People v. Rahaman

1

2024 IL App (4th) 230105-U

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JORDAN R. RAHAMAN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-23-0105

Court of Appeals of Illinois, Fourth District

February 15, 2024

This Order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Pike County No. 21CF219 Honorable Debra L. Wellborn, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE DOHERTY delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Harris and DeArmond concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

DOHERTY JUSTICE

¶ 1 Held: The propriety of the trial court's denial of defendant's pretrial motion is forfeited and not subject to the plain error doctrine, and defendant received effective assistance of trial counsel.

¶ 2 Defendant Jordan R. Rahaman was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to 20 years in prison for armed robbery (720 ILCS 5/18-2(a)(1) (West 2020) and 5 years in prison for intimidation (id. § 12-6(a)(5)), possession of a stolen vehicle (625 ILCS 5/4-103(a)(1) (West 2020), and aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12-3.05 (a)(1) (West 2020)) each to be served concurrently. On appeal he argues that (1) the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to bar evidence that he choked his girlfriend (the victim's daughter) the day before the incident at trial; (2) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to preserve the arguments in a motion for new trial, failing to object to various errors in the admission of evidence and with jury instructions, and failing to argue every mitigating factor at sentencing; and (3) cumulative error. We affirm.

¶ 3 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 4 In September 2021, the State charged defendant with multiple counts arising out of an altercation with Timothy Gallagher on September 8, 2021. Specifically, defendant was charged by information with aggravated robbery (count I) (720 ILCS 5/18-1(b)(1) (West 2020)), unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle (count II) (625 ILCS 5/4-103(a)(1) (West 2020)), aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm (count III) (720 ILCS 5/12-3.05(a)(1) (West 2020)), aggravated battery (strangulation) (count IV) (id. § 12-3.05(a)(5)), intimidation (count V) (id. § 12-6(a)(5)), and aggravated assault with a knife (count VI) (id. § 12-2(c)(1)). An amended information was subsequently filed in March 2022, adding charges of armed robbery while carrying a dangerous weapon (count VII) (id. § 18-2(a)(1)) and armed violence with a knife (count VIII) (id. §§ 33A-2(a), 33A-3(a-5)).

¶ 5 A. Pretrial Motion

¶ 6 Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to bar testimony of an encounter he had with Hannah English Gallagher, who was both his girlfriend and the daughter of the victim, Timothy Gallagher, the day before the September 8 incident giving rise to the instant charges. It was alleged that defendant became violent towards Hannah and attempted to choke her. According to the State, the statement:

"shows that he was becoming violent, sort of erratically violent, which is exactly what Mr. Gallagher, the victim, is going to say as far as how it began. So, extremely close in time. It appears that she's saying that it was the day before the incident. It involves the exact same people, three people in this little apartment. The defendant [became] violent toward one of them, and, then shortly thereafter, the defendant [became] violent toward the other of them. I think it's admissible not to show that he's a bad person but to show what actually happened in this particular sequence of events that led up to the charges in this case."

¶ 7 Defense counsel argued, "the fact that there had been a disagreement for whatever reason over whatever between Hannah Gallagher and [defendant], I think would be somewhat prejudicial to [defendant] in relation to these specific charges against [him]." Defendant's counsel asserted that although Timothy was free to testify as to what behavior defendant engaged in on the day of the incident, he maintained that "anything involving Hannah or any other person prior to this date would be prejudicial to my client."

¶ 8 The State responded that one of the charges against defendant alleged aggravated battery by strangulation, which "is something that Mr. Gallagher has always said happened as part of the attack by the defendant." The State continued, "So [defendant] suddenly becoming angry and choking someone the day before, involving the exact same parties and very close in time, I think that would be relevant to him suddenly becoming angry and doing the same thing to Mr. Gallagher the next day, relevant to the charge itself."

¶ 9 The trial court denied defendant's motion to exclude the testimony, finding that the statement was not made "in a timeframe so distant from what was actually occurring over that period of three days that it does not have relevance in regard to that; in addition to that, an allegation of that same type of physical action or reaction by the defendant."

