Court Opinion

ID: 9734980
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:55:05.764763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:53.189531
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE RATHJE, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree with the majority view that the testimony of the videotape evidence was not inadmissible hearsay. However, I disagree with the conclusion that the defendant was found guilty of theft as a principal beyond a reasonable doubt. I observe, first, that there is no evidence of a confession by the defendant in this cause, nor is there any testimony by Sandra Knight, the other employee involved in this cause, implicating the defendant in any theft of merchandise from Wal-Mart. The evidence of the commission of the offense in this cause consists of the testimony of two other store employees as to what they saw on the videotape of the incident. According to the testimony of employees Berg and Pinneke, the defendant placed items to be purchased on the counter and then left the viewing area of the camera. While the defendant was gone, Knight placed unscanned items in a Wal-Mart bag. There was no evidence that the defendant was aware that these items were not scanned prior to their being placed in the bags. When the defendant returned to the viewing area, she had a McDonald’s bag with her, and she placed items from the counter in the McDonald’s bag. Again, there was no evidence that the defendant was aware that these items had not been scanned prior to placing them in the McDonald’s bag. While the defendant was facing Knight, Knight placed more unscanned items into Wal-Mart bags, which the defendant took with her. Central to the State’s proof in this cause is the fact that the defendant was facing Knight with her back to the camera while Knight was placing unscanned merchandise into Wal-Mart bags. However, because there is no audio portion to the videotape, it is only speculation and conjecture as to what went on between the defendant and Knight while the unscanned items were placed into the Wal-Mart bags. The State’s version requires us to assume that, at all times, the defendant’s attention was fixed on what Knight was doing without actually proving that critical fact. While it is undisputed that unscanned items were found in the defendant’s possession, there is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly took possession of the items without paying the full retail value of them. 720 ILCS 5/16A—3(a) (West 1994). As the State’s proof that the defendant was aware that the items in her possession were not scanned amounts to conjecture and speculation, I would conclude that the defendant was not found guilty of retail theft beyond a reasonable doubt.