People v. Johnson

── People v. Johnson ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General 2026 IL App (1st) 230142 No. 1-23-0142 Opinion filed June 4, 2026 FOURTH DIVISION ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT _____________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. 21 CR 14566 ) EUGENE JOHNSON, a/k/a Robert Johnson, ) Honorable ) Alfredo Maldonado, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding. JUSTICE LYLE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Navarro and Justice Quish concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 Following a jury trial, the defendant-appellant, Robert Johnson, also known as Eugene Johnson, was convicted of attempted first degree murder and being an armed habitual criminal (AHC) and sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 21 and 20 years, respectively. 1 On appeal, Mr. Johnson argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to convict him of attempted murder and 1 While the defendant was referred to as both Eugene Johnson and Robert Johnson in the charges and pretrial proceedings, he repeatedly stated that his name was Robert Johnson, was referred to by that name at trial, and filed his notice of appeal under that name. Opinion filed June 4, 2026 (2) the trial court erred in admitting hearsay statements into evidence from police body-camera video footage and the content of a police dispatch. We affirm the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County. ¶2 BACKGROUND ¶3 Mr. Johnson was charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm for shooting at Crystal Fleming on or about October 30, 2021. He was also charged with home invasion and AHC committed on the same date. ¶4 At the August 2022 trial, Ms. Fleming testified that on October 30, 2021, she was living with her children and Mr. Johnson, her boyfriend at the time. Ms. Fleming’s relatives, including her stepfather, Michael Haney, were staying in her home for the funeral of Ms. Fleming’s mother. In the early morning, Ms. Fleming and her children were asleep in one bed when Mr. Johnson came home using his key, woke her, and berated her for not picking him up. Mr. Johnson and Ms. Fleming then fought, hitting each other. They were both upset, and Ms. Fleming could not recall who struck the first blow. They fought through the home and “woke the whole house up.” ¶5 At some point, Mr. Haney “jumped in and grabbed [Mr. Johnson] and started choking him.” They fought in the hallway by the kitchen while Ms. Fleming was in the living room. When asked what happened next and when Mr. Haney stopped fighting Mr. Johnson, Ms. Fleming replied she was “not sure” and said that “eventually the whole situation ended when the police came. But when they was fighting, *** I can’t remember all this. It happened too long ago and *** was happening too fast.” She did not believe Mr. Johnson came home with a firearm, as he did not “own a gun.” Ms. Fleming also di