People v. Vences

237 N.E.3d 1041

2023 IL App (4th) 220035

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Israel VENCES, Defendant-Appellant.

NO. 4-22-0035

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Filed October 24, 2023

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Woodford County, No. 20CF79, Honorable Charles M. Feeney III, Judge Presiding.

Nicholas Curran, of Kathleen T. Zellner & Associates, P.C., of Warrenville, for appellant.

Gregory Minger, State’s Attorney, of Eureka (Patrick Delfino, David J. Robinson, and Allison Paige Brooks, of State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

JUSTICE KNECHT delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 In November 2021, a jury found defendant, Israel Vences, guilty of armed violence and possession of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment of 18 years for armed violence and 2 years for possession of methamphetamine. Defendant appeals, arguing (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress; (2) the State failed to prove him guilty of possession of methamphetamine beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) his conviction for possession of methamphetamine, the predicate offense for his armed-violence conviction, must be vacated under the one-act, one-crime rule. We affirm.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On June 25, 2020, defendant was a passenger in Kelsey Pratt’s vehicle when Pratt was stopped by an officer with the Metamora Police Department. Pratt’s vehicle did not have a rear license plate. After the officer spoke with Pratt regarding the missing license plate, a deputy with the Woodford County Sheriff's Office arrived to perform a canine sniff around the vehicle. When the deputy asked defendant to step out of the vehicle, a methamphetamine pipe fell to the ground. Defendant ran. Methamphetamine was found on the passenger-side floorboard. A handgun Was found near where defendant ran.

¶ 4 Defendant was charged with armed violence (720 ILCS 5/33A-2(a) (West 2020)) and possession of methamphetamine (720 ILCS 646/60(a)(b)(1) (West 2020)). In the charge for armed violence, the methamphetamine-possession offense served as the predicate offense: "[Defendant knowingly committed the offense of Possession of Methamphetamine *** at a time the defendant was armed with a dangerous weapon, a *** handgun."

¶ 5 In May 2021, defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence he alleged to have been illegally obtained. Defendant argued the deputy who ordered defendant to exit the vehicle had no reasonable grounds to believe a crime had been committed.

¶ 6 In July 2021, a hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress was held; Pratt was the first to testify. According to Pratt, she was driving her vehicle, a 1996 Oldsmobile, when she was stopped by the police near Metamora, Illinois, at approximately 8:46 p.m. Defendant was riding with Pratt. The officer told Pratt she did not have a registration plate on the back of her vehicle and asked for her identification and insurance information. The officer returned to his vehicle. When he returned to Pratt’s vehicle, he asked for defendant’s identification. Defendant did not have identification, so he gave the officer his name. Again, the officer went back to his vehicle. When he returned to Pratt’s vehicle, he told defendant to get out of the car. Pratt was not sure the same officer who asked for her identification asked for defendant’s. She was not sure there were two officers on the scene. She did not see a dog other than the one that was sitting on defendant’s lap.

¶ 7 On cross-examination, Pratt acknowledged she did not have a rear registration plate. The officer told Pratt he would give her a warning. When asked how much time had passed from the time she was stopped until the moment defendant exited her vehicle, Pratt estimated "[f]ive, ten minutes." After defendant exited the car, he ran. The officers told Pratt to exit the car.

¶ 8 On redirect examination, Pratt testified the officer said, "I’m going to have you step out of the car." When asked if she had gotten her ticket yet or the warning for the registration plate, Pratt stated, "I believe I did. I’m not 100 percent, though, if I got it before or after. But I believe I got it before."

¶ 9 Defendant, age 27, testified he saw Pratt give the officer her driver’s license and insurance card. Another officer arrived at the scene. Defendant did not see a dog with that officer. After one of the officers told Pratt she did not have a rear license plate and asked her for her identifi- cation and proof of insurance, they did not ask her additional questions. The officer who walked up to defendant’s side of the vehicle asked defendant for his identification. Defendant testified the officer who spoke to him was not the same officer who pulled over Pratt. The officer told defendant to "please step out of the vehicle."

¶ 10 On cross-examination, defendant testified that when he stood, the methamphetamine pipe that was on his lap fell and broke. When this happened, the officer reached for defendant’s arm. Defendant turned and ran. The interaction at the passenger side of the car was "a short interaction." Defendant said the officer asked for his name, walked back to his vehicle (he believed), returned to Pratt’s vehicle, and asked defendant to step out. Pratt was his fiancée.

