People v. Moody

• Decision Date: 23 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 78-808,78-808
• Parties: , 31 Ill.Dec. 441 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles MOODY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 643

394 N.E.2d 643

75 Ill.App.3d 674, 31 Ill.Dec. 441

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles MOODY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-808.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

Aug. 23, 1979.

Ralph Ruebner, Deputy State Appellate Defender, Patricia Unsinn, Asst. State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Bernard Carey, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago (Marcia B. Orr, Rimas F. Cernius, Terence P. Gillespie, Asst. State's Attys., Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

ROMITI, Justice:

The defendant, Charles Moody, was convicted of burglary (Ill.Rev.Stat.1975, ch. 38, par. 19-1), following a jury trial and was sentenced to three to nine years in the penitentiary. On appeal he contends: (1) evidence concerning certain physical items found at the burglary scene should not have been admitted since those items were insufficiently connected to the burglary and to the defendant; (2) hearsay evidence was improperly admitted against him; (3) his due process rights were violated when the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence of statements attributed to him which they had failed to disclose in compliance with discovery; (4) the prosecution failed to prove defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

At trial Walter Patterson, the owner of the home involved, testified that on September 1, 1976 before going to bed he checked the five doors leading into his basement and up into the upstairs living area of his home. The outermost door, which led into a small shed-like structure covering the basement door, was secured that night with a chain and padlock. Immediately inside this door were three descending stairs and the second door which was unfastened. A few steps in from that door was a third door locked with a key and a wooden bar across the inside. From this door there were stairs up to a thin unfastened door leading to a toilet; from there a fifth door opened to the dining area. This fifth door was also fastened with a bar across it from the inside. Mr. Patterson noticed nothing unusual about these doors when he checked them that night. The next morning he left his home about 5:30. When he returned home about 4:00 p.m. he found that the outside door to the basement had been opened by removing the screws from the hinges. The second door was intact but the third door has been broken off the bottom hinge and the top hinge was bent. The fifth door leading to the dining room had scratches on the hinges and those hinges were pulled slightly apart from the face of the door. Nothing had been taken from the house. Mr. Patterson testified that he found a right-hand glove lying in front of the outside basement door. He described it as black or brown leather with a cloth back. A day or two later he found a piece of iron pipe, resembling a "sawed-off shotgun" in the bathroom. Mr. Patterson, who lived alone, had never seen it before. The pipe was subsequently introduced into evidence over defendant's objection. No objection was made to testimony concerning the glove. Mr. Patterson also testified that though he had seen the defendant in the neighborhood he did not know him and had not given him permission to enter his home.

Shelby Wash, Mr. Patterson's next-door neighbor, testified that a 2-and-1/2-foot-wide gangway divided his home from Mr. Patterson's. The basement door to Mr. Patterson's home faced the gangway and the rear of Mr. Wash's home. About 9:30 a.m. on September 2, 1976 Mr. Wash was in his bedroom, which had a window facing Mr. Patterson's home. He awoke to the noise of construction equipment being used to clean up a neighbor's back yard. Sometime later as he lay in bed watching television with his wife he heard a scratching noise, sounding "most like wood-concrete," coming from the back yard or gangway. At first he paid no attention but then the noise got louder, sounding "like a push-bump." He went into his back yard to investigate after looking out of his window and seeing no one. Mr. Wash walked toward Mr. Patterson's basement door and inside that door he saw the defendant, whom he had known for four or five years. The defendant lived across the alley and a few houses to the left of Mr. Wash's home. When Mr. Wash saw the defendant, the defendant had a black leather glove on his left hand and a screwdriver and "something similar to a screwdriver" in the other hand. Mr. Wash asked him why he was breaking into the house. Defendant said nothing but advanced towards him. Mr. Wash backed up onto his porch and defendant kept advancing. Mr. Wash then got a stick from his kitchen and returned to his porch. Defendant was still there, a step off the stairs, looking "kind of wild." Mr. Wash told his wife to call the police and defendant said "Don't call the police, man, because I don't want to go to jail." Testimony about this statement was admitted over defense objections. Mr. Wash told him to put the door back on the hinges. Mr. Wash then testified, over defense objection, that defendant was in the process of doing so when a child came through the gangway and said in a normal tone of voice that the police were coming. Defendant then left at a "kind of rapid" pace. Later that day Mr. Wash inspected the doors with Mr. Patterson and observed the same damage that he had described. However, Mr. Wash did not see any piece of iron lying in the house.

