People v. Calhoun

              Filed 6/13/08 NO. 4-07-0288
IN THE APPELLATE COURT
OF ILLINOIS
FOURTH DISTRICT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
JEREMY I. CALHOUN,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from
Circuit Court of
Sangamon County
No. 05CF1277
Honorable
Robert J. Eggers,
Judge Presiding.
PRESIDING JUSTICE APPLETON delivered the opinion of the court:
The State charged defendant, Jeremy I. Calhoun, with aggravated battery
of a child (720 ILCS 5/12-4.3(a) (West 2004)). The child, defendant's two-month-old
son, was taken to the hospital. After medical examinations were performed on the child,
the hospital personnel discovered old and new hemorrhages on the child's brain,
suspected he was the victim of shaken-baby syndrome, and contacted the police. Police
officers responded to the hospital where they met with defendant. The officers took
defendant to the police station for an interview, stopping at defendant's residence to
familiarize themselves with the conditions of the home.
At the police station, defendant initially provided several possible explana-tions
of how the child was injured, none of which included him shaking the child. Later
during the interview, defendant admitted he had shaken the child "a little." Following
defendant's admission, the interviewing officer gave defendant Miranda warnings. See
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966). The officer
told defendant the questioning had progressed from an "interview" to an "interroga-