People v. Wright, Docket No. 119561
| Decision Date | 21 September 2017 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 119561 |
| Citation | 2017 IL 119561,91 N.E.3d 826 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Eugene WRIGHT, Appellee. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Anita Alvarez, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Michelle Katz, Annette Collins, and Jon Walters, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
Michael J. Pelletier, State Appellate Defender, Patricia Mysza, Deputy Defender, and Peter Sgro, Assistant Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Chicago, for appellee.
¶ 1 This appeal arises from the conviction of defendant, Eugene Wright, of armed robbery with a firearm ( 720 ILCS 5/18-2(a)(2) (West 2010)) following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County. Prior to being allowed to represent himself, defendant was admonished by the circuit court pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 401(a) (eff. July 1, 1984) but was incorrectly informed of the potential maximum sentence of the charged offense. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial based upon this incorrect admonishment while affirming on all other grounds addressed. 2015 IL App (1st) 123496, ¶ 86, 393 Ill.Dec. 37, 33 N.E.3d 781. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part the appellate court's judgment.
¶ 3 Defendant and codefendant, Michael Morgan, were charged with armed robbery with a firearm in connection with the December 26, 2010, robbery of a Bakers Square restaurant at 7131 North Western Avenue in Chicago.1
¶ 4 At the grand jury proceedings on August 15, 2011, Detective Allen Lee testified that he investigated the robbery at the restaurant. According to his testimony, defendant and codefendant walked into the restaurant, and codefendant announced a robbery. The two men exited after taking money from the safe. Detective Lee testified that codefendant had the handgun that was used in the crime, that codefendant had time to dispose of the weapon before he was apprehended by police, and that no weapon was recovered. Detective Lee also testified that defendant was positively identified by one of the victims of the robbery and by Chicago police officer Paul Cirrincione, who had been staking out the restaurant. The grand jury returned a true bill for armed robbery with a firearm.
¶ 5 On February 7, 2011, defendant was arraigned. He was represented at the hearing by a public defender. Defendant informed the court that he would not agree to continuances. The public defender told the court that she would have to withdraw as counsel, as she was not ready for trial. After the public defender sought a continuance to order discovery, defendant told the court that he wanted to hire his own attorney, and the case was continued.
¶ 6 On February 24, 2011, defendant advised the court that he had not retained his own counsel and indicated that he wished to proceed pro se . The trial court informed him that he had a right to an attorney, but the court would not appoint counsel other than the one from the public defender's office. The court also informed defendant that he had the right to represent himself but that if he did so he would be held to the same standards as an attorney. The court admonished defendant that he was charged with armed robbery in two different cases and that he could possibly be sentenced to consecutive sentences with a range of 21 to 45 years in prison for each conviction.2 After the State informed the court that defendant was eligible for a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison because of his criminal background, the court admonished defendant that he could be eligible for an extended-term sentence with a maximum term of 60 years' imprisonment. Defendant reiterated that he wanted to proceed pro se .
¶ 7 On March 1, 2011, the trial court admonished defendant again pursuant to Rule 401(a). The court informed defendant, inter alia , that based upon his criminal history and the use of a handgun during the offense, he faced concurrent sentences of 21 to 60 years in prison on the charged offenses. During questioning by the trial court, defendant represented that he had completed two years of college and had experience with the criminal justice system. The trial court ultimately allowed defendant to proceed pro se .
¶ 8 On July 17, 2012, defendant's jury trial commenced.
¶ 9 Martin Perez, the manager of the Bakers Square restaurant at 7131 North Western Avenue, testified that prior to the robbery, he had received a few e-mails from his employer that two black men, both about six feet tall, had robbed another Bakers Square restaurant in the area. On December 26, 2010, shortly before 11 p.m., Michael Morina, a waiter at the restaurant, told Perez that someone wanted to place an order to go. Perez went to the front of the restaurant and saw codefendant. He was wearing a grey hoodie and a white hat. Perez asked codefendant if he could help him. Codefendant turned around and lifted his hoodie to reveal what "looked like a black automatic, black gun" tucked into the waistband of his pants. Codefendant informed him, " ‘[t]his is a robbery; take me to the office.’ " Perez testified that he was sure the gun was an actual firearm. He thought it was a semiautomatic pistol and related that he had experience firing such guns.
