Court Opinion

ID: 9862260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 01:05:25.954585+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:24:47.900197
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE McNULTY, dissenting: Our supreme court has instructed us: "[I]t is always the duty of this court to examine the evidence in a criminal case, and if it is so improbable or unsatisfactory as to raise a serious doubt of defendant’s guilt the conviction will be reversed.” People v. Coulson, 13 Ill. 2d 290, 296, 149 N.E.2d 96 (1958). Because I find Officer Dawan’s testimony regarding the exchange of money so unsatisfactory as to leave a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt on the charge of possession with intent to deliver, I would reverse that conviction. Therefore, I dissent. Contrary to the assertion in the majority’s footnote, Dawan admitted that he never saw anything in the hands of defendant, Haynes, or the men who approached them. To support his conclusion that he witnessed a transaction or sale, he testified that he saw each man who approached Haynes give him money. Since Dawan arrested defendant and Haynes on the spot, any money they received they still had at the time of their arrest. The prosecutor stipulated that police inventory regulations required inventory of any such cash, regardless of amount. "[Wjhere public officials are required to keep a record of their proceedings, such record constitutes the only lawful evidence of action taken, and cannot be contradicted, added to or supplemented by parol.” People ex rel. Prindable v. New York Central R.R. Co., 400 Ill. 507, 512, 81 N.E.2d 201 (1948). Dawan admitted that the inventory sheet made no mention of cash found on either Haynes or defendant. To rebut the inference that defendant and Haynes had no cash, Dawan testified that he found cash on Haynes and counted it, but he did not inventory the $80 because department regulations did not require inventorying amounts less than $135 in cash. The prosecutor stipulated that the testimony was false in that department regulations made no exception for lesser amounts of cash. Both the trial court and the majority here dismiss as insignificant the stipulation that Dawan testified falsely concerning police inventory regulations. Our supreme court has explained the purpose of police inventories: "A range of governmental interests supports an inventory process. It is not unheard of for persons employed in police activities to steal property taken from arrested persons; similarly, arrested persons have been known to make false claims regarding what was taken from their possession at the station house. A standardized procedure for making a list or inventory as soon as reasonable after reaching the station house, not only deters false claims but also inhibits theft or careless handling of articles taken from the arrested person.” People v. Dillon, 102 Ill. 2d 522, 527, 468 N.E.2d 964 (1984), quoting Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640, 646, 77 L. Ed. 2d 65, 71, 103 S. Ct. 2605, 2609 (1983). Accordingly, the inventory procedures, as Dawan described them, would remove inhibition of police "theft or careless handling” of money taken from arrested persons, as long as the amount taken did not exceed $135. Police department regulations make no such exception, and they prohibit all theft from arrested persons. Dawan’s false testimony besmirches the reputation of the police department by implying that its actual procedures permit theft from arrested persons as long as the amount taken is less than $135. His testimony on this issue is so unsatisfactory that it casts doubt on his entirely uncorroborated testimony that he witnessed money change hands in an apparent drug transaction. If defendant and Haynes had no money, the court has no reason to believe that they made any sale or engaged in any transaction with the two men who walked up to them. The small amount of narcotics found here lends no support to any inference of intent to deliver. See People v. McLemore, 203 Ill. App. 3d 1052, 1056, 561 N.E.2d 465 (1990). This court must defer to the trial court’s determination of the credibility of witnesses, but "[d]ue deference to the trial judge’s appraisal of the witnesses’ credibility does not excuse this court from its duty to examine the evidence to determine whether guilt has been established beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v. Butler, 28 Ill. 2d 88, 91, 190 N.E.2d 800 (1963). "[A] court of review must reverse a criminal conviction where the evidence and/or the credibility of the witnesses is so improbable or so unsatisfactory as to raise a reasonable doubt of guilt.” People v. Bailey, 265 Ill. App. 3d 262, 271, 638 N.E.2d 192 (1994). Dawan’s admittedly false testimony concerning his reason for not properly recording his discovery of money renders his testimony that he saw money so unsatisfactory as to leave a reasonable doubt that defendant or Haynes ever received cash in exchange for packets of narcotics. Therefore, I would reverse the conviction for possession of narcotics with intent to deliver.