People v. Hogue, Gen. No. 71--33

• Decision Date: 04 November 1971
• Docket Number: Gen. No. 71--33
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary D. HOGUE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 193

275 N.E.2d 193

1 Ill.App.3d 881

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary D. HOGUE, Defendant-Appellant.

Gen. No. 71--33.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District.

Nov. 4, 1971.

Kenneth L. Gillis, Staff Atty., Illinois Defender Project, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant.

C. Glennon Rau, State's Atty., Monroe County, Waterloo, for plaintiff-appellee.

EBERSPACHER, Presiding Justice.

The Defendant Gary D. Hogue, on October 5, 1970, pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court of Monroe County to the charge of burglary. On October 23, 1970, following a hearing in aggravation and mitigation, he was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of from three to ten years imprisonment.

There is but one issue presented for review, that being whether the sentence imposed was excessive in relation to the severity of the crime and the possibility of rehabilitation.

Mrs. Rosella Mae Hosick testified that on September 1, 1970, she had left her home to go to her job as a schoolbus driver when she became suspicious of the defendant's automobile in the neighborhood because of the out-of-state plates. She was concerned with burglary because her home had been burglarized in the preceding year. She then waited a short time and returned to within seeing distance of her home and saw the automobile parked in her drive. She had left one door in her house unlocked because her brother-in-law was to return to the home before she completed her school route. It was through the unlocked door in the garage (the garage door was pulled almost closed) that the defendant entered the home. She notified the police and from the description supplied by Mrs. Hosick the police stopped the car. The defendant and the two others were arrested without resistance. After the defendants were stopped, Mrs. Hosick identified various items in the car as having been stolen from her home. The stolen property included, among other things, shotguns and a rifle.

On September 4, 1970, an information was filed charging each man with burglary. All three pleaded guilty. One of the defendants whose participation in the offense was limited to acting as lookout received a sentence of sixty days in jail and probation. The other defendant, along with the defendant Hogue, received a sentence of from three to ten years in the penitentiary.

At the hearing in aggravation and mitigation, the following was presented to the court:

Lieutenant Callis of the Columbia Police force testified as to the apprehension of the defendants which occurred without resistance by the defendants after their car had been stopped as they were leaving the area of the burglary.

The next testimony at the hearing came from the Chief Adult Probation Officer of the Circuit, a Mr. Elmer Lacquet. He interviewed the defendants in jail. He stated that the defendants were cooperative and sincere with him and that he believes that they did not lie to him. Also, that the crime contained no elements of violence either in the preparation or in the apprehension state. Mr. Lacquet recommended some incarceration for the defendant but refused to be specific as to the length which he might recommend. He also added that there was no animosity or violent tendencies found by him in the defendants.

Defendant Hogue, age 28, was married, now divorced, with one child, a daughter. The ex-wife and child at the time of the hearing were residing in Neelyville, Missouri. The defendant Hogue and the defendant who also received the more lengthy sentence had a previous conviction for disorderly conduct which resulted from the theft of stereos on which restitution was made.

The defendants then called as their first witness, a relative, who had known the defendant all of the defendant's life and testified that he believed that the defendant had a good reputation in the community. The court questioned the witness and elicited the fact that the defendant had not been in the witness' home for two or three years. The witness also indicated that he felt the defendant was a good husband but was unable to give a reason for the defendant's divorce. Following that testimony, the mother of the other two defendants testified that Hogue had at one time boarded with her family and that she...