Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court:
Fоllowing a jury trial, the defendant, Norman Pedersen, was found guilty of the offense of aggravated battery and was sentenced to a term of 30 months’ probation, a condition of which defendant was to serve 180 days in the Lake County jail. Defendant appeals, raising the following issues: whether the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on the offense of resisting arrest; and whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on self-defense.
On December 26, 1987, Officer Kevin Tracz, of the Village of Bannockburn police department, made a traffic stop of a Subaru for speeding. The driver of the Subаru was Linda Murry, and the passenger in the Subaru was defendant. When Ms. Murry was asked to produce her driver’s license, she explained that she was driving on a ticket. After she produced the ticket, at Officer Tracz’s request, she exited the Subaru, and Tracz and she went to the rear of the Subaru, where Tracz attempted to explain the process of posting bond. The defendant also exited the Subaru and joined Ms. Murry and Officer Tracz at the rear of the Subaru. At this point, they were joined by Officer Bruce Dayno of the Highland Park police department.
Officer Tracz testified that while he was trying to talk to Ms. Murry, the defendant began to yell at him and call him names. Since Tracz was still attempting to issue the traffic ticket to Ms. Murry, he let Officer Dayno talk to the defendant. When defendant continued to interrupt Tracz, Officer Dayno warned the defendant not to interfere, at which point defendant stopped. Since in Tracz’s opinion, an I-Bond (personal recognizance bond) was going to be necessary, he attempted to explain to Ms. Murry that she could follow him back to the station, and he would issue her an I-bond. Defendant again began yelling and began to approach Tracz, when Officer Dayno informed defendant that he was under arrest.
As Officer Dayno started to turn the defendant around, defendant swung back around and pushed the officer away from him. Both Dayno and the defendant landed on the ground. The defendant was on his stomach with his hands under his chest. Both officers tried to get defendant’s hands from underneath him to handcuff him. Defendant began to kick so Officer Tracz held defendant’s legs down while Officer Dayno sat on his upper body. Tracz was then able to radio for assistance.
According to Officer Cameron, of the Highland Park police depаrtment, when he arrived on the scene in response to Tracz’s call for assistance, he observed Dayno sitting on top of the defendant, holding his hands to the ground. Cameron proceeded to place one
Officer Schwarz, also of the Highland Park police department, responded to Tracz’s call for backup. When he arrived, he observed the defendant kicking and the other officers trying to put defendant in the squad car. The defendant called Officer Dayno obscene names and told him that “if he had the handcuffs off he would take him one on the outside.”
Officer Dayno testified that after he informed defеndant that he was under arrest, he told the defendant to turn around and place his hands on the vehicle he had just exited. The defendant began to argue with him and question him as to why he was being arrested. Dayno started to turn the defendant around so that he could search him when defendant spun around and punched him with both hands in the chest. Dayno grabbed defendant’s arm, and they both fell to the ground. Lying on his stomach, defendant locked his hands together and refused to be handcuffed. Both Dayno and Tracz attempted to pull his arm from beneath him so that he could be handcuffed. Since defendant refusеd to unlock his hands, Tracz went over and sat on his legs. As Dayno continued to try to pull defendant’s hand out, Dayno’s hand was underneath defendant’s chin, and as he tried to pull it away, defendant put his teeth on Dayno’s left index finger and bit Dayno, causing the finger to bleed. According to Dayno, during the struggle, Ms. Murry kept yelling to the defendant to stop struggling.
As Dayno and Officer Cameron brought the defendant over to the squad car, he continued to struggle. Since defendant was kicking and struggling, he had to be pushed into the squad car. As Dayno opened up the door to the squad car, the defendant turned and kneed Daynо in the groin. Defendant continued to kick while being placed in the squad car. He was then transported to the Highland Park police department by Officers Dayno and Schwarz. Officer Dayno stated that he had the bite on his finger treated at Highland Park Hospital.
