People v. Woodall

Decision Date16 November 1970
Docket NumberGen. No. 69--95
Citation131 Ill.App.2d 662,264 N.E.2d 303
PartiesPEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Alexander Lewis WOODALL, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtUnited States Appellate Court of Illinois

Edward G. Vogt, Kankakee, for defendant-appellant.

Edward P. Drolet, State's Atty., Kankakee, for plaintiff-appellee.

ALLOY, Justice.

Defendant Alexander Woodall appeals from a judgment entered in the Circuit Court of Kankakee County following a verdict of guilty by a jury on a charge of armed robbery and burglary.

Dandelles Lanes, a bowling alley in Kankakee, was robbed between 3:00 and 4:00 A.M. on the morning of May 19, 1969. The only person in the Lanes at the time it was robbed was Paula Jean Reynolds who was a deaf mute and unable to speak. Mrs. Reynolds was the chief witness for the prosecution and spoke by means of an interpreter by sign language. Mrs. Reynolds was employed by the owner of the Lanes as a cleaning woman. Her evidence was that at about 3:00 A.M. two men broke into the building, one short and the other one tall. The men had long guns, she stated, and tied her up with the tall man behind her, and they put her in a dark place. She worked herself loose and then the men came into the room again and tied her up again, this time in the standing position. The men were wearing stockings or socks over their heads. Mrs. Reynolds said that the socks came down to about the eyebrows. She stated at the trial that she thought she had seen the taller man before and she thought he had bowled with her. She recalled seeing him about six weeks before the robbery. She pointed to the defendant Woodall as being that man. She further testified that after the men left she freed herself and finally called her employer making a sound which he recognized as her voice. Mr. Dandelles went to the Lanes and discovered the robbery and that $980 was missing from the safe. He had given no one authority to enter the premises and take the money.

On May 19, 1969, Mrs. Reynolds went to the police station to look at pictures of the men in the police files. She said she made no identification of the pictures of the men at that time. Thereafter, Mr. Dandelles signed a complaint against two men charging them with the crime (neither of which was defendant Woodall) and police subsequently learned that these two men were not in Illinois on May 19, 1969, and so that this complaint was dismissed. On June 13, 1969, after Mrs. Reynolds had identified a picture of Woodall, two detectives took Mrs. Reynolds to a fruit and produce store where defendant Woodall worked. Defendant was not at the store. In the process of riding back to the police station, the produce store truck was sighted and Mrs. Reynolds pointed out the defendant, who was driving that truck, as a man who had committed the robbery. Defendant was arrested and taken to the police station where a lineup was held with the defendant and four other men. Mrs. Reynolds then picked the defendant out as the man in the bowling alley on May 19, 1969. She testified in court, when she was asked by the police on May 19 to describe the men in the bowling alley, she said the taller man had a small mustache and something on his cheek similar to a mole. She stated that the two men had stocking masks over their faces and that they never removed them but she could see the face of one of the men through the mask and that the man was defendant Woodall. At the trial of the cause, a detective testified that when Mrs. Reynolds was shown the mug pictures on May 19, she picked out the two men who were originally named in the complaint (by Dandelles) which was later dismissed. She denied identifying the men from the pictures on May 19.

Another identification witness for the State was Dandurand, a dairy route salesman. He stated that he was driving past the entrance to the bowling alley about 3:30 A.M. on the morning of May 19, when a car pulled out from the bowling alley parking lot directly in front of him. He stated he could observe the driver of the car which was 12 to 15 feet in front of him and that the driver was defendant Woodall. He stated that he did not know the name of the driver at the time he saw him in the car, but that later he learned his name. After he learned of the robbery, Dandurand went to the police and related his story. Dandurand denied making any statement that he knew defendant when he saw him in the lights.

Defendant, his wife and a friend and his wife testified that they spent the day of May 18 together first at Mr. Woodall's parents' farm and then at the Woodall trailer. They stated that they played cards and did not go to sleep until around 5:00 A.M. on the morning of May 19 and did not hear anyone leaving the trailer. All parties were certain of the date as they remembered various events which occurred shortly before or after the evening of May 18 and the morning of May 19. Defendant testified that he bowled at one time in the same league with Mrs. Reynolds and remembered seeing her in the lanes. During the course of the trial, the prior conviction of defendant for grand theft was read into the record.

