Title: People v. Cramer

State: illinois

Issuer: Illinois Supreme Court

Document:

85 Ill. 2d 92 (1981)
421 N.E.2d 189
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant,
v.
RICHARD CRAMER, Appellee.
No. 53336.

Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed March 31, 1981.
Rehearing denied June 4, 1981.
*93 Tyrone C. Fahner and William J. Scott, Attorneys General, of Springfield, and Michael M. Mihm, State's Attorney, of Peoria (John X. Breslin and Gary F. Gnidovec, of the State's Attorneys Appellate Service Commission, of Ottawa, of counsel), for the People.
*94 Robert Agostinelli, Deputy Defender, and Peter A. Carusona, Assistant Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Ottawa, for appellee.
Appellate court reversed; circuit court affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE CLARK delivered the opinion of the court:
This case involves the propriety of refusing a jury instruction tendered by defendant on the ground that it was not based on an offense included within the charged offense. The tendered instruction was refused by the trial court, and defendant was convicted in the circuit court of Peoria County of the offense of theft of property having a value in excess of $150. On appeal the appellate court reversed the judgment of the circuit court and remanded the cause for a new trial. (81 Ill. App.3d 525.) We granted the State leave to appeal and we now reverse.
The facts on which defendant was convicted were fully summarized in the appellate court and can be briefly restated. The indictment charged defendant with violating section 16-1(a)(1) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 16-1(a)(1)), in that "he did knowingly exert unauthorized control over property of T.R. Bonds, said property being, a Chevrolet truck having a total value in excess of $150, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the use and benefit of said property."
The evidence was clearly sufficient to support a theft conviction, for the defendant admitted that he took the truck and drove it, although there was evidence from which the jury could have inferred that defendant did not intend to permanently deprive the owner of the use and benefit of the truck. Theft of property with a value in excess of $150 is a Class 3 felony. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 16-1(e)(3).) Defendant tendered a jury instruction based upon section 4-103(a) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 95 1/2, par. *95 4-103(a)) a Class 4 felony (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 95 1/2, par. 4-108(b)), contending that the statutory provision was an included offense in theft and that the conflict engendered regarding defendant's mental state justified giving this instruction. As previously noted, the trial court refused to give the instruction and the appellate court held this refusal erroneous.
Despite the lack of a rule comparable to Rule 31(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 31(c)) and the apparent lack of a prior case of this court on the issue, both sides agree that if the tendered instruction here were based on an offense included in theft, defendant was entitled to have the instruction given. As the United States Supreme Court has stated:
In Beck v. Alabama (1980), 447 U.S. 625, 636 n. 12, 65 L. Ed. 2d 392, 402 n. 12, 100 S. Ct. 2382, 2388-89 n. 12, it was observed that "[a]lthough the states vary in their descriptions of the quantum of proof necessary to give rise to a right to a lesser included offense instruction, they agree that it must be given when supported by the evidence." Cited in support are decisions of 46 jurisdictions, including a decision of our appellate court (People v. Simpson (1978), 57 Ill. App.3d 442) that so held, extracting the principle from cases like People v. Joyner (1972), 50 Ill. 2d 302, in which a defendant *96 charged with murder was allowed to have the jury instructed on manslaughter. Accord, People v. Taylor (1967), 36 Ill. 2d 483; People v. Latimer (1966), 35 Ill. 2d 178.
The circumstances under which an included-offense jury instruction should be given, and the reasons for the rule, were articulated in Keeble v. United States (1973), 412 U.S. 205, 36 L. Ed. 2d 844, 93 S. Ct. 1993. There, an Indian charged with the commission, on an Indian reservation, of a crime enumerated in the Major Crimes Act of 1885 (Major Crimes Act, ch. 341, par. 9, 23 Stat. 385 (1885) (current version at 18 U.S.C. secs. 1153, 3242)) was denied a jury instruction on a lesser included offense because that offense was not one of the crimes enumerated in the Act. The government conceded that the instruction tendered was a lesser included offense, but argued that there was no jurisdiction to try the defendant for the included offense, and, furthermore, that the defendant might be better off without a right to the tendered instruction because the jury, if the evidence did not warrant conviction of the crime charged, would acquit him. The court responded:
See also Beck v. Alabama (1980), 447 U.S. 625, 633-35, 65 L. Ed. 2d 392, 400-01, 100 S. Ct. 2382, 2387-88.
