People v. Lewis

• Decision Date: 10 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 4-04-0547.,4-04-0547.
• Citation: 838 N.E.2d 996
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ronel Alexis LEWIS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

838 N.E.2d 996

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ronel Alexis LEWIS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-04-0547.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

November 10, 2005.

Daniel D. Yuhas (Court-appointed), Matthew J. Maurer, of counsel, Michael Delcomyn, Assistant Defender, Office of State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for Ronel Alexis Lewis.

William A. Yoder, McLean County State's Attorney, Bloomington, Norbert J. Goetten, Director, Robert J. Biderman, Deputy Director, Aimee Sipes Johnson, Staff Attorney, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Springfield, for the People.

Justice STEIGMANN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a January 2004 bench trial, the trial court convicted defendant, Ronel Alexis Lewis, of criminal drug conspiracy (count I) (720 ILCS 570/405.1 (West 2002)) and delivery of a controlled substance (count II) (720 ILCS 570/401(d) (West 2002)). The court later sentenced him to seven years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently.

Defendant appeals, arguing that (1) the State failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; and (2) the trial court erred by (a) admitting evidence of a witness's out-of-court statement of identification, (b) entering judgment against him and sentencing him on both counts, and (c) imposing an excessive sentence. Because we agree that the court erred by entering judgment against defendant on both counts, we vacate his criminal-drug-conspiracy conviction, remand with directions to modify the sentencing order, and otherwise affirm the court's judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

The State's two key witnesses at defendant's January 2004 bench trial were Lori Clem and Bloomington police detective John Heinlen.

Clem testified that in June 2003, she lived in Bloomington with Stanley Scott, a heroin user. Her 25-year-old daughter also stayed there occasionally. On the evening of June 3, 2003, Clem received a call from a man named Charlie, who was a former neighbor and acquaintance. Charlie asked Clem if she could get him some crack cocaine. Clem told Charlie she would not get crack cocaine for him, but he kept calling. At some point, after Scott told her to find out how much crack cocaine Charlie wanted, Clem finally agreed to get some for him. Clem then contacted the people who lived across the alley behind Clem's house about Charlie's request: Marcella Miramontes, a friend of Clem's daughter; Miramontes' boyfriend; and defendant, whom Clem knew by his nickname, Rail. Clem explained that she decided to contact them because Miramontes knew that Scott was a heroin addict, and she had told Clem that if she ever needed "anything," to call her. Although Clem never purchased any drugs from Miramontes, Miramontes had told Clem that Miramontes "just got a bunch of stuff and she doesn't know anybody, and if I could help her out, she would help me out."

Clem also stated that for about three or four weeks prior to the incident, she had often seen defendant in the alley next to their residences, working on his car. She would wave and say "hello" to him but never really spoke to him beyond that. Clem knew defendant's phone number because she would occasionally give rides to Miramontes, who had given Clem the number.

Clem spoke with defendant about Charlie's request, explaining that Charlie and a friend wanted to get $100 worth of crack cocaine. Defendant told her to call him when Charlie and his friend arrived. A short time later, Charlie and another man pulled up in Clem's driveway. Clem called defendant, and he told her to get the money from Charlie and bring it to him. Clem then got $100 in cash from Charlie and walked toward defendant's house. She saw defendant standing near the back of her house, and he motioned for her to walk to her back porch. She followed his directions and met him on her back porch, where she gave him $80 in cash and kept $20. Defendant removed a cellophane package (which was later identified as containing 0.5 grams of a substance containing cocaine) from his mouth and handed it to her. He then walked back to his residence, and Clem walked back to the car. When she handed the package to Charlie, she recognized the driver as a local detective. She asked him if he was a police officer, but he said, "no," and he and Charlie drove off.

Clem acknowledged that she had two prior convictions: obstructing justice in 1993 and felony retail theft in 1994. She also had five felony cases that were then pending. She had pleaded guilty to at least one count in each of those pending cases and was awaiting sentencing, which was scheduled to be held the following week. Clem explained that her attorney told her that agreeing to cooperate with the police and the State's Attorney's office and testify at defendant's trial "might help with [her] cases." However, no one had made any specific promises as to what would happen as a result of her cooperation. Her attorney told her "to just go tell the truth and testify and that it would help on [her] case." She was hoping that her testimony would help, but she was "here to tell the truth."

