People v. Tribbett
| Decision Date | 22 November 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 41225,41225 |
| Citation | 242 N.E.2d 249,41 Ill.2d 267 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. J. C. TRIBBETT, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Vance I. Keply, Champaign, appointed by the court, for appellant.
John J. Bresee, State's Atty., Urbana, for appellee.
At about four o'clock in the morning of June 3, 1966, the attendant in an automobile service station at Rantoul was robbed by two armed men.
Indictments charging the defendant, J. C. Tribbett, with the armed robbery and burglary were returned on June 23, 1966, in the circuit court of Champaign County. The indictments were consolidated for trial and Tribbett was found guilty on both charges after a trial by jury and was given a sentence of one to twenty-five years on the robbery judgment. No sentence was imposed on the burglary conviction, it apparently having been considered that the two offenses arose from the same conduct. The Appellate Court for the Fourth District affirmed the conviction and we granted Tribbett's petition for leave to appeal.
He argues that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence against him a revolver which was found in an automobile involved in the case. He contends, too, that, considering its circumstances, the identification of him by the victim is insufficient as evidence to support his conviction. Error is claimed, also, in the trial court's denial of his motion for the production of 'tangible evidence' in the possession of the People.
William D. Terrio, an airman, who apparently had part-time employment as an attendant, testified that two men with guns entered his station and informed him it was a 'holdup.' He attempted to frustrate the men by locking the cash register and refusing to give up the key. However one of the pair struck him on the head with a gun, and having secured the key, forced him into the restroom. The robbers fled in their 1959 white Ford but were pursued by Terrio, who had hailed a passing auto and given chase. A police car joined the pursuit but it could not overtake the Ford. However, police later did find the car in an alley near a U.S.O. building adjacent to the Chanute Air Force Base. The defendant was stopped on the base at about 5:30 A.M. by two Air Force police and when a large amount of silver money and loose currency was found on his person, he was turned over to the Rantoul police. The base is enclosed by a chain link fence, topped with three strands of barbed wire. Tribbett had fresh scratches on his body, hands and arms and had tears in his clothing. He was taken in a squad car by four officers to the service station where Terrio, after viewing Tribbett through the squad car window, identified him as one of the robbers. Earlier, police had brought Terrio to view two other suspects and the victim had stated that neither had been involved. Terrio had given the police the license number of the robbers' 1959 white Ford prior to its recovery and the abandoned 1959 white Ford bore that number. Tribbett admitted in his testimony at trial that the abandoned Ford was his and that a .22 calibre revolver found by police on its floor board belonged to him. But, he denied the robbery and testified that he was driving through Rantoul on his way from Chicago to Memphis. He became alarmed when a police car began to follow him and speeded in an attempt to elude it. He was on probation, he testified, and did not wish police to find him in possession of the loaded gun he was carrying. The money found in his pocket by the base police had been won by him in a dice game in Kankakee, he testified.
Oliver Dority, who had pleaded guilty to the robbery and who was under sentence for the crime at the time of Tribbett's trial, was called by the defendant as a witness. He testified that his accomplice was one James Randall and not Tribbett. Dority related that the auto of a friend with whom he was driving had broken down and that Dority began walking to seek assistance. He was picked up by a passing motorist and he stated that he and the stranger, Randall, drove to Rantoul, where they committed the robbery.
The defendant's contention that the trial court erred in receiving the gun found in his auto into evidence cannot be sustained. The criterion of admissibility for a weapon in a case such as this was the subject of our comment in People v. Ashley, 18 Ill.2d 272, at 280, 164 N.E.2d 70, at 74, where we said: ...
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...case. Physical evidence may be admitted provided there is proof to connect it with the defendant and the crime. (People v. Tribbett (1968), 41 Ill.2d 267, 270, 242 N.E.2d 249.) It is not necessary to show that an object admitted in evidence was actually used; however, the object at least mu......
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Hatfield, In Interest of
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