In view of the foregoing, we believe that the principle agreed upon by the parties is sound. "Thus, `[i]n a case where some of the elements of the crime charged themselves constitute a lesser crime, the defendant, if the evidence justifie[s] it, * * * [is] entitled to an instruction which would permit a finding of guilt of the lesser offense.' [Citations.]" (Emphasis added.) (Sansone v. United States (1965), 380 U.S. 343, 349, 13 L.Ed.2d *98 882, 887-88, 85 S. Ct. 1004, 1009; see also Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 2-9.) The United States Supreme Court has never analyzed the included-offense doctrine, when applied to a defendant's request for an included-offense jury instruction, from the perspective of a comparison of the abstract elements of the statutes under which the crime was charged and the statute on which defendant grounded the tendered instruction, the perspective the State urges us to adopt in the instant case. In fact, the court has never even discussed that test as articulated in Blockburger v. United States (1932), 284 U.S. 299, 76 L. Ed. 306, 52 S. Ct. 180, or even cited that opinion or its progeny in the context of the issue presented here. Rather, as can be seen from the excerpt of Sansone quoted above, the analysis has focused upon the crime charged in order to determine whether the offense upon which an instruction is sought is included within it. (See also People v. Lewis (1966), 34 Ill. 2d 199; Comment, Jury Instructions on Lesser Included Offenses 57 Nw. U.L. Rev. 62, 62-65 (1962).) We intimate no view here upon whether the evidence as adduced at trial could support a defendant's tendered instruction where the terms of the indictment could not.
Nevertheless, the included-offense doctrine does not apply where the two offenses in a particular case involve the same issues of disputed fact. (Berra v. United States (1966), 351 U.S. 131, 100 L. Ed. 1013, 76 S. Ct. 685; Sansone v. United States (1966), 380 U.S. 343, 13 L. Ed. 2d 882, 85 S. Ct. 1004.) In Berra, the defendant was charged with violating section 145(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (Int. Rev. Code of 1939 sec. 145(b), 53 Stat. 63 (now I.R.C. sec. 7201)), which made it an offense to wilfully defeat the imposition of a tax. Section 3616(a) of the Code (Int. Rev. Code of 1939 sec. 3616(a), 53 Stat. 440 (now I.R.C. sec. 7207)) made it a crime for any person to deliver a false statement to the collector with the *99 intent to defeat or evade the proper payment of a tax. The defendant, not charged with violating section 3616(a), nevertheless tendered an instruction premised upon it. Both sections 3616(a) and 145(b) were deemed applicable to the filing of false tax returns for purposes of the case, but the court held that defendant was not entitled to his tendered instruction:
(See also People v. Buffalo Confectionery Co. (1980), 78 Ill. 2d 447, 458 (prosecutorial discretion to charge more serious offense if same facts establish two violations).) The court reaffirmed this holding in Sansone v. United States (1966), 380 U.S. 343, 349-50, 13 L. Ed. 2d 882, 888, 85 S. Ct. 1004, 1009:
Applying this principle to the instant case, it is clear why the trial court's refusal of the tendered instruction was correct. The indictment, as noted, charged defendant with theft of a truck having a value of more than $150. The tendered defense instruction mirrored section 4-103(a) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 95 1/2, par. 4-103(a)), which states in pertinent part:
Whether an instruction containing only the element of conversion would be proper in a similar case is an issue we need not now reach, because defendant's tendered instruction would have allowed the jury to convict defendant of violating section 4-103(a), on the same facts necessary to convict him of theft.
Here, there was no evidence that the vehicle had been taken by another person. Thus defendant could be convicted of violating section 4-103(a) only if he possessed the vehicle, without authorization, knowing it to have been stolen or converted. The word "stolen" here obviously refers to a theft. Accordingly, defendant would have to know he had stolen or converted the truck, i.e., he would have had to have stolen or converted it, before he could be found guilty. He could not, under these facts, be found guilty of violating this section on the basis of unauthorized possession of the truck, as defendant urges. Although defendant's intent was a disputed issue here, the tendered instruction did not require the jury to convict him of the lesser offense on the basis that he had *101 no intent to permanently deprive the owner of the truck. Rather, a jury conviction under section 4-103(a) would be an inconclusive finding of fact about defendant's mental state, since it would not be clear whether the jury found the defendant knew that he converted it or whether he knew that he had stolen it.
Accordingly, the appellate court judgment reversing this conviction is reversed, and the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Appellate court reversed; circuit court affirmed.