People v. Martin
| Decision Date | 11 May 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-03-3224.,No. 1-03-3225.,1-03-3224.,1-03-3225. |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hershey MARTIN and Reginald Cross, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Elena B. Penick, Assistant Appellate Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for Appellants.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney of Cook County, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, James D. Ridgway, of counsel), for Appellee.
Following a bench trial, defendant Reginald Cross (Cross) was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Defendant Hershey Martin (Martin) was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of cannabis with intent to deliver. Both defendants were sentenced to concurrent prison terms of five years. Defendants contend on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt because the testimony of the State's sole witness was inherently unbelievable. Defendant Cross also argues he is entitled to sentencing credit for time he spent participating in the Cook County Day Reporting Program. We affirm.
At trial, Chicago police officer Michael Campbell testified that around 1:41 p.m. on October 5, 2001, he was part of a tactical team of approximately 20 officers executing a search warrant at 6929 South Justine, a single-family home. Officer Campbell knocked on the basement door and announced his office. Using a battering ram, a pry bar and bolt cutters, Campbell gained entry into the basement. Campbell discovered in the basement a scale, a clear plastic knotted bag containing suspected crack cocaine and numerous "ziplock" and sandwich plastic bags. Nobody was present in the basement. Campbell testified he kept the scale, plastic bags and suspected crack cocaine in his custody and control, meaning that he put them in a blue plastic inventory bag, until he inventoried them. Campbell inventoried the suspected crack cocaine under number 2597014 and the scale and bags under number 2597015.
After he recovered the items from the basement, Campbell went to the first floor of the home with approximately five other officers, where he saw two or three women and one or two small children toward the front of the house. Campbell discovered defendant Cross in a rear bedroom, lying on the only bed in the room. Cross was alone. Campbell asked Cross to stand up and conducted a pat-down search.
Defendant Martin was discovered in another bedroom to the left of the kitchen containing two beds. Martin was lying on the only bed that had sheets. Campbell asked Martin to stand up and conducted a pat-down search.
Campbell asked both defendants to go into the living room. After a second pat-down search was conducted, defendants were placed in a police van outside. The women in the house were also searched and taken outside. A canine search of the house, including the two bedrooms, was then conducted. Neither of the bedrooms had locks on the door.
Campbell recovered $3,647, "numerous amounts of cannabis," and a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun from a clothes basket in the rear bedroom where defendant Cross was discovered. Campbell testified he kept the suspected cannabis, which consisted of 63 or 64 bags, in his custody and control until he inventoried them under number 2597018. Campbell also discovered Cross's state identification card listing 6929 South Justine as his address, and men's shoes, jeans and clothing in that bedroom.
From the bed that Martin was sleeping on, Campbell recovered either $647 or $673 as well as nine "ziplock" and four knotted bags containing suspected cannabis. The suspected cannabis was inventoried under number 2597016 and the money was inventoried under number 2597017. Campbell also recovered from that bedroom two items, including a canine rabies certificate, listing Martin's address as 6929 South Justine, as well as men's clothing and shoes.
After the above evidence was recovered, Campbell took defendants into custody and read them their Miranda rights. Campbell testified that at the station, in the presence of Sergeant Leibas, defendant Cross "stated that the weapon was his and that he had it for protection and that the narcotics that we found in the house were both his and [Martin's] * * * and that they were just trying to make some money." Campbell also testified that defendant Martin, also in the presence of Leibas, separately told him "that the narcotics were his and Cross's and that they were also selling it just to make a little money."
The State entered into evidence a certified copy of Cross's prior felony conviction. The parties also stipulated to a forensic chemist's testimony indicating that the items under inventory number 2597014 weighed 4.4 grams and tested positive for cocaine, that the item under inventory number 2597018 consisted of 59 bags, 1 of which tested positive for 0.6 of a gram of cannabis, and that the items under inventory number 2597016 consisted of 13 bags, 4 of which weighed 38.7 grams and tested positive for cannabis.
