People v. Baker

An Ogle County jury found defendant, Percy Baker, guilty of burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 19-1(a)), on October 13, 1981; the circuit court sentenced him to a 14-year extended-term sentence in the Department of Corrections. On appeal, defendant raises the following issues: (1) Whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence insinuating defendant was involved in other crimes; (2) whether the trial court erred in sentencing defendant to an extended term based upon a prior conviction where the record does not indicate whether that conviction was the result of a trial or a guilty plea, and; (3) whether the trial court abused its discretion in imposing the maximum extended-term sentence. We note that no post-trial motion appears in the record. Defendant's burglary conviction arose from the burglary of the Travis' residence. The evidence adduced at trial, circumstantial in nature, established that on July 9, 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Travis returned home at 4:30 p.m. Mr. Travis went to the door of his house and discovered it to be unlocked. He entered the home, set his lunch bucket in the kitchen, and went back outside to commence work on certain chores. He saw a black man walking down the road coming from a bridge east of their hog house. He found the presence of a black man unusual, but could not identify defendant at trial as this man. Mr. Travis then returned inside. In the bedroom he discovered that his wife's owl bank had been cracked open and half-dollars were scattered on the bedroom floor; nothing else appeared to have been disturbed. He also found a pamphlet on the floor which gave instructions on the use of a specific cleaning product.