victim. Consequently, according to their testimony, they tried to get people off of the victim, who was at the bottom of a pile. While they were able to get him to stand, the defendant still had him in a headlock, and both tumbled into the vestibule area. When the Countryside police again arrived, the defendant identified himself for the third time as a Cook County sheriff, flashed his badge, and told the police that the victim should be arrested because he was "fighting with everybody." After the defendant released the victim, Schickel, who was also in the vestibule area, sprang into the defendant's position and put the victim in a headlock. At that point, Schickel was in the vestibule, on top of the victim, choking him by the neck as he lay face-down on the ground. Officer Battaglia from the Countryside police said the choker, whom he could not identify, had the victim in a "carotid artery chokehold" that was dangerous and deadly, if applied improperly.
Accepting what the defendant had told them, after defendant had announced himself as a Cook County sheriff and once again flashed his badge, the Countryside police attempted to arrest and handcuff the victim. While Schickel still had the victim in a chokehold, the Countryside police told the victim that he was under arrest and tried to handcuff him while he resisted. During that time, Officer Battaglia told the choker to release the chokehold, but the choker did not comply. The record also reflects that the defendant remained in the vestibule during that time. Once again, Officer Battaglia told the choker to release the victim and then felt the victim fall limp onto his own right arm. The choker stated "he's out cold," but he still appeared to be breathing to Officer Battaglia.
According to Mr. Pishotta, the defendant lifted Schickel up at that time, but could not be certain if he lifted him off of the victim or the ground. After Schickel was upright, Mr. Pishotta heard the defendant say to Schickel that they should "get out of here." At that point, they both went outside the hotel. When Schickel was outside the hotel with the defendant, wearing a shirt that had blood on the left side, he said that he "felt a snap." Although Mr. Pishotta ran outside soon thereafter in the attempt to find Schickel, Schickel was nowhere to be found. However, he did find the defendant standing in the driveway and asked where the other gentleman was. In reply, defendant stated that he "took off." Mr. Pishotta then asked the defendant if he knew who the other gentleman was, and the defendant apparently replied, "yeah, but I'd rather not tell you that." Defendant then said to Pishotta, "try not to point this guy out because I don't want him to get into trouble" because Schickel had just gotten a job and his wife just had a baby or "something to that effect." When Mr. Pishotta asked the name of the man who was choking the victim, the defendant said that he could not tell him. The defendant then turned around and apologized to Pishotta, saying that he should not have asked Pishotta to do that.
Later that evening, the defendant told his ex-fiancée and another female wedding guest to find "Ronnie" and get him out of the hotel because "everybody was leaving." Defendant also told Jow Ivanauskas, an usher at one of the weddings, that they had to "get Ronny out of here." When the two women found Schickel, he asked why he had to leave because "he wasn't there, that he didn't know what happened." One of the women then told Schickel that the defendant told her to get him out of the hotel "if she had to drag Ronny kicking and screaming." Schickel then left the hotel using rapid check-out approximately half an hour later.
A few days later, the defendant was in a car with Sheila Roberts and Kevin Tomkins and told them that he had done nothing wrong and that "he wasn't going to get in trouble for this." Ms. Roberts told the grand jury that the defendant also had said that he would "tell on" Schickel if anyone tried to blame him. A few days after that incident, according to the grand jury testimony of Dan O'Rourke, Schickel told Mr. O'Rourke that he burned the suit he was wearing the night of the wedding and bought another suit exactly like that one.
During the investigation of the defendant, Sergeant Carolyn Black from the Illinois State Police, interviewed the defendant on January 29, 2001. Sergeant Black testified that the defendant stated that after the wedding ended, he and Schickel's brother went to the hotel...
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