Court Opinion

ID: 9526165
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:13:32.957543+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:02.653599
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF PETITION FOR REHEARING Mr. JUSTICE GUILD delivered the opinion of the court: The defendant has petitioned this court for a rehearing praying that we reconsider that portion of our opinion wherein we held that the trial court properly entered judgments of conviction on both the verdict of guilty of burglary and the verdict of guilty of armed robbery. Citing People v. Williams (1975), 60 Ill.2d 1, 322 N.E.2d 819, the defendant argues that the instant offenses arose out of identical conduct and, as a result, the judgment of conviction of only the more serious of the two offenses, armed robbery, can stand. We based our holding upon our conclusion that in the instant case the offenses of burglary and armed robbery were separate offenses which justify separate judgments of conviction. We adhere to that view. In Williams, die defendant and an accomplice, feigning car trouble, gained entry into a private residence and immediately thereafter shot and killed one Mr. Calderone, who had opened his front door carrying an unloaded revolver. The defendant and his accomplice then, following a confrontation with Mrs. Calderone, and the disconnection of the telephone, pointed a gun at Mrs. Calderone and demanded to know the location of the rest of their money. She advised them of the location of her purse, and upon their return to her room, the men then bound and gagged Mrs. Calderone and then left the residence, taking money and various other items of property. The defendant was convicted of burglary, armed robbery and murder and was sentenced upon each offense. With respect to the convictions of burglary and armed robbery, the supreme court held that the unauthorized entry with the intent to commit theft and the actual theft by way of armed robbery constituted two offenses arising from the same conduct and, accordingly, reversed the judgment and sentence on the burglary conviction. With respect to the convictions of armed robbery and murder, however, the supreme court affirmed the convictions and sentences imposed therefor, “* * * even though the activity constituting both offenses was a series of very closely related acts. The purpose of the entry was robbery, not murder, and that objective changed to murder only when the robbers were confronted by Mr. Calderone with a gun in his hand. Then, they chose to commit a separate act for the purpose of killing Mr. Calderone. That shooting can be viewed as a means of removing an obstacle to their original objective of robbery, but it is also evident that at least part of their reason for killing was to avoid injury or apprehension by Mr. Calderone. We believe that such a situation is controlled by our decision in People v. Johnson (1970), 44 Ill.2d 463 * * 60 Ill.2d 1, 14, 322 N.E.2d 819, 826. A similar situation is presented in the instant case in that the placing of the knife at Mrs. Ruehle’s throat upon being confronted by her was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to avoid injury or apprehension by her. The original objective of the entry changed, and the defendant, or an individual whose conduct defendant is legally accountable for, chose to commit a separate act justifying the imposition of a separate judgment of conviction. We further note, as did the court in People v. Siglar (1974), 18 Ill. App.3d 381, 309 N.E.2d 710, that the “independent motivation” test used to determine whether offenses are a part of a single course of conduct during which there was no substantial change in the criminal objective is not based solely upon an analysis of a defendant’s conception of his motivation. Rather, “The test must be more objective and must consist in an appraisal of all the surrounding facts to determine if the defendant’s actions resulting in more than one possible charge were in fact a single course of conduct with no change in the criminal objective and with no new elements of proof required.” 18 Ill.App.3d 381, 383, 309 N.E.2d 710, 712. Whereas the facts in Williams indicate that the defendant entered tire Calderone residence with full knowledge that certain individuals were present and expecting to gain entry by force, the armed robbery in the instant case occurred only after a surreptitious entry was discovered by Mrs. Ruehle. An appraisal of all of the facts of the present case satisfies us that the conduct which formed the basis for the armed robbery was sufficiently separate, distinct and independently motivated from the conduct which formed the basis for the burglary to justify the imposition of separate judgments of conviction therefor. Accordingly, the petition for rehearing is denied. Petition denied. SEIDENFELD, P. J., and HALLETT, J., concur.