People v. Trotter
| Decision Date | 26 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-96-2363,1-96-2363 |
| Citation | 688 N.E.2d 767,293 Ill.App.3d 617,228 Ill.Dec. 69 |
| Parties | , 228 Ill.Dec. 69 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hershel TROTTER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Patrick A. Metcalf, Contract Attorney for Office of the State Appellate Defender, Michael J. Peletier, Deputy Defender, for Defendant-Appellant.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney of Cook County, Renee Goldfarb and Hareena Meghani-Wakely, Assistant State's Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
The defendant, Hershel Trotter, was charged with delivery of a controlled substance. On March 8, 1996, a jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. We affirm.
Trotter argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the crime with which he was charged. In circumstances such as these, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determine whether any rational fact finder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Frieberg, 147 Ill.2d 326, 356, 168 Ill.Dec. 108, 589 N.E.2d 508 (1992). If the answer is yes, then we must affirm the conviction. The facts adduced at Trotter's trial follow.
In the spring of 1995, the Chicago Police Department responded to complaints of drug dealing in the 11th district by commencing an investigation called "Operation Sting." The operation's purpose was to arrest drug traffickers from whom undercover officers purchased narcotics. By not arresting the seller immediately upon the exchange of drugs for money, but rather waiting and following the dealer to his next sale, the police sought to apprehend both the purveyor and his buyer. Officer Renard Jackson, a 26-year veteran of the police force, was one of the many officers involved in this operation.
On May 24, 1996, at around 8:50 a.m., Officer Jackson, dressed in plain clothes and driving an unmarked car, approached the vicinity of 713 North Harding. He saw Trotter there and radioed to a back-up team of officers that he was going to attempt to make a purchase from Trotter. Officer Jackson approached Trotter and asked him if he was "working," the street term for selling narcotics. Trotter asked Officer Jackson what he wanted, and Officer Jackson replied "rocks," the street term for crack cocaine in rock form.
According to Officer Jackson's testimony, Trotter then told Officer Jackson to follow him into the hallway of a two-flat located at 713 North Harding. Once in the building, Trotter went upstairs while Officer Jackson remained downstairs. Trotter returned after two to three minutes, and handed Officer Jackson two bags of crack cocaine in exchange for $20. Officer Jackson returned to his car, radioed his back-up team that he made a buy, and described Trotter as a white male with scraggly facial hair who was wearing a grey sweatshirt and black sweatpants.
Officer Jackson and his back-up team members, Officers Mostek and Callahan, waited for about a half hour for Trotter to come out the front door of the building at 713 North Harding and make another sale so they could arrest him and his buyer. However Trotter failed to appear, and the surveillance team was ordered to move on to a different location in the same area.
At approximately 11:50 a.m. that same day, Officer Jackson saw Trotter walking westbound on Huron toward Pulaski. He radioed Officers Mostek and Callahan to tell them where Trotter was and to arrest him, which they did. Officer Mostek testified that when he arrested Trotter, Trotter matched the description Officer Jackson gave earlier in the day. Officer Jackson identified Trotter as the man from whom he purchased narcotics. Although a custodial search yielded no money, drugs or paraphernalia, Officer Callahan testified that, in his experience, a...
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...prerecorded or marked funds used in a narcotics transaction be recovered for a conviction to stand." People v. Trotter , 293 Ill. App. 3d 617, 619, 228 Ill.Dec. 69, 688 N.E.2d 767 (1997). Additionally, we note that " ‘[d]eterminations of the credibility of witnesses, the weight to be given ......
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People v. Brown
...consideration, whether or not there is an agency relationship." 720 ILCS 570/102(h) (West 2006); People v. Trotter, 293 Ill.App.3d 617, 619, 228 Ill.Dec. 69, 688 N.E.2d 767 (1997). In the present case, the evidence, when taken in the light most favorable to the prosecution, established that......
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People v. Lundy
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