Linda Pedersen (formerly Linda Murry), the wife of the defendant,
The defendant continued to talk to Officer Tracz about the ticket, and Dayno told him to be quiet. Defendant told him that he just did not want his fiancee (the witness) to go tо jail. According to the witness, Dayno became upset and informed defendant that if he was not quiet he would be placed under arrest. Defendant continued to discuss the ticket; Dayno told him to step away, to which defendant responded, “No,” and continued to talk. Dayno then informed defendant that he was under arrest. According to the witness, Dayno then pushed the defendant against the back of the Subaru and requested that defendant give him his hands, to which the defendant replied, “[G]et them.” Dayno then threw defendant to the ground, handcuffed one hand, kneed the defendant in the back, and then turned him around to handcuff the other hand. While Dayno was straddling him, he proceeded to choke the defendant. The witness recalled saying “stop it” but stated it was directed to Officer Dayno, not to defendant. She did not see defendant bite Dayno.
The witness further testified that defendant was carried to the squad car, and Officer Dayno stood the defendant up and defendant got into the squad car. Defendant did not struggle or kick as he got into the squad car. The witness also identified a photograph of the defendant taken the day after he was arrested showing thumb marks on the defendant’s neck and bruising on his forehead.
The jury found the defendant guilty of aggravated battery, and the trial court imposed the sentence indicated above. This appeal followed.
The defendant contends, first, that it was reversible error for the trial court to refuse defendant’s tendered instruction on the offense of resisting arrest. Defendant argues that resisting arrest is a lesser included offense of aggravated battery and, therefore, he was entitled to have the jury instructed as to that offense.
Defendant was charged with the offense of aggravated battery,
“A person who, in committing a battery, commits aggravated battery if he either: * * *
Knows the individual harmed to be a peace officer, or a person summoned and directed by him, or a correctional institution employee, while such officer or employee is engaged in the execution of any of his official duties including arrest or attempted arrest.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 12—4(b)(6).)
The offense of resisting arrest is defined as follows:
“A person who knowingly resists or obstructs the performance by one known to the person to be a peace officer of any authorized act within his official capacity commits a Class A misdemeanor.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 31—1.
The State tendered an instruction which was based on Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 11.10 (2d ed. 1981) (hereinafter IPI Criminal 2d No. 11.10), which was given by the trial court and which required the State to prove the following elements:
“First: That the defendant knowingly or intentionally without legal justification caused bodily harm to Brian [sic] Dayno; and
Second: That the defendant knew Brian [sic] Dayno to be a peace officer engaged in the performance of his official duties.”
The defendant tendered an instruction on resisting or obstructing a peace officer based on IPI Criminal 2d No. 22.10, which was refused by the trial сourt. The refused instruction required proof:
“First: That Bruce Dayno was a peace officer; and Second: That the defendant knew Bruce Dayno was a peace officer; and
Third: That the defendant knowingly resisted or obstructed the performance by Bruce Dayno of an authorized act within his official capacity.”
Both the State and the defendant are entitled to appropriate instructions which present their theories of the case to the jury when the evidence supports such theories. (People v. Lyda (1989),
Early cases looked to an abstract statutory definition of the crimes involved, finding a crime to be a lesser included offense only if the greater offense included every element of the alleged lesser included offense. (People v. Krueger (1988),
“The principle is well established that a defendant may be entitled to have the jury instructed on a less serious offense that is included in the one he is charged with. [Citation.] The reason for this is clеar: an instruction on a lesser offense provides an important third option to a jury which, believing that the defendant is guilty of something but uncertain whether the charged offense has been proved, might otherwise convict rather than acquit the defendant of the greater offense.”113 Ill. 2d at 502 .
The Bryant court then pointed out that what constituted a lesser included offense was not always clear. Bryant was charged with and found guilty of attempted burglary. He tendered an instruction at trial on criminal damage to property which was refused. The State argued that Bryant was not entitled to an instructiоn on the offense of criminal* damage to property because the indictment for attempted burglary did not allege the mental state of knowledge. However, the court agreed with the defendant that the form of burglary at issue required a knowing .entry and that, therefore, the indictment could be read as implicitly including the mental state, especially since an inchoate offense requires specific intent. (Bryant,
“There are several notable limits on the operation of the included-offense doctrine, however. For example, because a defendаnt’s instruction on a lesser offense is appropriate ‘if the evidence would permit a jury rationally to find him guilty of the lesser offense and acquit him of the greater’ [citation], the evidence presented in a particular case might rationallypreclude the use of an instruction on a lesser offense. [Citations.] Moreover, an included-offense instruction ‘ “is only proper where the charged greater offense requires the jury to find a disputed factual element which is not required for conviction of the lesser-included offense.” ’ [Citation.] Thus, instructions on less serious offеnses are not required in every case.” Bryant, 113 Ill. 2d at 507 .
