People v. Long

• Decision Date: 31 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 1-87-1570,1-87-1570
• Citation: 208 Ill.App.3d 627,153 Ill.Dec. 556,567 N.E.2d 514
• Parties: , 153 Ill.Dec. 556 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael LONG, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 514

567 N.E.2d 514

208 Ill.App.3d 627, 153 Ill.Dec. 556

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael LONG, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-87-1570.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Fourth Division.

Dec. 31, 1990.

Randolph N. Stone, Public Defender (Karen E. Tietz, Asst. Public Defender, of counsel), Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Cecil A. Partee, State's Atty. of Cook County (Renee Goldfarb, Randall Roberts and Walter Hehner, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

Presiding Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of two counts of armed robbery (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 18-2(a)) and sentenced to natural life imprisonment as a habitual offender. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 33B-1.) On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash his warrantless arrest and suppress his subsequent inculpatory statement as the fruit of an illegal arrest, and (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel at the hearing on his motion to quash, and at his trial. We conclude that the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to quash and that he was adequately represented by counsel. Accordingly, we affirm.

Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress his statement to the police. In this motion, defendant argued that the police officers had unlawfully entered his residence without a warrant, and that neither consent nor exigent circumstances justified their warrantless entry into his home to arrest him.

At the hearing on his motion to quash arrest and suppress statements, defendant testified that on the date of his arrest, he lived in the first-floor apartment of a two-flat house in Chicago. His girlfriend, Christina White, had been living with him for approximately two months and rented the apartment. Defendant's mother and sister lived in the second-floor apartment.

Defendant further testified that shortly before 9 p.m., he was watching television in the living room at the rear of the apartment. His girlfriend, Christina, had just left the apartment to go to the store on the corner. Defendant's sister, Charmaine, came down the rear stairs to talk to Christina. Defendant told Charmaine that Christina had just gone to the store but would return shortly. He let Charmaine out the back door, locked it, and then returned to the couch to watch television. At that time, he saw a shadow on the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Defendant recalled that it was exactly 9 p.m., because he looked at a clock in the living room. As he started to look around the corner, at least five or six men ran up to him, pointed guns at his face, said "police officers," and then handcuffed him. The officers searched the entire apartment including cabinets and drawers. When he asked if they had an arrest or search warrant, they said they did not need either one. Defendant testified that Charmaine, who was on her way back upstairs, immediately returned and began knocking on the back door to be let in. Before he was taken from the apartment by the officers, Christina returned and brought him his coat from the closet. Defendant testified that neither he nor anyone else consented to the police entry into the apartment or gave them permission to search it.

Following defendant's testimony, defense counsel stated that the defense rested on the motion. The State then presented the testimony of two police officers. Officer Peter Ciaccio of the Oak Lawn Police Department testified that he and his partner, along with several officers of the Chicago Police Department, went to defendant's home to arrest him for the armed robbery of a White Hen Pantry store in Oak Lawn that had occurred a few days earlier. Officer Ciaccio stated that he did not attempt to obtain a warrant for defendant's arrest, a process that would have taken six to eight hours. It is undisputed that the officers had probable cause to arrest the defendant, as two individuals had given incriminating statements to police that implicated defendant in the White Hen Pantry robbery.

Officer Ciaccio testified that he and the other officers arrived at defendant's residence at approximately 9 p.m. Officer Ciaccio and three or four Chicago police officers went to the front of the house. Detective Robert Gricus of the Chicago Police Department knocked on the door. A young woman approximately 20 to 25 years old, who at some point later stated that she lived there with defendant, opened the door. At this time, Officer Ciaccio was standing, with his gun drawn, approximately five to six feet from the door. He was behind Officer Gricus, who did not have his gun drawn, and a uniformed Chicago police officer. Officer Ciaccio did not know if any other officers had their weapons drawn.