Defense counsel, contending that the State failed to show constructive possession of the narcotics, moved for a directed finding. Counsel argued defendants' alleged statements were unwritten, and therefore unsigned, and did not identify the narcotics. Further, counsel argued that Campbell's testimony indicating that defendants slept through the police prying open the basement door, that Campbell recovered all of the evidence even though there were 20 officers present, that Campbell was able to conduct pat-down searches of defendants while he held the blue plastic evidence bag, and that both defendants happened to be alone in separate bedrooms where the evidence was recovered "just strain[ed] any type of credibility or credulity." The trial court denied defendants' motion.
Defendants presented testimony from Cross's mother, Carrie Cross (Carrie), Cross's sister, Cheryl Cross (Cheryl), and Cross's girlfriend, Cassandra Drayton (Cassandra). Both defendants also testified. This testimony established that several adults, including Carrie, Cheryl, Sheila Cross (Sheila), Shontae Cross (Shontae), and Cassandra, in addition to defendants, lived at 6929 South Justine. Several children, including Cheryl's son Joshua, Sheila's daughter Tanisha, Cross's daughter Arianna, and Shontae's son Mikiel also lived there. Other individuals, including a friend of Cross's brother named "Chubby" or "Chub," and Martin's son, "little Joshua," were also at the house on October 5, 2001, when the police arrived. Defense evidence additionally established that neither bedroom from which Campbell testified he recovered evidence had locks on the door.
Defense witnesses established that defendant Cross stayed in the rear bedroom with Cassandra and Arianna, while the bedroom to the left of the kitchen was shared by Carrie, Cheryl and Joshua. Defendant Martin slept in the basement and did not nap or keep any of his belongings in the bedroom Campbell testified he was found in. Neither Carrie, Cheryl nor Cassandra saw any drugs in either the bedrooms or the basement before the police arrived.
Cheryl testified that she was in the bedroom to the left of the kitchen, which she shared with Carrie and her son Joshua, when the police arrived. Defendant Martin was in the kitchen by the refrigerator. Cheryl did not see defendant Cross.
Cassandra testified she was alone cleaning in the back bedroom that she shared with Cross and Arianna when the police arrived. The laundry basket in the bedroom was empty because she did laundry that day.
An officer entered the door to Cassandra's room and took her to the basement. On the way, she saw Martin in the kitchen with other officers. In the basement, Cassandra saw that officers had Cross and Chub "on the floor." An officer took Cassandra back upstairs and led her outside to the front yard. Cassandra also saw Chub exit a police van. After the police searched the house, $1,500 was missing from a jacket that was hanging in her bedroom.
Defendant Cross, a convicted felon, testified he was in the basement watching television with Chub when three officers "busted in." Cross was not in his bedroom. An officer handcuffed him and Chub and threw them to the ground. About seven minutes later, an officer took Cross and Chub upstairs and led them through the kitchen, where Cross saw Martin standing by the refrigerator. The officer then took Cross and Chub outside and put them in a police van, where defendant Martin was also placed. Defendants remained there for approximately two hours, but Chub was allowed to leave.
Cross denied telling the police that the narcotics, the cocaine, the cannabis, the money, or the gun belonged to him.
Defendant Martin, a convicted felon, testified that he was in the kitchen when two officers came through the backdoor and pointed a gun at him. Martin slept in the basement and did not see any cocaine, scales or bags on the table when he woke up that morning. Martin saw Cross come up from the basement with an officer. The police then took Martin into the basement and outside through the basement door. Martin was then put in a police van with Cross and Chub, but Chub was allowed to leave.
Martin testified that he did not see any marijuana in Carrie and Cheryl's bedroom and denied telling Officer Campbell that the narcotics belonged to him and Cross.
In rebuttal, Campbell testified that only two men were placed in the police van and he never saw a man named Chub either in the house or in the police van. Campbell also did not see Cross or another man in the basement.
The trial court found defendant Cross guilty of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful use of a weapon by a...
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