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People v. Hood12/2/2004
Following a jury trial in Macoupin County, defendant Frederick Hood was convicted of illegal transportation of alcohol (625 ILCS 5/11-502(a) (West 2000)), failure to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk (625 ILCS 5/11- 1002(a) (West 2000)), and reckless homicide (720 ILCS 5/9-3(a) (West 2000)), and sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Defendant appealed, arguing in relevant part that the trial court erred by allowing the State's expert to testify in rebuttal. A majority of the appellate court agreed with defendant that the rebuttal testimony was improper because the State had violated the expert disclosure provisions of Supreme Court Rule 412 (188 Ill.2d R. 412). The appellate court affirmed defendant's convictions for illegal transportation of alcohol and failure to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk, but reversed defendant's conviction for reckless homicide and remanded for a new trial. 343 Ill.App.3d 1245, 279 Ill.Dec. 171, 799 N.E.2d 974.
For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court reversing defendant's reckless homicide conviction and remand to the appellate court for consideration of the balance of defendant's arguments on appeal.
BACKGROUND
On the afternoon of November 28, 2000, defendant was driving his van westbound on Main Street in Mt. Olive, Illinois. As defendant made a left turn from Main Street onto southbound Poplar Street, his van struck 95-year-old Marie Schwab, causing serious injury. Schwab died approximately three weeks later.
David Smith, a Mt. Olive resident who witnessed the accident, testified for the State. Smith stated that on November 28, 2000, at about 3 p.m., he and his girlfriend, Tricia Marietta, picked up his son from school. Smith drove eastbound on Main Street and stopped at the stop sign at Poplar Street. The intersection of Main and Poplar is a four-way stop. The speed limit is 20 miles per hour. Smith observed a van coming from the east at a "pretty good rate of speed." Although it was Smith's turn to proceed through the intersection, he waited because he believed the van was not going to stop. To his right, on Poplar Street, Smith could see a woman, later identified as Marie Schwab, about halfway through the crosswalk. The van failed to stop at the stop sign and rounded the corner "at a pretty good clip * * * rock[ing] to the right." Schwab raised her left hand, but the van did not stop. The van struck Schwab, lifting her off her feet and throwing her about five feet. Smith proceeded to the police station, which was a block away, to report the accident. As he drove through the intersection, he saw defendant exit the van, "kind of stumble and lean against the door."
Tricia Marietta similarly testified that the van defendant was driving did not stop or slow down as it approached Poplar Street. As the van turned onto Poplar, Marietta saw that defendant was looking north. Marietta saw Schwab raise her left hand, but the van did not stop until it struck her. Smith and Marietta, as well as an employee of the ambulance service that responded to the accident, testified that the weather was cloudy and overcast.
*2 John Tandy, formerly a patrolman with the Mt. Olive police department, arrived first on the scene. He testified that Marie Schwab was lying motionless in the center of the road, south of the crosswalk. Defendant was leaning against one of the van doors, holding his 18-month-old son, Lucas. Tandy admitted meeting defendant on a couple of occasions but denied having a "confrontation" with him. Defendant told Tandy he was driving west on Main Street, came to a stop at Poplar Street, turned left and heard a thump or a thud, and then stopped. Tandy noticed a strong odor of beer on defendant's breath and that his eyes
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