Opinion ID: 2998688
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Criminal Court Proceedings Against Evans

Text: In October of 1998, Evans’ attorney filed two motions to suppress evidence, both concerning his July 14, 1997, arrest.14 The circuit court judge heard testimony on the motions on three dates between October 1998 and February 1999, but did not rule on them immediately. 13 (...continued) concerning his arrest on May 12th and told the investigators that arresting officers, in his words, had “used excessive force and had arrested him without probable cause.” In the following weeks Evans alleged that he was approached on two other occasions by CPD officers who proceeded to threaten and attempt to intimidate him. 14 Prior to April 2, 1998 Evans was represented in his various criminal proceedings by two attorneys from the Office of the Cook County Public Defenders. Thereafter, he was represented by a private attorney. No. 03-3844 9 Subsequently, on January 14, 2000,15 the State of Illinois voluntarily withdrew one of the charges pending against Evans, a violation of probation charge that the State had filed on June 10, 1997, relating back to a 1996 conviction Evans had incurred for possession of a controlled substance. See supra p. 6 n.9. The State’s Attorney’s office felt that because Evans had served the maximum amount of jail time on his 1996 possession of a controlled sub- stance conviction while awaiting trial, the violation of probation charge was, in effect, moot. Shortly thereafter the State moved the Circuit Court to order that the probation charge had been resolved as “PTU” or “probation terminated unsatisfactory.” The Circuit Court granted the motion, issuing an order reflecting that Evans had indeed violated his probation, but not reaching the merits of the charge. On February 25, 2000, Evans’ motions to suppress concerning his July 14, 1997 arrest were argued and denied. That afternoon, a short bench trial was held on the July 14, 1997 charge, and Evans was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to one year of probation, probation terminated instanter. With the July 14, 1997 possession of a controlled substance charge resolved, the State then entered into talks with Evans in an attempt to deal with the two remaining pending charges against him, the May 12, 1997 and June 8, 1997 possession of a controlled substance charges. The State’s Attorney approached Evans with a plea bargain, whereby Evans could plead guilty to one of the charges and the State would seek the minimum punishment for that crime, four years in prison, and move to nolle prosequi the other charge. Evans agreed, and on March 12, 2000 pled guilty to the June 8, 1997 15 The cause of a delay of approximately 10 months is unclear from the record, but it may be due to Evans’ change of counsel during that period of time. 10 No. 03-3844 charge. Thereafter, the State, pursuant to the agreement, moved to nolle prosequi the May 12, 1997 charge.16 The Circuit Judge sentenced Evans to four years on the June 8, 1997 charge, with credit for 838 days time served, the period of time he spent in Cook County Jail awaiting trial.