In People v. Krueger (1988),
Since the decision in People v. Krueger, our supreme court issued its opinion in People v. Schmidt (1988),
The appellate court reversed defendant’s convictions and remanded for a new trial on the basis that the verdicts for residential burglary and theft were inconsistent. The appellate court noted that theft was not a lesser included offense of burglary, citing People v. Dace. The court admitted confusion in that while Dace states that theft is not a lesser included offense of burglary and rejected the “inherent relationship test,” it nonetheless held that it was error to refuse to give the theft instructiоn. The appellate court in Schmidt concluded that the rationale for requiring the theft instruction “is based on the case law holding an accused is entitled to instructions on his theory of the case, and a refusal to give such instruction is error.” Schmidt,
On appeal by the State, our supreme court in Schmidt affirmed defendant’s conviction of residential burglary but agreed that the conviction of theft was improper and vacated it. The court held that, where an accused is charged with a single offense, he cannot be found guilty of an offense not charged unless it is a lesser includеd offense. The supreme court did not refer to its opinion in Bryant; as to People v. Dace, the court stated:
“[W]e are not unaware of People v. Dace (1984),104 Ill. 2d 96 . We would observe that in Dace the fundamental question just stated was not presented to or considered by the court.” Schmidt,126 Ill. 2d at 185 .
The information in this case, charging the defendant with aggravated battery, stated in pertinent part as follows:
“The said defendant in committing a battery, in violation of Illinois Revised Statutes, Chapter 38, Section 12 — 3, without legal justification knowingly caused bodily harm to Bruce Dayno, in that he kneed Bruce Dayno in the groin and bit Bruce Dayno on the finger knowing Bruce Dayno to be a peace officer engaged in the execution of his official duties.”
Defendant, here, was charged only with aggravated battery, not with resisting arrest. Under People v. Schmidt (1988),
The failure of the charging instrument to allege expressly all the elements of the lesser offense is not fatal where, to the extent that the lesser offense must have a broad foundation in the instrument charging the greater, the charging instrumеnt sets out the main outline of the lesser offense for which an instruction is sought. (Bryant,
Defendant also contends that the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury as to under what circumstances a person is justified in defending himself against excessive force used by a police officer in effecting an arrest. The defendant admits that he did not tender an instruction to the trial court on this issue, nor did he object to the giving of the following instructions which were tendered by the State:
“A peace officer need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the use of force which he reasonably believes to be necessary to effect the arrest or to defend himself from bodily harm while making the arrest.” (See IPI Criminal 2d No. 24—25.12.)
And:
“A person is not authorized to use force to resist an arrest which he knows is being made by a peace officеr, even if he believes that the arrest is unlawful and the arrest is in fact unlawful.” (See IPI Criminal 2d No. 24—25.20.)
Rather, the defendant contends that because the instructions given in this case failed to define legal justification, they were fundamentally inadequate, and the trial court should have sua sponte instructed the jury on legal justification. Defendant maintains that failure to do so resulted in plain error (107 Ill. 2d R. 615(a)), which defeats any claim that defendant waived this allegation of error.
As a general rule, the failure to object at trial to an asserted error in jury instructions waives the issue on appeal. Hоwever, when the issue of self-defense has been raised, the failure to tender the instruction does not waive the issue for appeal unless the- instructions which were given sufficiently apprised the jury of the State’s burden of proof. People v. Bailey (1982),
A significant purpose of the plain error exception to the waiver doctrine is to correct any serious injustices which have been done to the defendant. It therefore becomes relevant to examine the
We have previously determined that this cause must be remanded for a new trial. No instruction on defining legal justification was tendered to the trial court at the original trial of this cause. Whether such an instruction is warranted can only be determined in light of the evidence introduced at defendant’s new trial. Therefore, we decline to address this issue.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause is remandеd for a new trial.
