People v. Reyes
| Decision Date | 24 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 2-17-0379,2-17-0379 |
| Citation | 174 N.E.3d 127,447 Ill.Dec. 436,2020 IL App (2d) 170379 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jose E. REYES, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
James E. Chadd, Patricia Mysza, and Andrew Smith, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Chicago, for appellant.
Michael G. Nerheim, State's Attorney, of Waukegan (Patrick Delfino, Edward R. Psenicka, and Steven A. Rodgers, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.
¶ 2 Following a bench trial, defendant, Jose E. Reyes, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping ( 720 ILCS 5/10-2(a)(2) (West 2012)), predatory criminal sexual assault of a child (id. § 11-1.40(a)(1)), and three counts of child pornography (two counts of filming or videotaping (id. § 11-20.1(a)(1)) and one count of possession of child pornography (id. § 11-20.1(a)(6)). Defendant was sentenced to four consecutive 30-year sentences on aggravated kidnapping, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, and the two counts of filming or videotaping child pornography. He was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of seven years on the count of possession of child pornography. On appeal, defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from his cell phone pursuant to a search warrant. Additionally, defendant argues that we should vacate one of the two convictions of child pornography based on filming or videotaping under the one-act, one-crime doctrine. For the following reasons, we affirm.
¶ 4 On September 30, 2013, M.G. was three years old. Just before 5:30 p.m. that day, she was playing in front of the apartment building in Mundelein, where she lived with her family. M.G.'s sisters, D.G., age nine, and W.G., age five, were playing with her while their mother, C.G., was caring for their infant brother in their second-floor apartment. M.G.'s father, A.G., was at work in Des Plaines. A black, four-door vehicle passed by the girls twice and then came back a few minutes later and stopped. The driver, a man, got out of the vehicle and approached the girls. He offered the girls lollipops. After briefly speaking to the girls, in Spanish, the man grabbed M.G., carried her to his car, placed her inside, and drove off. C.G. heard D.G. scream. C.G. looked out the window and saw the man carry M.G. toward the black car. C.G. ran downstairs, but, by the time she got outside, the car had driven away.
¶ 5 The Mundelein police arrived on the scene within minutes. While they were interviewing witnesses, the black car drove through the rear parking lot of the apartment building and dropped M.G. off. She was crying and ran away from the car.
¶ 6 A.G. arrived home after M.G. had been reunited with her family. M.G. was sad and did not want to speak. A.G. took M.G. and police officers up to the family's apartment. Officers asked M.G. questions, but she was not answering. M.G. told A.G. that she wanted to go to the bathroom. A.G. noticed bloodstains in M.G.'s panties. M.G. told A.G. that "her parts were hurting." A.G. told the police what M.G. said, and the police collected the panties as evidence.
¶ 7 M.G. was taken to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where she was examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner, Chenel Vanderberk-Flores. Using a rape kit, Vanderberk-Flores collected items of evidence and took photographs of M.G. M.G. was in a lot of pain when she urinated, and she "seemed uncomfortable and overwhelmed." Vanderberk-Flores observed a "very atypical redness" around the opening of M.G.'s vaginal area. Vanderberk-Flores opined that the redness around M.G.'s vaginal area was consistent with an act of penetration.
¶ 8 Dr. Patrick Dolan, a pediatric emergency room doctor and the director of the sexual assault team at Condell Medical Center, examined M.G. He opined that the injury or redness on M.G.'s vaginal area was consistent with an act of penetration.
¶ 9 Within two days, the Mundelein police identified defendant as a suspect in the kidnapping and molestation of M.G. They also tied defendant's vehicle to the abduction. On October 3, 2013, defendant was located at his workplace in Libertyville. His vehicle was in the parking lot. Defendant was charged by complaint with aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, and unlawful restraint of M.G. Defendant's vehicle was secured, and a search warrant was issued for defendant's residence and his vehicle. The police located, seized, and secured three electronic devices from defendant's vehicle: a Huawei cell phone, a Garmin Nuvi 1350 global positioning system (GPS) unit, and a black 120 GB media player. On October 8, 2013, a search warrant was issued authorizing the search of the electronic devices.
