Court Opinion

ID: 9740166
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:29:09.159274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:16.620235
License: Public Domain

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE SIMKINS, dissenting: I dissent. The evidence presented to the trial court was as follows: Robert Hord testified he was working at a service station on the night in question. At 9:40 p.m., a light blue 1962 Oldsmobile with a cracked windshield pulled into the station. Defendant was the driver. Defendant ordered some gasoline and went into the station with Hord. Defendant requested Pall Mall cigarettes, and as Hord rang up the sale defendant stated “I want to take your money * * * if you call the police I’m going to come back and kill you — take the money and kill you later.” Defendant then took the money and went out the door. Defendant had no gun or other type of weapon. About $100 was taken. Defendant appeared to be drunk but made no threats when he took the money from the cash register. Defendant was arrested shortly after the incident, he had in his possession a package of Pall Mall cigarettes and $115 in cash. The definition of an included offense is contained in the statute set forth in the majority opinion. In pertinent part it provides that an included offense is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged. Here the trial judge specifically found that the State had not established that the money was taken by defendant by use of force or threatened use of force, an essential element of the crime of robbery. However the facts proven here, being less than those necessary to establish the crime of robbery, are clearly sufficient to establish the crime of theft and thus conform to the statutory definition of an included offense. I see no prejudice to any basic right of the defendant in this view. The subject of the charged robbery is the money which was the subject of the theft. I see no problem of double jeopardy. I am not persuaded that there is any legal barrier to applying the statute in terms of its plain language. I would affirm.