When the young woman opened the door, Officer Gricus showed her his police star, identified himself both by name and as a Chicago police officer, and told her that they were looking for Michael Long. She said "come in officers" or "step in officers." When they entered the apartment, they saw defendant seated on a couch, watching television. Officer Gricus asked him if he was Michael Long. When defendant responded in the affirmative, Officer Gricus told him he was under arrest for armed robbery. Defendant was then patted down and handcuffed. Officer Ciaccio testified that he did not prepare a case report following defendant's arrest, and did not know whether his partner had done so.

Chicago Police Officer Gricus testified that at about 9 p.m. on December 23, 1985, he accompanied officers of the Chicago and Oak Lawn Police Departments to defendant's residence in order to arrest him for the armed robbery of the White Hen Pantry store. When they arrived at the home, Officer Gricus knocked on the front door, and a young female whose name he could not recall opened the door. Officer Gricus identified himself, showed her his police badge, and asked if defendant was home. She said "step in." He immediately saw defendant and, after identifying himself, asked if he was Michael Long. When defendant responded that he was, Officer Gricus told him that he was under arrest for armed robbery. Officer Gricus did not have his gun drawn and did not notice whether any of the other officers had drawn their weapons. His partner prepared the arrest report and he did not know if it or any report indicated that they had gained entry into the apartment with the consent of the female who resided there.

Following the testimony of the police officers, defense counsel moved for a continuance for the purpose of locating defendant's girlfriend, Christina. The trial court granted defendant's motion. When the hearing reconvened, the defense called defendant's sister, Charmaine, as a witness. Charmaine testified that on the day of defendant's arrest, she lived with her mother in the second-floor apartment and defendant was living in the first-floor apartment with Christina. Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., Charmaine went downstairs to talk to Christina. Defendant told her that Christina had just gone to the store, and Charmaine left through the back door and returned to the upstairs apartment. She did not see Christina in the upstairs apartment when she returned or while she remained in the apartment.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Charmaine went back down the stairs to the first floor apartment and began knocking and then pounding on the back door. After approximately five minutes, someone opened the door. Charmaine saw defendant and about six or eight police officers, some of whom had their guns drawn. Charmaine did not see Christina anywhere in the apartment. Charmaine noticed that the apartment was ransacked, and that it had not been in that condition when she had left 20 minutes earlier. She asked the detectives whether they had a search warrant and they responded that they did. Approximately one-half hour later, Christina came down the back stairs with Lois Long, the mother of defendant and Charmaine. Charmaine testified that she surmised Christina had returned from the store after Charmaine had gone back downstairs and found that defendant had been arrested.

Lois Long, the mother of defendant and Charmaine, testified that at approximately 9 p.m., Christina came through the front door of her apartment and said that the police had defendant, that they were arresting him and that her "house was full of cops." Mrs. Long went downstairs by way of the rear stairway. When she reached the doorway, she saw defendant with six to eight police officers. She did not see the condition of the apartment because she remained outside at the bottom of the stairway.

Following this testimony, the defense rested. After arguments by counsel, the trial court stated that it found credible police testimony to the effect that they entered the apartment with the voluntary consent of the young woman who rented it. On this basis, the court denied defendant's motion to quash the arrest and suppress his statement.

Defendant was prosecuted for the armed robbery of the manager and attendant of a Union 76 Gas Station in Evergreen Park, Illinois, that occurred at approximately 3:45 p.m. on December 19, 1985. Dwayne Edwards, the manager of the gas station, testified that on the date of the incident, he was confronted by two men as Edwards was about to enter the gas station. One man was wearing an army jacket and had a nylon stocking over his face. The second person wore a blue hooded jacket and had a ski mask over his face. Both individuals were white males approximately 5'7"' tall and weighing about 130 to 135 pounds. Edwards stated that the man wearing the Army jacket and nylon stocking withdrew from his jacket and displayed to him the butt end of a pistol. The man wearing the hooded jacket and ski mask asked Edwards for the keys to the safe in the gas...