Date: 10-23-2024

Case Style:

State of Illinois v. Anthony Richards

Case Number: 21CM1815

Judge: Tamika R. Walker

Court: Circuit Court, Winnebago County, Illinois

Plaintiff's Attorney: Winnebago County Illinois District Attorney's Office

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Rockford, Illinois criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with criminal trespass.

¶ 2 A Winnebago County jury found defendant, Anthony Richards, guilty of criminal trespass to real property. See 720 ILCS 5/21-3(a)(3) (West 2020). The circuit court sentenced him to 18 months of conditional discharge and 12 days in jail.

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¶ 6 Ryan Fleming testified that he was a police officer with the Rockford Police Department, and that, from 2017 to 2022, he was assigned to the Rockford Housing Authority Unit. His responsibilities in that assignment were to "patrol all assigned Rockford Housing Authority properties" and "respond to calls there."

¶ 7 On September 9, 2021, at about 3:30 p.m., Fleming and his partner, Joshua Arthur, were on Buckbee Street, which was adjacent to Blackhawk Courts (Blackhawk), a housing development owned by Rockford Housing Authority. They had police uniforms on and were bicycling to Blackhawk when they saw defendant throw a beer can onto the ground. Because they "were directly in front of a daycare which [was] attached to the housing development," they asked defendant to pick the can up. Defendant became somewhat aggressive: he picked up the can and threw it in the direction of Arthur. Fleming and Arthur continued on their way.

¶ 8 The two police officers rode into Blackhawk, which extended between 15th Avenue and Buckbee Street of Rockford. At "almost every entrance" to Blackhawk, there were signs listing the rules for housing residents and announcing that Blackhawk was private property. Similar signs were on the residential buildings.

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¶ 9 Defendant followed Fleming and Arthur into Blackhawk, continuing to scream at them and challenging them to a fistfight. Residents of Blackhawk began coming outside to see what the commotion was all about. At 1500 Sun Court, which was part of Blackhawk, Fleming told defendant "he was now banned from the property and he needed to leave." Defendant refused to leave and "repeatedly" told Fleming he "did not have the authority to ban him."

¶ 10 Defense counsel asked Fleming:

"Q. Did you ever explain to him what authority you had?

A. I tried but I don't think he was listening.

Q. Do you remember what you said?

A. I mean, I pretty much had it down to a science of-back then what I would explain, that I'm essentially an agent of the Rockford Housing Authority, I'm employed through the City of Rockford Police Department, but also at that point the Rockford Housing Authority paid the officers[ ] assigned to the housing authority [their] salaries so, therefore, that gave us the right to ban people from those properties and enforce the rules and regulations of the housing authority which covered-there were tons of rules and regulations."

Because defendant did not leave when Fleming ordered him to leave, Fleming told him he was under arrest. Only then did defendant begin walking away. Fleming yelled at defendant to stop. He walked up behind defendant, took hold of him, and put the handcuffs on him.

¶ 11 The State called Arthur, too, who gave essentially the same account as Fleming. Arthur was asked approximately how much time passed between the moment when Fleming told defendant he was banned from Blackhawk and the moment when Fleming arrested defendant. Arthur answered, "We probably were on Sun Court for 15 minutes."...

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People v. Richards, 2024 IL App (4th) 231190U, 4-23-1190 (Ill. App. Oct 23, 2024)

Outcome: Affirmed

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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