{ "id": 2958368, "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Chester L. Sanders, Defendant-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Sanders", "decision_date": "1975-12-23", "docket_number": "No. 74-182", "first_page": "253", "last_page": "257", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "34 Ill. App. 3d 253" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "21 Ill.App.3d 366", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 5378848 ], "year": 1974, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "370" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/21/0366-01" ] }, { "cite": "28 Ill.2d 107", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5361033 ], "year": 1963, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "113" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/28/0107-01" ] }, { "cite": "42 Ill.2d 479", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2849692 ], "year": 1969, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "483" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/42/0479-01" ] }, { "cite": "314 Ill. 237", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill.", "case_ids": [ 5132720 ], "year": 1924, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "242" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill/314/0237-01" ] }, { "cite": "60 Ill.2d 300", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5414202 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1975, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "307" }, { "page": "307" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/60/0300-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 504, "char_count": 8576, "ocr_confidence": 0.724, "pagerank": { "raw": 7.285884734972812e-08, "percentile": 0.43356311506964307 }, "sha256": "107c1149ccaca4dd557662a7bcfdb99cc00e0e6970572cd56426566507c76519", "simhash": "1:c86f7b0127891b84", "word_count": 1406 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T14:50:26.295263+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. Chester L. Sanders, Defendant-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Mr. JUSTICE THOMAS J. MORAN\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nDefendant appeals after a jury found him guilty of aggravated battery and the trial court sentenced him to 16 months to 4 years in the penitentiary. He is free on bond pending this appeal.\nDefendant asserts that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that the trial court erred in the granting or refusing of certain instructions, in denying defendant probation, and in allowing the admission of defendant\u2019s weapon (shovel) into evidence.\nOn July 3, 1973, defendant went to tend his chickens on a farm rented by one of his relatives. Upon arrival, defendant discovered water on the floor of the chicken house. He made inquiry of his relative\u2019s children as to the cause of the water. They informed him that the complainant, a resident of the farm, had sprayed the chicken house in order to water the chickens. The defendant\u2019s relative, who had known him all his life and had seen him in varying moods, testified that on the day in question he was angry and had claimed that complainant had tried to drown his chickens. She told the complainant not to go outside because defendant was angry and she did not want trouble.\nThe defendant was cleaning out the chicken house with a shovel when the complaining witness approached and explained to defendant that he had not sprayed the floor with water but that the water had been the result of rain (the day before) having seeped through the roof. Defendant accused the complainant of lying, to which complainant responded that he did not \u201cgive a damn what [defendant thought].\"\nAt this time, the complainant (who was 5'9\" tall) was leaning against one side of the doorway into the chicken house. Defendant\u2019s wife was standing a short distance away. Complainant observed defendant reaching down to get a shovelful of manure; he glanced away for a second, then turned back, and was hit in the face with the shovel by defendant; Just prior to being strack, the complainant heard defendant say, \u201cNobody talks to me in front of my wife that way.\u201d\nThe complainant, bleeding from his facial wound, retreated to the farmhouse for first aid. Thereafter, the defendant was approached by his relative who asked him to drive complainant to the hospital. Defendant refused with obscenities, stating, \u201cLet the [* # *] die.\u201d\nThe complainant reached the hospital with the aid of another. The doctor sutured complainant\u2019s lacerated nose and referred him to a specialist for the setting of the nose, which was broken.\nDefendant\u2019s version of what happened is as follows. The complainant came to the chicken house on the evening in question while defendant was cleaning ,up; defendant ignored complainant for a period of 10 to 15 minutes although the latter attempted to talk with him; complainant positioned himself in the doorway of the chicken house; defendant continued his clean-up and in so doing, accidentally struck complainant with the shovel. Defendant\u2019s wife, who was standing a short distance away from the chicken house, also testified that the striking was an accident.