People v. Perkins

• Citation: 115 Ill.App.3d 423,71 Ill.Dec. 130,450 N.E.2d 818
• Decision Date: 25 May 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-162,82-162
• Parties: , 71 Ill.Dec. 130 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Karen PERKINS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 818

450 N.E.2d 818

115 Ill.App.3d 423, 71 Ill.Dec. 130

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Karen PERKINS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 82-162.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

First District, Third Division.

May 25, 1983.

Patrick A. Tuite, David S. Mejia, The Law Offices of Patrick A. Tuite, Ltd., Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Richard M. Daley, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago (Michael E. Shabat, Burce A. Cardello, Denise O'Malley, Asst. State's Attys., Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

RIZZI, Justice:

Following a bench trial, defendant, Karen Perkins, was convicted of two counts of theft for receipt of stolen property (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 16-1(d)(1)), and sentenced to a term of one year of probation with the first 150 days to be served in the Cook County Department of Corrections. On appeal defendant contends that the State's evidence was not sufficient to prove her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We reverse.

Defendant was arrested on November 3, 1981, at approximately 1:30 p.m., while she was sitting in the driver's seat of an automobile which was stalled in the east lot of the South Holland Trust and Savings Bank. The key was in the ignition. At her side was a baby whom she acknowledged was her child. At trial, police officer R. Johnson testified that he came to the scene in response to a call about a person "passing a bad check." He saw several bank officials standing around the car, observed defendant and the baby in the front of the car, and observed "clothing in the back floor of the car stacked up past the seat with tags on it." He noted that the tags were store price tags, and he asked defendant where the clothes came from. She responded that she did not know. The officer further testified that the clothing consisted of a black leather jacket, four dresses and a blouse. He asked defendant for identification, but she could not produce any. He then took her to the police station, and after reading the Miranda warnings to her, proceeded to question her. When he asked defendant whose car she was in, defendant said that the car belonged to her boyfriend, Jenkins. The officer confiscated the clothing and investigated some stolen checks involved in the matter. He then called two stores, Evans and Gantos, because their price tags were on the clothing.

On cross-examination, the officer said that the clothing was not in a bag, but was in view on the floor of the car. He further testified that he tried to learn the name of the lady who allegedly attempted to pass a bad check and who had fled the scene, but that defendant did not disclose her identity.

Police officer James Melby testified that he was with Officer Johnson and heard the conversation between Johnson and defendant. He corroborated Johnson's testimony, and further testified that when defendant was first asked to whom the merchandise belonged, she replied that she did not know. The second time she was asked, she said that the goods were in the car when she was picked up earlier in the day. The officer said that defendant gave different names of the party who picked her up. The officer admitted that he signed the complaints against defendant.

Paul Peltier testified that he was a corporate executive and store manager of Evans retail clothiers. When advised that the South Holland police had some merchandise with his store tags on it, he contacted the other Evans stores and learned through their computer system that a coat had been stolen from the Woodfield store. He went to the station and saw a black leather coat on which the store label was intact, indicating that it had not been sold. The coat had been put on sale in September or October 1981, but he did not know the specific date it was taken from the store.

Kim Legner testified that she worked for Gantos at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. She stated that the store tags on five items of the clothing merchandise were intact, indicating that they had not been sold. One of the dresses was on the store...