People v. Russell

• Decision Date: 24 September 1959
• Docket Number: No. 34852,34852
• Citation: 17 Ill.2d 328,161 N.E.2d 309
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Marquess F. RUSSELL, Plaintiff in Error.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 309

161 N.E.2d 309

17 Ill.2d 328

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v.Marquess F. RUSSELL, Plaintiff in Error.

No. 34852.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 24, 1959.

Milton A. Fischer, Rockford, for plaintiff in error.

Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., and John A. Strom, State's Atty., Belvidere (Fred G. Leach, Decatur, and William H. South, Carmi, of counsel), for the People.

SCHAEFER, Justice.

Marquess F. Russell, Herschel Adams and Richard Deemter were indicted for burglary.Russell was tried alone before a jury, was convicted, and was sentenced to a term of not less than three nor more than ten years in the penitentiary.The question that has given us most concern, upon this writ of error to review his conviction, is the sufficiency of the proof to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Spirit of '76 Tavern outside of Belvidere was burglarized on August 1, 1957.Russell and his co-indictees had been drinking in the tavern, and when it was closed about 12:45 a. m. on August 1, they were let out by the back door.The bartender then cleaned the bar, locked the doors and windows, and left between 1:00 and 1:30 a. m.

About 1:30 a. m., two cruising deputy sheriffs saw a station wagon parked close to the tavern without lights.While the officers circled the tavern to investigate, the station wagon left.They pursued it, at speeds ranging up to 100 miles an hour, and curbed it after it had turned into Highway 20 without stopping for the stop sign.The defendant was alone in the station wagon.He told the officers that he was on his way to his home in Burlington, Wisconsin, and had parked near the tavern to rest.The officers took him to the sheriff's office, leaving his station wagon where it had been stopped.

At noon on August 1, the proprietor opened the tavern and found that it had been burglarized.The glass in the door had been broken near the lock.Coin operated machines and a juke box had been broken into and emptied.A case of whiskey and $103 in silver had been taken.Near the door were cases that had been filled with various bottles, and wastebaskets that had been filled with cigarettes.A pinch-bar, a 'brake-adjusting tool' and a screwdriver were found in one of the wastebaskets inside the tavern.

There were other tools in the tire well of the defendant's station wagon, which was under a lid in the back of the car.These tools were shown to the defendant along with the tools found inside the tavern.The defendant identified them as his, and specifically identified as his the three tools found inside the tavern, including the one that he described as a 'brake-adjusting tool.'

After the burglary had been discovered the defendant told the officers a different story.He said that he and his two companions had been drinking in the tavern all evening; that they left about closing time and drove to Belvidere for something to eat but found the restaurants closed.They then returned to the tavern where he let his companions out to get some drinks while he parked nearby.When he saw the squad car he'decided he would get out of there.'

Upon this record the jury could properly find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.The tavern was burglarized.The defendant had returned to the tavern although he knew it was closed.The burglars had to use tools to break into the coin operated machines, and defendant's tools were found inside the tavern.Conditions inside the tavern indicated that the burglars were interrupted before their work was completed.The defendant's car was parked without lights where he could serve as a look-out, and the car was in position for a quick get away.When the police car approached he fled in a manner that indicated a determined effort to escape...