Reversed and remanded.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I wish to expound upon several matters which are discussed in the opinion and the dissent. The opinions of my colleagues continue to use the term “lesser included offense” consistent with prior appellate and supreme court opinions. I consider this term to be ambiguous and confusing. Originally, the term meant what it said, i.e., a lesser and included offense, “lesser” in the sense that the offense was less heinous and was punished accordingly, “included” in the sense that the elements of the “included” offense were included within the elements of the “greater” offense. Through judiсial evolution, in cases like this one, the term “lesser included offense” has come to mean a “lesser-wonincluded offense.” In other cases, the term has retained its original meaning, i.e., an actual “lesser included offense.”
This evolution has come about because the law allows a defendant to present his alternative theory of guilt if there is evidence to support such a theory. The alternative theory may be either a lesser included offense or a lesser nonincluded offense, and possibly both if more than one theory is presented. I suggest that in this pаrticular area of the law the term “lesser alternative offense” should be adopted so that the problems described by Justice Reinhard’s dissent can be minimized.
I believe that by adopting this terminology one can reconcile apparent contradictions in People v. Bryant (1986),
I believe Schmidt stands for the proposition that, when a defendant
To reiterate — there are three terms:
1. Lesser included offense (e.g., Texan)
2. Lesser nonincluded offense (e.g., Iowan), and
3. Lesser alternative offense (e.g., American).
The first two terms grammatically are mutually exclusive and incompatible regardless of their usage in prior opinions. The first and third terms, and the second and third terms, grammatically and legally, are mutually inclusive and compatible unless stated to the contrary in future opinions.
In conclusion, hopefully my comments will make clear the ambiguous and not make ambiguous the clear. At this juncture, it is premature to presume so.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that under People v. Bryant (1986),
In Bryant, our supreme court, relying on its decision in People v. Dace (1984),
I have found no Illinois case addressing the issue of whether, applying the Bryant rationale, the offense of resisting or obstructing a peace officer is a lessеr offense of aggravated battery alleged, as here, to be committed by causing bodily harm in a certain way to one known to be a peace officer engaged in the execution of his official
In Dace, the lesser offense, theft, was stated in the charging instrument and, together with evidence introduced at trial, was sufficient to warrant an instruction on the lesser offense of theft, where residential burglary only had been charged. (Dace,
In the case at bar, however, the offensе of resisting or obstructing a peace officer does not have a broad foundation in the instant information, which charges defendant with causing “bodily harm to Bruce Dayno, in that he kneed Bruce Dayno in the groin and bit Bruce Dayno on the finger.” The act of kneeing and biting Officer Dayno would not necessarily constitute the offense of resisting or obstructing a peace officer. Unlike in Bryant, where the charging instrument alleged damage to a screen and a window which would necessarily provide the foundation for a charge of criminal damage to property, the allеgations of kneeing and biting Dayno do not alone necessarily provide a foundation for a charge of resisting or obstructing a peace officer under the circumstances here.
Furthermore, the instruction tendered by defendant only required proof, inter alia, that defendant “knowingly resisted or obstructed the performance by Bruce Dayno of an authorized act within his official capacity” and did not specify the acts of kneeing and biting as alleged in the information. Thus, the instruction requested by defendant does not specify the very, conduct relied upon by him in arguing that the information sets forth the lesser offense of resisting or obstructing a peace officer. Such a generalized instruction, as tendered here, would only serve to confuse the jury and unnecessarily inject issues into the case. (See People v. Taylor (1983),
One final note. The State argues that the Dace/Bryant rationale has been discredited in People v. Schmidt (1988),
I, too, am uncertain whether the Dace/Bryant rationale still has vitality where the offense is not a lesser included offense under the generally accepted analysis set forth in People v. Stroner (1983),
For the foregoing reasons, I would find no error on this issue. The second instructional issue raised by defendant was not raised at trial and is waived (People v. Berry (1984),