Clem also acknowledged that two months earlier, she had pleaded guilty to her role in the June 3, 2003, controlled-substance delivery. When she pleaded guilty, she had not yet spoken to the prosecutor about testifying against defendant.

On cross-examination, Clem was confronted with a police report that indicated she was not given the money until she came back to the car with the cocaine and handed it to Charlie. Clem maintained that the police report was not correct and the sequence of events occurred as she had testified.

Heinlen testified that in June 2003, he was working undercover in the vice and narcotics unit. He was working with Charlie, who was a confidential informant, in an effort to buy crack cocaine from Clem and identify her supplier.

After Charlie and Heinlen phoned Clem, Heinlen drove to her residence with Charlie as a passenger. Heinlen gave Charlie $100 in cash to purchase crack cocaine from Clem. Clem approached the car, and as they spoke with her, a man (later identified as defendant) appeared from the alley behind her house. Heinlen estimated he first saw defendant from about 30 yards as he walked toward the car from the alley. Defendant got as close as 10 to 15 yards from the car. It was still daylight, and Heinlen had no difficulty seeing defendant clearly. After Clem got the money from Charlie and walked away from the car, Heinlen saw defendant meet with her, and then they walked behind Clem's residence, out of Heinlen's sight. (Heinlen testified that Clem was correct that she was given money prior to the meeting with defendant and he made a mistake in writing his report otherwise.)

A short time later, Heinlen saw Clem walking back toward the car and defendant walking back toward the alley. When Clem came back to the car, she spoke to Heinlen and asked if he was a police officer and wearing a wire. Heinlen lifted up his shirt to show her that he was not wearing a wire, and she handed him the cocaine.

On June 4, 2003, Bloomington detectives arrested Clem and brought her to the police department. Heinlen spoke to her there, and she admitted that she had delivered cocaine to him the previous day. Clem then identified defendant by his nickname, Rail, as being the person that Heinlen had seen her meet during the transaction. After learning that nickname, Heinlen obtained a photograph of defendant and showed it to Clem. When the prosecutor asked Heinlen how Clem reacted upon seeing it, defendant objected on the ground that her response would be hearsay. The prosecutor responded that this testimony was an admissible prior identification, and the trial court permitted it, upon determining that it was admissible under section 115-12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/115-12 (West 2002)). Heinlen then testified that Clem stated that the person in the photograph was "Rail," who sold her the crack cocaine on June 3, 2003. Heinlen also stated that when he looked at the photograph, he immediately recognized defendant.

Defendant presented alibi testimony from his mother, father, brother, and cousin, all of whom lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They testified that defendant arrived in Milwaukee to visit them on the afternoon of June 2, 2003, and did not leave until June 12, 2003. At least one of defendant's family members saw him each day during this visit.

After defendant rested his case, the State asked the trial court to take judicial notice of its own file in a McLean County case, which involved several traffic tickets issued to "Ronel A. Lewis" on June 8, 2003. The court did so, even though the officer who had issued the traffic tickets could not then identify the person to whom he issued the tickets.

The State also recalled Heinlen, who testified that during the early evening of June 4, 2003, he saw defendant in Bloomington. Heinlen paid particular attention to defendant on June 4 so as to be able to identify him.

After considering the evidence and the parties' closing arguments, the trial court found defendant guilty of both counts. The court explained its reasoning, in pertinent part, as follows:

"Now certainly [Clem], because of her other problems with the law, standing alone, would have credibility problems, and the [c]ourt carefully considered the corroboration presented by the State as to [her] testimony * * *. And that primarily comes from Officer Heinlen [,whose] * * * observations are very corroborative of all of [Clem's] testimony and, in fact, [in] a rather unusual twist that one does not usually see, [Clem] was very adamant about a certain point which disagreed with the officer's report and said that her memory was correct and the report must be mistaken, and the officer in fact admitted that he made a mistake in that portion of his report.

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[In response to defendant's alibi,] [t]he State, in rebuttal, has presented a traffic case,...