¶ 10 B. Trial

¶ 11 Counts I (aggravated robbery) and VI (aggravated assault with a knife) were dismissed and the case proceeded to jury trial on July 11, 2022, on counts II, III, IV, V, VII, and VIII. The primary witnesses included Timothy, Hannah, Timothy's neighbor Diane Little, and Pittsfield Deputy Chief Jennifer Thompson.

¶ 12 1. Prior Relationships

¶ 13 Defendant and his girlfriend Hannah had both been involved with drugs; Hannah described herself as a drug addict, with methamphetamine and fentanyl being her drugs of choice. She testified that she had used drugs with defendant and that he had told her demons spoke to him and told him to do things. Timothy testified that he did not like defendant and related that the two had been involved in an altercation in June at Timothy's mother's funeral. Defendant had accompanied Hannah to the funeral and was asked to leave. When he refused, an argument ensued during which Timothy struck defendant on the head with a cane.

¶ 14 2. September 4-Pick Up in St. Louis

¶ 15 On September 4, 2021, Timothy received a phone call from his daughter Hannah between 1 and 1:30 a.m. asking him to pick her up in St. Louis, Missouri. Hannah told her father that she had no money and that she and defendant had been robbed and beaten up. She also said she wanted to "get clean." Timothy immediately traveled to St. Louis and brought Hannah and defendant back to his apartment in Pittsfield, Illinois. He had not planned on bringing defendant back with him, but his daughter refused to leave without him.

¶ 16 Once back at Timothy's apartment, defendant and Hannah rested for a few days, and Hannah became sick from withdrawal. The plan was for Hannah to detoxify at her father's apartment and to seek professional help. Timothy said he had made several phone calls to arrange help for Hannah. Defendant was supposed to stay at Timonthy's apartment just to rest and then go stay with a family member in Indiana. According to Timothy, defendant "wasn't supposed to stay." He added, "I certainly agreed to let, you know, let them get some sleep. I needed it myself. But I was under the impression that he was going to continue on to wherever he was going, where he had family." Timothy said he wanted defendant to leave but that when defendant said he was leaving, Hannah became upset and did not want him to go.

¶ 17 3. September 7-Choking Incident

¶ 18 According to Hannah, defendant attempted to choke her during an argument the day before the September 8 altercation. She testified, "he put his hands around my throat and choked me," and she "couldn't breathe." She did not recall what the fight was about.

¶ 19 4. September 8-The Altercation

¶ 20 On September 8, 2021, Timothy had come back from visiting his neighbor Diane (three apartments away) with the intention of going to McDonald's to buy her a sandwich for lunch. Before leaving, he checked with his daughter, who asked him to get her a McFlurry. As he was leaving his apartment, he had a disagreement with defendant. According to Timothy, defendant had asked to stay for three days, and Timothy responded, "that wasn't going to happen," and he said that defendant "needed to go." At that point, according to Timothy, defendant attacked him, and the two got into a fight. Timothy said defendant struck him several times, kicked him in the head and ribs, choked him, and knocked him onto a table and onto the ground. He also said that defendant threatened him with a knife, holding it to his throat. According to Timothy, defendant also poured lighter fluid on him and threatened to set him on fire with a lighter and a candle that had been burning on the kitchen table.

¶ 21 At the time of the confrontation, Hannah was in the back bedroom, but she came out once the altercation started. She testified that he saw her father standing by the door and then he fell to the ground. Defendant was "[k]ind of standing over him, over him but behind him at the same time." She said her father looked "sad" and that "his nose was bleeding, his eyes were watering, and his hands were shaking." She also said his neck was red. She did not see the actual fight but said her father did not have any marks on his face earlier in the day. Hannah acknowledged that she had smoked methamphetamine with defendant before the incident, which affected her memory.

¶ 22 Timothy said that defendant went through his closets and began taking items and telling Hannah to put them into either a bag or suitcase and take them to Timothy's car. Hannah did not recall what defendant told her to do but acknowledged that he was telling her to do something and that she complied. She did, however, recall that defendant told her to go to Diane's apartment to...