\nThe defendant contends that since he and his wife testified that the striking was unintentional, and only the complainant testified it was deliberate, he could not be found guilty of aggravated battery beyond a reasonable doubt and was therefore entitled to a directed verdict. What defendant overlooks is that the jury could believe or not believe his version of the facts. There was considerable evidence to the contrary: the defendant was angry with complainant prior to the incident; the complainant said the striking was intentional; defendant did not apologize to complainant, and refused to take him to the hospital for treatment of the wound defendant had inflicted; both complainant and defendant\u2019s own relative testified that the refusal was accompanied by obscenity and issued despite the fact that complainant was bleeding with a lacerated and broken nose as a result of the incident. Moreover, the jury had the opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witnesses and saw the complainant demonstrate in court the manner in which defendant struck him with the shovel. Under these circumstances, the directed verdict for the defendant was properly denied.\nAs recently restated by our supreme court in People v. Jones, 60 Ill.2d 300, 307 (1975):\n\u201c[I]t is well settled that a reviewing court in Illinois will not substitute its judgment for that of the finder of fact on questions involving the weight of the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses, and we will not reverse a criminal conviction unless the evidence is such as to raise a reasonable doubt of guilt #\nWe do not believe that the evidence is such as to raise a reasonable doubt of guilt and we, therefore, cannot substitute our judgment for that of the jury.\nDefendant raises objections to certain of the jury instructions given or refused by the trial court. He claims that the giving of I.P.I. Criminal II. 09 was erroneous in that the instruction stated, \u201cA person commits the crime of aggravated battery who, in commiting a battery, uses a deadly weapon,\u201d but did not set out a definition of the crime of battery and the consideration of legal justification. We note that I.P.I. Criminal 11.05, modified, was given, and this provides the definition of the crime of battery. Also given was I.P.I. Criminal 2.01, an instruction stating, \u201cdefendant is charged with the crime of aggravated battery which includes the crime of battery * * Defendant states no authority for the proposition that such separate submissions were erroneous. We believe that the given instructions, taken as a whole, informed the jury of the facts essential to their deliberations on the crime of aggravated battery.\nDefendant claims error in the refusal of two of his instructions: I.P.I. Criminal 18.03, dealing with the crime of unlawful use of a weapon; and I.P.I. Criminal 11.08, dealing with aggravated battery under the Criminal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, \u00a7 12 \u2014 4(a)), wherein a battery is deemed aggravated when it results in great bodily harm or disfigurement to the victim. The indictment, however, clearly indicates that defendant was not charged with unlawful use of a weapon or with aggravated battery under the above section. He was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon under section 12 \u2014 4(b) of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, \u00a7 12 \u2014 4(b)), which section does not include \u201cgreat bodily harm or disfigurement\u201d as an element of the crime. An adequate instruction for the crime charged was given. (I.P.I. Criminal 11.05 modified, 11.09, and 2.01.) Only the statutory offense with which defendant is accused is properly incorporated into the instructions. (People v. Peck, 314 Ill. 237, 242 (1924).) Defendant\u2019s instructions were therefore properly refused.\nDefendant claims that the trial court improperly denied him probation, but we are unable to consider this issue on appeal because the record submitted does not include a transcript of proceedings of the circuit court\u2019s hearing on aggravation and mitigation. The defendant alleges that he ordered a complete record. However, the burden is on the defendant-appellant to be certain that the record on appeal preserves the issue to be reviewed. (People v. Smith, 42 Ill.2d 479, 483 (1969).) Defendant has not met his burden on this issue.\nLastly, defendant asserts that reversible error was committed by the trial court in admitting into evidence a shovel identified by the. complaining witness as the shovel used against him, despite defendant\u2019s later testimony that it was not the same shovel. There is no merit to this contention. It is well established that a proper foundation for the introduction of an object into evidence may be laid \u201ceither through its identification by a witness or through the establishment of a chain of possession.\u201d (People v. Greer, 28 Ill.2d 107, 113 (1963); People v. Smith, 21 Ill.App.3d 366, 370 (1974).) Defendant\u2019s testimony goes to the weight of the evidence, not to its admissibility. (People v. Jones, 60 Ill.2d 300, 307.) The shovel was properly admitted into evidence.\nJudgment affirmed.\nRECHENMACHER, P. J\u201e and DIXON, J., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "Mr. JUSTICE THOMAS J. MORAN" } ], "attorneys": [ "Cuve M. Glosser, of Rochelle, for appellant.", "Patrick E. Ward, State\u2019s Attorney, of Dixon (James W. Jerz and Martin P. Moltz, both of Illinois State\u2019s Attorneys Association, of counsel), for the People." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "The People of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Chester L. Sanders, Defendant-Appellant.\n(No. 74-182;\nSecond District (2nd Division)\nDecember 23, 1975.\nCuve M. Glosser, of Rochelle, for appellant.\nPatrick E. Ward, State\u2019s Attorney, of Dixon (James W. Jerz and Martin P. Moltz, both of Illinois State\u2019s Attorneys Association, of counsel), for the People." }, "file_name": "0253-01", "first_page_order": 279, "last_page_order": 283 }