2014 IL App (1st) 120701
Ill. App. Ct.2015Background
- On March 29, 2008, Travell Johnson and codefendant Timothy Petermon were involved in beating Kelvin Jemison in a Chicago alley; Petermon shot Jemison and also fired at an off-duty officer, Gary Riley, who returned fire.
- Witnesses (Officer Riley, Benjamin Smith, and Jemison) identified Johnson at the scene; Smith testified Johnson gave a gun to Petermon and told him to shoot.
- Forensic stipulations established some cartridge cases/bullets at the scene were fired from Riley’s service weapon and others were not.
- A bench trial convicted Johnson of two counts of attempted first-degree murder (Riley and Jemison), aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated battery with a firearm; sentences were concurrent (21, 21, 4, and 6 years).
- Trial court reduced the count charging attempted murder of a peace officer to attempted murder (finding insufficient proof Johnson knew Riley was an officer).
- On appeal, Johnson challenged sufficiency of evidence for accountability and sought vacation/correction under the one-act, one-crime doctrine and correction of the mittimus.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of evidence for accountability for attempted murder of Officer Riley and aggravated discharge of a firearm | State: Johnson aided/abeted via common design with Petermon; Petermon’s shooting of Riley was in furtherance of that design | Johnson: No evidence he intended or aided shooting at Riley; firing at Riley was a spontaneous, unanticipated act outside common design | Convictions affirmed—viewing evidence in prosecution’s favor, common-design accountability supports attempted murder and aggravated discharge convictions (Fernandez controlling) |
| Relevance of witness inconsistencies (e.g., who handled the gun) | State: inconsistencies go to weight; trier of fact resolved credibility | Johnson: key witnesses conflicted; prosecutor didn’t prove he provided or knew of the gun | Court: Witness conflicts do not negate accountability; whether Johnson handed/knowingly provided gun irrelevant to common-design liability |
| One-act, one-crime doctrine (multiple convictions arising from same act) | State: conceded that lesser convictions arising from same physical acts should be vacated | Johnson: sought vacation of lesser duplicative convictions | Court: Vacated aggravated discharge and aggravated battery; left two attempted murder convictions (most serious offenses) intact |
| Mittimus error (sentence record mismatch) | State: conceded mittimus misstates one conviction | Johnson: mittimus should reflect actual convictions | Court: Ordered clerk to correct mittimus to show two convictions for attempted first-degree murder (counts II and V) with concurrent 21-year terms |
Key Cases Cited
- People v. Fernandez, 2014 IL 115527 (supreme court holding that an unanticipated shooting at an officer can be an act in furtherance of an existing common criminal design)
- People v. Siguenza-Brito, 235 Ill. 2d 213 (standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence)
- People v. Taylor, 164 Ill. 2d 131 (accountability does not require active participation)
- In re W.C., 167 Ill. 2d 307 (common-design rule for accountability)
- People v. Artis, 232 Ill. 2d 156 (one-act, one-crime doctrine governs vacatur of lesser offenses)
- People v. Peeples, 155 Ill. 2d 422 (report of proceedings controls when mittimus conflicts with sentencing transcript)