People v. Woods

• Decision Date: 07 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 97659.,97659.
• Citation: 214 Ill.2d 455,293 Ill.Dec. 277,828 N.E.2d 247
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Demicus WOODS, Appellee.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

828 N.E.2d 247

214 Ill.2d 455

293 Ill.Dec. 277

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Demicus WOODS, Appellee.

No. 97659.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 7, 2005.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago (Linda D. Woloshin, Assistant Attorney General, Chicago, Renee G. Goldfarb, John E. Nowak, Matthew Connors, Annette Collins, Ashley A. Romito, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Michael J. Pelletier, Deputy Defender, Tomas G. Gonzalez, Assistant Appellate Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for appellee.

Chief Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant, Demicus Woods, was found guilty of the offense of possession of a controlled substance. 720 ILCS 570/402 (West 2000). Based upon his prior criminal history, defendant was sentenced to an extended term of five years' incarceration in the Illinois Department of Corrections. On appeal, the appellate court reversed defendant's conviction, holding that the evidence presented at defendant's trial was insufficient to sustain a guilty finding because the State had failed to establish a sufficient chain of custody for the controlled substance. No. 1-02-0290 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). For the reasons that follow, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court and affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

BACKGROUND

On July 31, 2001, defendant was charged by information with one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (720 ILCS 570/401(d) (West 2000)) and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver within 1,000 feet of a church (720 ILCS 570/407(b)(2) (West 2000)).

Defendant's trial commenced on November 27, 2001. The State's sole witness was Chicago police officer Thomas Dineen. Officer Dineen testified that on June 30, 2001, he received a phone call that a black male with braids in his hair and dressed in black clothing was selling drugs from a vacant lot located at 224 North Lacrosse in Chicago. At approximately 1 p.m., Officer Dineen went to the vacant lot and observed defendant, who matched the given description. Officer Dineen then set up surveillance of the lot, observing that location from a nearby backyard.

Officer Dineen testified that a man— later identified as codefendant Taylor— was standing near the lot, approximately 25 to 30 feet from defendant, and yelling the term "blows" to passing vehicles. According to Dineen, "blows" is street terminology for heroin. Officer Dineen further testified that as he was observing the scene, one of the passing vehicles stopped, and the subject driving the vehicle had a brief conversation with Taylor. The subject then exited the vehicle, walked over to defendant, and handed defendant a single United States currency bill. Defendant pocketed the money, and then walked over to a blue van that was parked in the lot. Officer Dineen testified that defendant bent down by the van's front tire, removed an object from that location, walked back to the subject who had given him the money, and handed the object to that man. According to Officer Dineen, based upon his experience and training, he believed that he had observed a narcotics transaction.

Officer Dineen testified that he then left his point of surveillance and, along with his partners, approached defendant and Taylor and detained them. Dineen stated that defendant was approximately 30 feet away from the van at the time he was detained. Officer Dineen then walked over to the front tire of the blue van and recovered "three zip-lock packets each containing a tin foil packet containing what I believed to be heroin." Officer Dineen testified that defendant was then placed under arrest. Upon performing a custodial search, $82 was recovered from defendant's front pants pocket and another $100 was recovered from his sock. No narcotics were recovered from defendant's person. Officer Dineen testified that the items recovered from underneath the van were inventoried under inventory number "2550419" and that "standard Chicago Police Department procedures" were followed with regard to inventorying these items.

On cross-examination, defense counsel focused on the possession element of the crime. Officer Dineen admitted that because defendant held his hand in a clenched position, he did not see the object that defendant picked up from the area near the front tire of the van. For the same reason, Officer Dineen testified that he could not tell what was handed by defendant to the individual who had given defendant money. Officer Dineen stated that he broke his surveillance after observing defendant engage in only one suspect transaction. According to Dineen, from his surveillance point, he could see both sides of the parked van, but only from the rear. Dineen acknowledged that between the time that his partners picked him up from the surveillance point—which was one block from the lot—and the time they drove to the lot, Dineen momentarily lost sight of defendant and the items allegedly located by the front tire of the parked van.

After the testimony of Officer Dineen, the following colloquy occurred:

"PROSECUTOR: Judge, at this time, the State has no further witnesses. We'd proceed by way of stipulation.

If called to testify, Lisa Gilbert, GILBERT, would be qualified as an expert in the area of forensic chemistry and would testify that in her employment as a forensic scientist at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab, she received inventory number 2550419 in a sealed condition and then inspected the contents and found the contents to be three packets. She then performed tests commonly accepted in the area of forensic chemistry for ascertaining the— the presence of a controlled substance as to one of the packets and found that one packet to be point one gram of heroin. She then estimated the weight of the remaining two packets and estimated their weight to be point two grams.

So stipulated as to Miss Gilbert's testimony?

DEFENSE COUNSEL: So stipulated.

PROSECUTOR: Judge, with that, the State would rest."

Defense counsel immediately moved for a directed finding. The court entered a finding of not guilty as to the greater charge, possession with intent. However, the court denied the motion for directed finding with regard to the lesser-included offense of possession of a controlled substance. After the court made its ruling, the defense rested. Defendant presented no evidence on his behalf.

In closing argument, defense counsel continued to focus his argument on the contention that the State had failed to satisfy its burden of proof to establish that defendant had "possession and exclusive control" of the items recovered from the front tire of the blue van. Defense counsel argued that Officer Dineen "didn't see or describe the objects at all what was recovered so we can't say for sure if [defendant] ever touched those objects." In addition, defense counsel stressed that after breaking his surveillance of defendant in the vacant lot, Officer Dineen admitted that as his partners picked him up to drive to the scene, Dineen "lost sight of the narcotics, and he lost sight of [defendant]." Defense counsel argued that during that interval, anyone could have had contact with the items recovered from the front tire of the van. Therefore, counsel concluded, there was reasonable doubt as to defendant's guilt with respect to his possession of a controlled substance, and a finding of not guilty was appropriate.

In rebuttal, the State contended that the testimony of Officer Dineen was credible and uncontradicted. In addition, the State asserted that the only individual that the officer observed exercising constructive possession over the narcotics that were recovered from the scene was defendant.

At the conclusion of closing argument, the circuit court held that the State had proven that defendant had possession of the narcotics. Accordingly, the court found defendant guilty as to the lesser charge of possession of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/402 (West 2000)).

On December 20, 2001, defendant filed a motion for new trial. The circuit court denied this motion. The court then immediately proceeded to sentencing. The State introduced defendant's prior criminal history, which included six felony convictions. Based upon his criminal background, the State argued that defendant was eligible for an extended-term sentence of six years. The circuit court agreed with the State that, based upon defendant's background, a substantial period of incarceration was merited. Accordingly, the circuit court sentenced defendant to a period of five years' incarceration.

Defendant appealed. The appellate court reversed defendant's conviction. No. 1-02-0290 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). The appellate panel agreed with defendant's contention— raised for the first time on appeal—that the State had failed to prove him guilty of possession of a controlled substance beyond a reasonable doubt because the State failed to establish a sufficient chain of custody for the recovered narcotics.

The appellate court began its analysis by holding that, to the extent that defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction, waiver was not applicable to this claim and defendant could raise the issue for the first time on direct appeal. In reviewing the evidence presented at defendant's trial, the appellate panel determined that the only common features in the testimony describing the condition of the evidence seized by Officer Dineen and the description of the evidence tested by Lisa Gilbert were the number of items and the inventory number assigned to those items. The appellate panel held that, because "[n]either the officer's testimony, nor the stipulation to the testimony provided by the forensic chemist,...