People v. Croom

              NO. 4-06-0927 Filed 2/15/08
IN THE APPELLATE COURT
OF ILLINOIS
FOURTH DISTRICT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
DWAYNE T. CROOM,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from
Circuit Court of
Champaign County
No. 05CF1023
Honorable
Thomas J. Difanis,
Judge Presiding.
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JUSTICE McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion of the court:
A jury found defendant, Dwayne T. Croom, guilty of
first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(2) (West 2004)) and the
trial court sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Defendant
appeals, arguing the court erred by denying his motion to sup-press
statements he made to law-enforcement officers that he
alleges were made during a custodial interrogation and without
the benefit of Miranda warnings (see Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S.
436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966)). We affirm.
The record reflects defendant lived with his girl-friend,
Rochelle Bolden, and her two children, three-year-old
Altravius and two-year-old Amya. (Alternate spellings of
Altravius's name appear in the record but, for purposes of
consistency, the above spelling will be used herein.) On May 31,
2005, the State charged defendant with the first degree murder of
Altravius. It alleged, on June 26, 2004, he struck Altravius in
the abdomen and caused Altravius's death. On the date of the
alleged offense, defendant was 16 years old.