¶ 10 Perez further testified that he observed defendant enter the restaurant and approach the counter. Defendant was wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, and a black headband or hat. Perez walked toward the office with codefendant behind him. While he was walking, Perez "felt something sharp in [his] back," which he thought was a gun. Once in the office, codefendant ordered Perez to open the safe and give him the money inside. Perez complied and gave codefendant a deposit bag marked "Bakers Square" as well as some loose bills. Footage from a surveillance camera inside Perez's office was shown to the jury. Perez identified defendant on the video as the man who came into the office after codefendant and grabbed rolls of coins from the safe.
¶ 11 Perez testified that after he gave codefendant the money, codefendant told him to gather all of his employees. Perez asked Morina, Tsehayens Tsegaye, a waitress, and Leo Martinez, a cook, to come toward the kitchen. Codefendant then told all of them to throw their cell phones into a garbage can. He also demanded Morina's tip money, and Morina complied. Codefendant ordered all of the employees into the walk-in cooler and told them to wait there for five minutes before exiting. Once inside, Perez pulled the alarm located inside. About 15 minutes after the police arrived, Perez was asked to look through the blinds of the restaurant at two suspects standing in the parking lot. Perez positively identified codefendant as the man with the gun. He also positively identified defendant as the second offender.
¶ 12 Tsegaye and Morina testified consistently with Perez. Tsegaye testified that when she asked codefendant why he wanted her to throw her cell phone into the garbage, he told her she was being robbed and lifted his shirt up to reveal the handle of a gun in his waistband. She identified codefendant as the man who had the gun but did not view the second person at the show-up because she did not see his face. Morina testified that he also observed the handle of codefendant's gun. He had seen guns before and believed it to be a "9 millimeter pistol." Morina identified codefendant at the show-up. He testified that during the robbery he also observed another individual in a black hooded sweatshirt going toward the manager's office.
¶ 13 Officer Cirrincione testified that on December 26, 2010, at 10:30 p.m., he and Officer Tracy Walczak started conducting surveillance of the Bakers Square restaurant on Western Avenue. They chose that time because a nearby Bakers Square had recently been robbed close to closing. The officers had been informed that the other robbery had been carried out by two black males in their late twenties or early thirties. The two men had been observed leaving that location in a dark or black van with tinted windows.
¶ 14 Officer Cirrincione further testified that on December 26, 2010, he and his partner were in an unmarked vehicle approximately 100 feet from one of the entrances to the restaurant. Shortly before 11 p.m., he observed two men who fit the general description of the subjects leave the restaurant and walk quickly south on Western Avenue. The officers followed the two men by car as they walked east onto Estes Street. Officer Cirrincione asked them to approach the car, and they fled on foot in different directions. The man he identified as defendant was wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie, and something covering part of his head. He ran east on Estes Street while the man he identified as codefendant ran southwest to a nearby mini-mall parking lot. Officer Walczak got out of the car and chased codefendant on foot.
¶ 15 Officer Cirrincione testified that he drove the car around the alley east of the mini-mall in an attempt to cut off codefendant. At the beginning of the chase, he briefly lost sight of codefendant. Officer Cirrincione eventually got out of the car and chased codefendant on foot. While in pursuit, he received a radio call that the Bakers Square restaurant had been robbed. He continued the foot chase until codefendant slipped in front of a house at 2322 West Greenleaf Street. He and other officers were able to detain codefendant there. A search of codefendant's person revealed a night deposit bag labeled "Bakers Square," which contained a large bundle of cash. They also discovered a separate large bundle of loose bills in his pocket. The police searched the surrounding area, which was covered by a large amount of snow. They were unable to locate a firearm.
¶ 16 Sergeant Ken Lewandowski...
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