On cross-examination Mr. Wash described the glove defendant was wearing as leather on the part he could see which was the back and fingers. He also stated that he had noticed a black leather glove lying on the ground.

Mr. Wash's wife also testified for the State. She too heard a scratching noise coming from the gangway and then heard a pounding noise which was louder than the scratching. She followed her husband when he went out to investigate and saw the defendant in Mr. Patterson's basement. He emerged with a glove on one hand and tools in the other. She heard him plead with her husband not to call the police because he did not want to go to jail. When the boy came into the yard and said the police were coming defendant ran.

Defendant testified that he lived across the alley from Mr. Patterson, whom he knew "casually" from "living in the area." At 9:00 a.m. on September 2 he was in his home trying to make a phone call but was cut off. He went outside and saw that a construction crew had broken down a telephone pole, pulling the line away from his house. Defendant decided to fix it and called his mother from a neighbor's phone to inform her of his plan; she told him to go ahead. Defendant borrowed a screwdriver from one neighbor and started back for his home through Mr. Patterson's gangway. He noticed Mr. Patterson's basement door was open "away from the hinges." After speaking briefly to a construction worker he returned to the basement door. On direct examination he explained that he went back because the door was off the shed and he wanted to see if Mr. Patterson was in. On cross-examination he said he returned to borrow some tools. Defendant knocked on the outer door and called to see if anyone was there. Getting no response he entered and repeated the procedure at the next door. Again no one answered and he returned outside. There he saw Mr. and Mrs. Wash. Mr. Wash asked him what he was doing breaking into the house and said he would call the police. According to defendant, it was Mrs. Wash who then told her husband not to call the police. Defendant walked away without saying anything. At trial he denied wearing gloves, breaking into the house, pleading with Mr. Wash not to call the police, or running from the scene. He also testified that in 1971 or 1973 he had pleaded guilty to an unrelated burglary charge.

Defendant's mother also testified that he called her on the day of the incident to tell her of his intention to fix the phone line. Mr. Wash in his testimony had testified that the Moody's phone line had been torn loose when a caterpillar hit it.

I.

Defendant contends that he was prejudiced by the admission of testimony concerning the glove discovered near the basement entrance and by admission as an exhibit of the iron bar found by Mr. Patterson in his home. He asserts that the State failed to properly lay a foundation for this evidence so as to connect it to the crime charged and to defendant as required under Illinois law. People v. Rogers (1976), 42 Ill.App.3d 499, 1 Ill.Dec. 287, 356 N.E.2d 413.

Defendant did not include these alleged errors in his motion for a new trial and ordinarily that in itself would constitute a waiver of the issue on appeal. (People v. Pickett (1973), 54 Ill.2d 280, 296 N.E.2d 856.) Furthermore, at trial defendant did not object on any basis to testimony concerning the glove and this too amounts to a waiver. (People v. Miller (1964), 30 Ill.2d 110, 195 N.E.2d 694.) He never argued at trial that more of a foundation was required before that testimony should be admitted. Indeed, it was on defense cross-examination that more details about this glove were adduced. And though defendant did object to admission of the iron bar as an exhibit, he had not objected to testimony concerning discovery of the bar. Under these circumstances we agree with the State's contention that this issue has been waived on appeal.

But even if the issue was properly preserved for appeal, we would find no error in the admission of this evidence. There was a sufficient foundation to connect these items to the defendant and to the burglary. Defendant was observed by Mr. Wash wearing a black leather glove on his left hand as he emerged from the basement. Mrs. Wash also testified that he had on one glove at that time. Mr. Wash further testified that he saw a black leather glove lying on the ground. And Mr. Patterson said that when he got home he observed a glove lying right in front of the outside basement door from which def...