2024 IL App (2d) 230 446-U No. 2 -23-0446 Order filed January 11, 2024 NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23( b) and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)( 1 ).

______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT

______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS , ) of De Kalb County. ) Plaintiff

- Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 23- CF -597 ) DARNELL TORRES , ) Honorable ) Philip G. Montgomery , Defendant -Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding.

______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE KENNEDY delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Hutchinson and Schostok concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶ 1 Held : The trial court did not err in denying defendant’s pretrial releas e. ¶ 2 Defendant, Darnell Torres , app eals from the denial of his pretrial release under section
110- 6.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Code) (725 ILCS 5/ 110-6.1 (West 20 22 )). The Office of the State Appellate Defender declined to file a memorandum pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 604(h) (eff. Oct. 19, 2023), and defendant stands on his notice of appeal. For the following reasons, we affirm.2024 IL App (2d) 230 446-U

- 2 - ¶ 3 On October 27, 2023 , defendant was charged by complaint with three counts: (1) aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when defendant did not have a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card (720 ILCS 5/24

- 1.6(a)(3)(c) (West 2022)); (2 ) aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when defendant did not have a valid concealed carry license ( id. § 24 -1.6(a)(3)(a-5) ); and (3 ) unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon ( id. § 24 -1.1(a)), alleg ing that defendant had been convicted of a Class 4 felo ny in De Kalb County (23

- CF -36001) and two Class 3 felonies in Kane County (13

- CF

- 10330, 10

- CF -2100). ¶ 4 That same day, defendant initially appeared before the trial court and the State filed its verified petition to deny defendant’s pretrial releas e . Along with its verified petition, the State also filed a police department synopsis, which provided as follows. Officers made an investigative vehicle stop on October 26, 2023, where a police dog alerted to the odor of narcotics in the vehicle. Defendant, who ap peared to be intoxicated, exited the vehicle from the right rear passenger door

. Officers found a loaded Glock handgun with a clear extended magazine on the right rear passenger floorboard near where defendant had been sitting in the vehicle , and they arrested defendant. Defendant did not have a FOID card or concealed carry license. Last, the synopsis provided that defendant’s previous Class 4 felony conviction in De Kalb County was for aggravat ed resisting, and his two Class 3 felony conviction s in Kane County were for aggravated battery and aggravated battery with a weapon. ¶ 5 Also on October 27, 2023, the trial court heard the State’s petition and denied defendant’s pretrial release. The trial co urt had read the police department synopsis and found it contained sufficient information to make a probable cause finding that defendant committed an offense. The
court also noted that defendant’s two codefendants told police they had observed defendant w ith the handgun that officers found on the rear seat floorboard near where defendant had been seated.2024 IL App (2d) 230 446-U

- 3 - ¶ 6 The trial court continued that , at the time of the alleged offense, defendant was on diversion for a domestic battery and on probation for resisting a pe ace officer , and it found that defendant had a criminal history that included a 2013 aggravated battery conviction and a 2011 violation of an order of protection. The court reasoned that aggravated and domestic batteries were crimes of violence, and defend ant’s prior unlawful use of a weapon evinced a history of unlawfully possessing firearms. Based on the facts of the case and defendant’s criminal history, the court found that defendant posed a real and present threat to the safety of the community and that no set of conditions could mitigate that threat. The court entered a written order the same day. ¶ 7 Defendant timely appealed. In defendant’s notice of appeal, he raises four grounds for relief : (1) the State failed to prove that he committed the offenses charged; (2) the State failed to prove defendant’s dangerousness; (3) the State failed to prove that no conditions could mitigate defendant’s dangerousness, including electronic home monitoring ; and (4) the trial court erred in its determination that no set of conditions would reasonably ensure defendant’s appearance at later hearings , including electronic home monitoring

. ¶ 8 Pretrial release is governed by article 110 of the Code. 725 ILCS 5/ 110-1 et seq
. (West 2022) . Under the Code, a defendant’s pretrial release may be denied only for certain charged offenses

. Id. §§ 110

- 2(a), 110 -6.1. Here, d efendant ’s charged offenses are qualifying offenses. See id. § 110- 6.1(a)(6)(O) (listing as qualifying offenses the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and the unlawful possession of weapons by felons). ¶ 9 To d eny a defendant pretrial release , t he trial court must find that the State proved the following by clear and con vincing evidence: (1) the proof wa s evident or the presumption great that defendant committed a detainable offense ( id. § 110- 6.1(e)(1)); (2) defendant’s pretrial release posed a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the communi ty ( id. § 110

-2024 IL App (2d) 230 446-U

- 4 - 6.1(e)(2)); and (3) no condition or combination of conditions c ould mitigate the real and present threat to the safety of any person or the community or prevent the defendant’s willful flight from prosecution ( id. § 110 -6.1(e)(3) ). We review whether the trial court’s finding s were against the manifest weight of the evidence. People v. Trottier , 2023 IL App (2d) 230317, ¶ 13; People v. Vingara , 2023 IL App (5th) 230698, ¶ 10

. A finding is against the manifest weight of the evidence when it is u nreasonable. People v. Sims , 2022 IL App (2d) 200391, ¶ 72. We review the trial court’s ultimate decision regarding pretrial release for an abuse of discretion. Trottier , 2023 IL App (2d) 230317, ¶ 13. ¶ 10 Here, the trial court’s findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence and its decision to detain defendant was not an abuse of discretion. First, the record supported that defendant committed the charged offenses of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon . Per the State’s factual synopsis, after defendant exi ted the vehicle from the right rear passenger door, officers observed a Glock handgun on the floor near the right rear passenger seat where defendant had been sitting

. D efendant’s codefendants identified the handgun as defendant’s weapon. Furthermore, defendant has a criminal record that includes prior felonies, and the State proffered that he did not have a FOID card or concealed carry license. ¶ 11 Second, as to defendant’s dangerousness, several section 110

- 6.1(g) factors were present: the offense involved a weapon (725 ILCS 5/110

- 6.1(g)(1) (West 2022) ); defendant had a criminal history indicative of violent, abusive, or assaultive behavior ( id. § 110-6.1(g)(2)(A)) , including a prior conviction for aggravated battery; defendant was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm ( id. § 110- 6.1(g)(7) ); and at the time of the charged offense, defendant was on probation ( id. § 110- 6.1(g)(8) ). Given defendant’s criminal history and sec tion 110 -6.1(g)’s implicit recognition of the inherent danger of firearms, the trial court’s finding that defendant posed a real2024 IL App (2d) 230 446-U

- 5 - and present threat to the safety of the community was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. ¶ 12 Third, the evidence supported the trial court’s determination that no set of conditions could mitigate the threat defendant posed to the community. Although defendant suggests home monitoring, he is a convicted felon who previously failed to abide by an order of protection and is

now charged with committing an offense involving possession of a firearm while he is on probation as well as on diversion for a domestic battery . Defendant’s criminal history, which indicates a lack of compliance and respect for co nditions or restrictions, reasonably supports the trial court’s finding that less restrictive conditions would not ensure the safety of the community. ¶ 13 Finally, as to defendant’s fourth ground for relief, the trial court never found

— nor was it required to find— that any set of conditions would ensure his future appearance s . See id. § 110- 6.1(e) (providing the eligibility requirements the State must prove, as listed supra ¶ 9 ); id. § 110

- 6.1(d)(1) (the detention order must make a written finding that less restrictive conditions would not avoid the defendant’s threat to others’ safety or prevent the defendant’s willful flight from prosecution). ¶ 14 For these reasons, the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s pretrial release, and w e affirm t he judgment of the De Kalb County circuit court

. ¶ 15 Affirmed.