People v. Hayes, No. 2-98-0632 2nd District, 20 October 1999 |
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MARC M. HAYES, Defendant-Appellant. | Appeal from the Circuit Court of Du Page County. No. 97--CF--1097 Honorable Thomas E. Callum, Judge, Presiding. |
JUSTICE McLAREN delivered the opinion of the court:
A jury found defendant, Marc M. Hayes, guilty of unlawful use of weapons (720 ILCS 5/24--1(a)(4) (West 1996)) and possession of a weapon without a firearm owner's identification (FOID) card (430 ILCS 65/2(a)(1) (West 1996)). The trial court sentenced defendant to 21 days' periodic imprisonment and 24 months' probation for the unlawful use of weapons conviction. The trial court imposed an identical concurrent sentence for defendant's FOID card violation. On appeal, defendant challenges his unlawful use of weapons conviction, arguing that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was not on his property at the time of the arrest. We agree, and we reverse defendant's unlawful use of weapons conviction. Defendant does not challenge his conviction of the FOID card violation.
The parties do not dispute the relevant facts. The record reveals that on the night of May 27, 1997, defendant was inside his detached garage which faced an alley. When he heard a person attempt to open the garage door, defendant placed a .45-caliber handgun in his rear waistband and a .22-caliber handgun in his front pants pocket. Defendant confronted the intruder outside the garage and fired a warning shot as the intruder approached.
While working in his office nearby, Fran Kammes heard the warning shot and entered the alley to investigate. Kammes saw defendant holding a gun and standing in the center of the alley near a person who was lying face down. The person on the ground told Kammes that he tried to enter Kammes' building because he was looking for someone. Kammes told defendant to call the police after he noticed that the man was intoxicated. Defendant handed the gun to Kammes, retrieved handcuffs from his house, and handcuffed the person on the ground. Defendant testified that he had suffered property damage and theft 5 or 6 times during the past 2