People v. Pierce
| Decision Date | 30 November 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 43452,43452 |
| Citation | 290 N.E.2d 256,53 Ill.2d 130 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Roger PIERCE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Gerald W. Getty, Public Defender, Chicago (James N. Gramenos, Asst. Public Defender, of counsel), for appellant.
William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Atty. Chicago (James B. Zagel, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Elmer C. Kissane, Asst. State's Atty., and Richard Pezzopane, Graduate Law Student, of counsel), for the People.
Defendant, Roger Pierce, was tried before a jury in the circuit court of Cook County and found guilty of the attempted robbery of Chicago taxi driver, James Dotson. Pierce was sentenced to a term of eight to ten years imprisonment in the Illinois State Penitentiary. This appeal is from that judgment.
Defendant urges that the trial court erred in not suppressing the complaining witness's identification of him because defendant was not represented by counsel at a pre-indictment lineup. He asserts further that the identification procedure as conducted was so suggestive as to be conducive to irreparable mistaken identification. Finally, he complains that the minimum term of eight years to which he has been sentenced is excessive in light of our statutory provisions regarding indeterminate sentences and parole.
The complaining witness, Dotson, testified that while driving his cab in the vicinity of 61st and Cottage at about 3 A.M. on the morning of March 20, 1968, he saw two male Negroes standing behind a 1963 Pontiac parked in the middle of the street with its hood up. The two men hailed him and, thinking that they were out of gas, Dotson pulled around the corner to meet them. The men swiftly approached the cab from about 60 feet away and got into the back seat, asking to be taken to 63rd and Greenwood. Dotson commenced to do so and after driving about two blocks heard the man on the right side of the passenger seat say something. When Dotson turned, he observed that man holding a gun, which Dotson grabbed impulsively. After 'hitting the brakes,' Dotson 'flipped' into the back seat on top of the man on the right and a struggle ensued, with the second passenger striking and pulling on Dotson. The driver managed to kick the man with the gun into the front seat, whereupon both of them jumped out of the taxi, which by then had collided with several parked cars. Still armed with the gun, the passenger demanded Dotson's money and ran up to him. Dotson again attempted to fight off his assailant, throwing him against the door of the cab. The other passenger, now also out of the taxi, struck Dotson a number of times and then wrestled him to the ground. As both men converged on the driver, a police squad car came around the corner. The two men left Dotson and ran into a gangway, with two officers in close pursuit. The policemen returned shortly after capturing the right-side passenger, Bryant Belmore, and recovering a .32 caliber revolver, lying on the ground near him. Dotson identified Belmore positively at that time. The other passenger escaped.
Dotson further testified that he was summoned to the Third District police station the next morning by a telephone call around 9 A.M. He went to the station and attended a lineup conducted in the squad room where at least one other taxi robbery victim, identified only as Mr. Parker, was present, together with a number of policemen. Dotson described the lineup as consisting of about six male Negroes whose faces were turned to the wall. When asked to identify the men who robbed him, Dotson kicked defendant Pierce in the seat of the pants. Bryant Belmore, whom he had already identified, was also in the lineup; Dotson identified him by touching him with his hand. Dotson stated that he recognized the leather coats, dark clothing and dark shoes that Pierce and Belmore were wearing as well as their processed hair. Dotson identified the defendant in court as being one of the two men who attempted to rob him.
Officer John O'Brien testified that he was in the police car which first came upon the crime scene. He stated that he and his partner heard the sounds of an automobile crash while patrolling 63rd Street. As they turned north on Langley Avenue toward the accident, they saw three men struggling beside a taxicab. When O'Brien alighted from the police car and 'announced his office,' two of the men jumped up and ran toward a gangway, with O'Brien and his partner giving chase. The gangway was dark but when the two suspects ran into a brightly lighted alleyway, O'Brien was able to see both of the men at a distance of 8 to 10 feet before they turned and ran down the alley. The smaller of the two, Belmore, ran into a basement passageway and was apprehended there by O'Brien, who also found next to Belmore the .32 caliber revolver with one misfired round under the firing pin. O'Brien identified defendant Pierce in court as the other man he chased that night. The case report prepared by O'Brien from his own recollections and those of Dotson describes the second offender as being approximately 5 feet 8 inches in height, weighing 170 pounds, and wearing a three-quarter length black leather coat.
Detective George Rohrer testified that he was one of the officers who arrested defendant Pierce later that morning, at approximately 8:30 A.M., as Pierce arrived at 6540 South Minerva in a taxicab. The arrest report this officer prepared describes Pierce as being 6 feet tall, weighing 180 pounds, and wearing a three-quarter length black leather coat. Later that day Detective Rohrer conducted the lineup in the Third District squad room to ascertain whether any of the several taxi robbery victims summoned could identify the suspects. He testified that there were six subjects in the lineup including Belmore and Pierce, and that all were male Negroes of similar appearance, casually dressed. He could not recall any...
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People v. Smith
...with counsel at a pre-indictment lineup does not vitiate his conviction. (People v. Reese, 54 Ill.2d 51, 294 N.E.2d 288; People v. Pierce, 53 Ill.2d 130, 290 N.E.2d 256; People v. Patrick, 53 Ill.2d 201, 290 N.E.2d 227; People v. Bates, 9 Ill.App.3d 882, 293 N.E.2d 358.) In the instant case......
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U.S. ex rel. Pierce v. Cannon
... ... Pierce is presently detained at the Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois as the result of his conviction for attempted robbery of a Chicago taxi driver. This conviction was affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court. People v. Pierce, 53 Ill.2d 130, 290 N.E.2d 256 (1972). Pierce's subsequent action for a ... Page 199 ... writ was denied by the district court and he appeals ... While driving his cab at 3:00 a.m. on March 20, 1968, James Dotson saw two males standing behind a parked 1963 Pontiac ... ...
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...of the circumstances surrounding the identification procedure.' (53 Ill.2d 261, 273, 291 N.E.2d 161, 168.) (See also People v. Pierce (1972), 53 Ill.2d 130, 290 N.E.2d 256.) In Stovall, the United States Supreme Court also pointed out in determining whether a show-up confrontation of the wi......