People v. Mallett

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HERSHEY
• Citation: People v. Mallett, 195 N.E.2d 687, 30 Ill.2d 136 (Ill. 1964)
• Decision Date: 22 January 1964
• Docket Number: No. 36883,36883
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Stanley MALLETT, Plaintiff in Error.

Page 687

195 N.E.2d 687

30 Ill.2d 136

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Stanley MALLETT, Plaintiff in Error.

No. 36883.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 22, 1964.

Charles E. Hussey II, Chicago, for plaintiff in error.

William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Daniel P. Ward, State's Atty., Chicago (Fred G. Leach and E. Michael O'Brien, Asst. Attys. Gen., and Elmer C. Kissane and Richard T. Buck, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for defendant in error.

HERSHEY, Justice.

The defendant, Stanley Mallett, was indicted by the grand jury of the criminal court of Cook County for two separate crimes of burglary. With the defendant's consent the indictments were consolidated for trial before the court without a jury. The defendant was found guilty on each indictment and sentenced to the penitentiary for concurrent terms of not less than 5 nor more than 20 years. We have issued a writ of error to review the judgments of conviction.

The defendant was charged with the burglary of the apartment of Classie Mae Jones and with the burglary of a currency exchange. The defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to establish his guilt on either charge. Miss Jones testified that she was employed at a currency exchange. She locked up the currency exchange when she finished work on July 9, 1960, went home and left at about 9 o'clock to go to a club meeting. Before she left she put the keys to the currency exchange on a kitchen cabinet in her apartment. She returned home from the meeting at about 4 A.M. and stayed in her car in front of her apartment until it was daylight. She then entered her apartment and checked the back door to be sure it was locked. She went to bed and some time later was awakened by the defendant, who was holding her slip over her head. She jumped out of bed and ran out of the room and noticed the defendant's trousers and shoes in the hall outside her bedroom. She ran to her neighbor's apartment and by the time the neighbor had answered the door the defendant had dressed and walked into the neighbor's apartment with her. When she called the police the defendant left. About 5 minutes later the police arrived at the neighbor's apartment and Miss Jones reported these events to the police and told them that $11 in currency was missing from her purse and that her slip had been stolen. The police left in search of the defendant and about 15 or 20 minutes later returned to Miss Jones's apartment with him. Miss Jones identified him and he was taken to the police station. While Miss Jones and the defendant were at the station another officer came in and reported that the door to the currency exchange where Miss Jones worked was open and the officer asked Miss Jones it she had her keys. She replied that she had left them at home. When she returned to the apartment she found the keys on a record player in the living room instead of in the kitchen where she had left them.

A police officer testified that he searched the defendant and found $11 in currency and about $36 in change. He also searched the defendant's car and found $100 in dimes in packaged rolls, hidden under a raincoat and paper on the front seat. In the trunk of the car the officer found two money trays and a money bag. The officer also searched the apartment of one Patricia Burge, a friend of the defendant, and found $349 in coins in the apartment.

The owner of the currency exchange testified that about $666 had been taken from the exchange. He could not positively identify the money trays and bag which had been found in the defendant's car, but stated that they looked like the same type that he used. He did not know whether any bags or trays were missing from the exchange.

Patricia Burge testified that she was present when the police searched the defendant's car and confirmed that the officers found a bag under the raincoat in the front seat and another bag in the trunk. On cross-examination she testified that she was with the defendant when he was arrested and rode in the defendant's car with the defendant and an officer when they returned to Miss Jones's apartment. She noticed a raincoat on the front seat but did not see any wrappers or coins or hear any coins rattling. While the police were questioning the defendant at Miss Jones's apartment, she drove the car a few blocks down the street to her home. When she parked the car she put some of the defendant's shirts in the trunk but did not notice any money bags in the trunk at that time. She testified that she had given the police officers a statement about the money that was found in her apartment. The prosecutor furnished a copy of the statement to counsel for the defendant and there was no further testimony concerning the statement or the money found in Patricia Burge's apartment.

The defendant testified that on the evening of July 9, he worked at a filling station until about midnight and then went to Patricia Burge's apartment where he picked her up and took her to a drugstore where she worked. He returned to Patricia Burge's apartment with hamburgers for her children at about 12:30 and then went to a tavern where he stayed for about 2 hours. He then returned to Patricia Burge's apartment and went to sleep on the couch. He awakened at about 7:15 A.M. and left the apartment and drove to the drugstore. As he passed Miss Jones's apartment he noticed a man coming down the stairs and stopped his car and went upstairs to investigate. The door to the Jones apartment was ajar and when he knocked it opened. He went into Miss Jones's bedroom and told her that her door was open and she jumped out of bed and ran into a neighbor's apartment. The defendant left and went to the drugstore to pick up Patricia Burge and as they left the drugstore they were met by an officer. He told the officer that he had just talked to Miss Jones on the phone...