Our major concern on appeal revolves around the identification testimony of the chief witness for the State and a certain identification statement made at the jail after the trial of this cause. The key issue in the case was the question of identification of the defendant as being one of two robbers. The chief witness for the prosecution, as indicated, was Mrs. Paula Jean Reynolds. As noted, she is a deaf mute and had to testify and listen to questions by means of sign language.

Her story differed in some very material points. At one time she testified that the stocking masks worn by the men who broke into the bowling alley were down to their eyebrows. Later she testified that they had masks all over their faces, but she could see through them. In her original interview with the police she gave a description of the men and made no mention of any physical characteristics. Later, she stated that one man had a mustache and something like a mole on one of his cheeks. Mrs. Reynolds also testified that there were two men, one short and one tall, and her testimony as to the height of the taller man varies. She testified that on May 19, the day of the early morning robbery, she went to the police station and looked at about six pictures for the purpose of identification. The policeman who was with Mrs. Reynolds on the 19th of May testified he showed Mrs. Reynolds several hundred mug shots. He also stated that Mrs. Beynolds identified, from their pictures, two men as the ones she thought were in the bowling alley. Mrs. Reynolds denied this. A complaint was in fact sworn out against the two men, but it was found that they were not in Illinois on May 19, and the complaint was dismissed. Later, in June, Mrs. Reynolds picked defendant Woodall out of a police lineup of five men. She was present, however, when Woodall was arrested and had a chance to see him and note his appearance shortly before the lineup. Prior thereto, Mrs. Reynolds did point out the defendant as the man who was in the bowling alley, when she saw him driving the truck. It was noted, however, that Mrs. Reynolds knew the defendant whom she was attempting to identify; that he worked for the produce store; and she and the police had just been to the produce store prior to observing the defendant while he was driving the produce truck down the street.

Defendant admitted that he had bowled in the Dandelles Bowling Lanes prior to May 19. Defendant stated that he had seen Mrs. Reynolds at the Lanes about six weeks prior to May 19. Mrs. Reynolds did not mention that she had recognized the...

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10 cases
  • People v. Dees
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • March 11, 1977
    ...(1975), 28 Ill.App.3d 491, 328 N.E.2d 626; People v. Hughes (1973), 11 Ill.App.3d 224, 296 N.E.2d 643; and People v. Woodall (1970), 131 Ill.App.2d 662, 264 N.E.2d 303. In each of these cases, however, the accused had either said nothing or stated simply that he did not wish to be questione......
  • People v. Queen
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • December 7, 1972
    ...following Illinois cases: People v. Rothe, 358 Ill. 52, 192 N.E. 777; People v. Lampson, Ill.App., 262 N.E.2d 601; People v. Woodall, 131 Ill.App.2d 662, 264 N.E.2d 303. An examination of these cases reveals that they are not relevant to the issue before us since they involve testimony to t......
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    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • October 24, 1975
    ...v. Rothe (1934), 358 Ill. 52, 192 N.E. 777; People v. Lewerenz (1962), 24 Ill.2d 295, 299, 181 N.E.2d 99; People v. Woodall (1970), 131 Ill.App.2d 662, 668, 264 N.E.2d 303.) However, such testimony must be viewed in the totality of the circumstances, including the extent of the testimony an......
  • Com. v. Haidman
    • United States
    • Pennsylvania Supreme Court
    • December 29, 1971
    ...right not to take the witness stand." Id. at 13-14. Accord, Fagundes v. United States, 340 F.2d 673, 677 (1 Cir.1965); People v. Woodall, 264 N.E.2d 303 (Ill.Ct.App.1970); Galasso v. State, 207 So.2d 45, 48 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1968); State v. Dearman, 198 Kan. 44, 46, 422 P.2d 573, 575 (1967);......
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