{
  "id": 3616881,
  "name": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ODELL SHEPHARD, Defendant-Appellant",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Shephard",
  "decision_date": "1988-06-15",
  "docket_number": "No. 86-2593",
  "first_page": "977",
  "last_page": "979",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "171 Ill. App. 3d 977"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
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    "pagerank": {
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    "sha256": "b4943410c1fabe25a8d045541cc7c194d206c573aabfca0621b888ed21220ab4",
    "simhash": "1:8887e0444eaffab1",
    "word_count": 500
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:35:27.168167+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ODELL SHEPHARD, Defendant-Appellant."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "PRESIDING JUSTICE WHITE\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nDefendant Odell Shephard appeals his conviction for child abduction and the three-year prison sentence imposed thereon. He contends that because he was the father of the child, he could not as a matter of law be convicted of the offense.\nThe relevant facts are not in dispute. The child, Deborah Sanders, was born on October 15, 1982. Defendant and the child\u2019s mother were not married and did not live together. Defendant visited the child periodically. On September 29, 1984, during one of the visits, defendant fought with Deborah\u2019s mother and then took the child from her mother\u2019s home. Defendant was subsequently arrested and charged by indictment with aggravated kidnapping and child abduction. In a bench trial, the court found that defendant was Deborah\u2019s father and that he could not be convicted of aggravated kidnapping because an element of that offense is the lack of consent of a parent. (111. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 10 \u2014 1(b), 10 \u2014 2.) The court nevertheless found defendant guilty of child abduction.\nDefendant contends that the court\u2019s adjudication of paternity for the purposes of the aggravated kidnapping statute shields him from the child abduction conviction as well. We disagree. The child abduction statute in effect at the time of defendant\u2019s actions provided that \u201ca person commits child abduction when he or she removes a child without the consent of the parent or lawful custodian of the child where the person alleges to be a father who has not established paternity of the child or who is not presumed to be the father of the child by operation of law.\u201d (Pub. Act 83 \u2014 1396, eff. Sept. 12, 1984 (amending 111. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 10 \u2014 5(b)(3)).) We believe that the statute\u2019s language clearly indicates an intent to punish putative fathers who remove children without first obtaining an adjudication of paternity. At the time he removed Deborah from her mother\u2019s home, defendant had neither established paternity nor was presumed by law to be the father of the child. The court\u2019s finding of paternity came at defendant\u2019s trial, long after the actions at issue, and cannot provide a defense to the child abduction charge.\nWe conclude that defendant, despite being the biological father of Deborah Sanders, was subject to conviction for child abduction because he had not received a judicial determination of paternity at the time he removed the child from her mother\u2019s home. Accordingly, we affirm the conviction and sentence entered by the circuit court of Cook County.\nAffirmed.\nRIZZI and FREEMAN, JJ., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "PRESIDING JUSTICE WHITE"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Paul P. Biebel, Jr., Public Defender, of Chicago (Z. Peter Tokatlian, Assistant Public Defender, of counsel), for appellant.",
      "Richard M. Daley, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Thomas V. Gainer, Jr., Lynda A. Peters, and Charles E. Antonietti, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ODELL SHEPHARD, Defendant-Appellant.\nFirst District (3rd Division)\nNo. 86\u20142593\nOpinion filed June 15, 1988.\nPaul P. Biebel, Jr., Public Defender, of Chicago (Z. Peter Tokatlian, Assistant Public Defender, of counsel), for appellant.\nRichard M. Daley, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Thomas V. Gainer, Jr., Lynda A. Peters, and Charles E. Antonietti, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People."
  },
  "file_name": "0977-01",
  "first_page_order": 999,
  "last_page_order": 1001
}