¶ 10 Carol Gudbrandsen, a cybercrimes forensic analyst with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office, conducted the search of defendant's cell phone. She found images of M.G. in two videos. One showed M.G. riding in defendant's vehicle, and the other showed M.G. naked from the waist down while sitting on defendant's lap with his penis in contact with her vagina. In the video, defendant can be heard speaking to M.G. in Spanish, and M.G. can be heard crying out "ow, ow, ow." Stills were taken from the video showing an image of M.G.'s vagina and another showing defendant's penis in contact with M.G.'s vagina. The images recorded on the video formed the evidentiary basis for defendant's child pornography charges.
¶ 12 Detective Marc Hergott of the Mundelein Police Department was the affiant in the seven-page complaint for a search warrant (complaint) to search the electronic devices recovered from defendant's vehicle. In the complaint, Hergott requested the authority to search the devices for evidence of the offenses of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated kidnapping, and unlawful restraint. The child-pornography charges are not mentioned in the complaint. Hergott averred that he believed that the devices were "used in the commission of or constitute evidence of" the listed offenses. Hergott stated that he had been employed as a police officer for 23 years. He stated that he had "received ongoing training in the area of child sexual abuse/assault/exploitation, and training in computer crimes involving children." He explained that "cellular phones and cellular phone technology" have revolutionized the way digital photographs are "viewed, produced, distributed, stored, and utilized." Hergott discussed in detail how evidence that has been deleted from a cell phone's memory can be recovered and viewed "months or even years later." Hergott said that a cell phone is an "ideal repository" for this type of evidence and can store "dozens of images and text."
¶ 13 Next, Hergott discussed how computers and computer technology "have revolutionized the way in which child pornography is viewed, produced, and utilized." Hergott explained the ease with which child pornography can now be produced and distributed using technology as compared to the past, when production required facilities and a dark room and distribution was through "personal contact, mailings, and telephone calls." Hergott explained that individuals who "collect and trade child pornography via computer" store the images electronically and often keep them "for long periods of time, so the individual can view these images at his discretion." Hergott stated that the "data search protocols" would "protect the integrity" of any evidence and would allow for recovery of "hidden, erased, compressed, password-protected, or encrypted" evidence.
¶ 14 Hergott next described how devices with GPS capability can be searched to discover the movements or route of the user. Defendant concedes on appeal that the complaint established probable cause to search the GPS data stored in the devices recovered from his vehicle.
¶ 15 Hergott described the evidence gathered during the investigation. He described the interview with C.G., who witnessed a man carry M.G. to his car. Hergott recounted the police interview with D.G., where she described the encounter with the suspect and how he offered her lollipops and spoke in Spanish to M.G. before kidnapping her. Hergott included D.G.'s detailed description of the suspect. D.G. remembered that there was a "7" on the license plate and stated that "it was the first number." D.G. had never seen the man before, and she worked with a forensic artist to prepare a composite sketch of the suspect.
¶ 16 Hergott described information provided by Gina Johnson, a witness who lived in a neighboring building. Johnson witnessed the abduction, and her description of the suspect was consistent with D.G.'s description.
¶ 17 Hergott stated that, about 20 minutes after the police arrived at the apartment building, there was a 911 call about a little girl in the building's parking lot, screaming for her mother. The girl was M.G.
¶ 18 Hergott stated that video footage was obtained from security cameras at the front and rear of the apartment building. M.G.'s abduction was captured on the video. Video from the rear of the building shows a car matching the witnesses' description dropping M.G. off. M.G. is seen getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle and running away.
¶ 19 Hergott also described the interview with A.G. M.G. told A.G. that her genital area hurt. Hergott stated that M.G. was taken to Condell Medical Center and that blood was found in her underwear and redness around her vagina.
¶ 20 The vehicle used by the suspect was determined to be a 2006 to 2008 Hyundai Accent GLS with custom chrome wheels. Mundelein police obtained from the Secretary of State a list of all vehicles registered in Lake County that matched, and they compared that information to...
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