¶ 11 When asked the reason he ran from the police, defendant testified, "I was on a lot of drugs." He stated, "[E]verything happened pretty fast." Defendant ran into the field. Defendant believed the time from when they were pulled over until he "ended up running" was "about 10 minutes." Defendant admitted dropping a handgun as he ran. "I know he didn’t give her a written warning. We were waiting for—I do believe he walked back to the vehicle, and then he came back after he got my name. And then asked me to step out. There was no discussion about giving a warning. He didn’t give her a piece of paper when-—before I ran." Defendant did not see a police dog at the scene.

¶ 12 The State called Jesse Polston, a deputy with the Woodford County Sheriff's Office. Deputy Polston testified he was requested to assist Metamora Officer Darren Donald with a free-air sniff by his canine partner. Deputy Colton Zehr, a field training officer, was with Polston. When Polston arrived at the scene of the stop, Donald was sitting in his squad car completing paperwork. While "continuously working on his paperwork," Donald talked to Polston, telling him he wanted a canine sniff of the vehicle. After talking to Donald, Polston approached the passenger side of the vehicle. Zehr approached the driver’s side. Polston introduced himself to defendant and asked him to step out of the vehicle. At this time, Donald continued working on the paperwork. Defendant exited the vehicle. As he did, Polston heard glass break on the pavement. He looked and saw a methamphetamine pipe shattered on the ground. Upon seeing the pipe, Polston told defendant to face the car. Defendant pulled away and ran into a field. Both Zehr and Donald ran after him but did not catch him. They found a pistol near where defendant ran.

¶ 13 Deputy Polston testified his conversation with Donald upon his arrival lasted less than a minute. From the time Polston pulled up to the scene and the time defendant fled was approximately two-and-a-half to three minutes.

¶ 14 Deputy Darren Donald of the Woodford County Sheriff's Office testified that, on the date defendant was arrested, he was working as a Metamora police officer. Donald pulled over a vehicle for no rear registration. In that vehicle was a female driver, Pratt; defendant was the passenger. Donald approached the driver’s side and explained the reason for the stop. Pratt had thought there was a license plate on the back of her vehicle. Donald intended to give Pratt a written warning for the violation. He asked defendant if he had identification. Defendant stated he did not, but he gave Donald his name. After he collected the information, the deputy walked back to his squad car. As he was walking, he contacted dispatch with his "mic pack" to request a canine unit. Donald did so "[b]ecause in my past dealings with [defendant] to my knowledge he’s involved with narcotics" or methamphet- amines. Donald testified that the call-in did not delay his traffic stop. At the squad car, the deputy began writing the written warning for Pratt. In so doing, he performed "a warrant check and standard operating procedure." Deputy Polston arrived shortly after, approximately "a few minutes" later. The stop was captured on the squad car’s video.

¶ 15 After Deputy Polston arrived, Deputy Donald "told him why I had him on the traffic stop" and "informed him that in the past incident with [defendant] is that he has been known to have narcotics on him." While Donald continued writing the warning, Polston asked if Donald wanted a canine sniff of the vehicle. Donald replied he did. Polston approached the passenger side and began talking to defendant. Defendant stepped out of the car, took a couple of steps toward the back of the vehicle, and then ran into a wheat field. Donald took chase. Pratt did not exit the vehicle until after she was asked to. The free-air sniff did not take place.

¶ 16 After Polston informed Donald a methamphetamine pipe had broken, Donald searched the car for further contraband. He found a clear plastic bag with white residue and an ammunition, magazine that matched the handgun that was found in the wheat field. The items were found in the passenger area of the vehicle.

¶ 17 The trial court began by explicitly applying the analysis of our decision in People v. Musgrave, 2019 IL App (4th) 170106, 435 Ill.Dec. 810, 141 N.E.3d 320. The court observed Pratt’s vehicle was stopped at 9:28:50 p.m., and Deputy Polston arrived at 9:32:32 p.m., less than four minutes after the stop. When defendant ran at 9:34 p.m., according to the court, Deputy Donald was working on the paperwork. The court...