Elgin man’s cocaine conviction, prison sentence overturned

What constitutes possession of an illegal substance?

Holding it for less than a minute but ultimately not buying it does not break the law, an appellate court recently ruled.

As a result, an Elgin man sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of a kilogram of cocaine with intent to deliver is now free.

James E. Dumas, 38, of the 500 block of Preston Avenue, was released from prison after an appellate court in September overturned his conviction.

“At times, case law can be a moving target and is often open to interpretation,” Elgin Deputy Police Chief Cecil Smith said. “We respect the appellate court’s decision and we will review the information surrounding the case internally.”

According to court documents, Dumas met an undercover Elgin Police detective Sept. 24, 2008 in the parking lot of a store on Randall Road so the officer could sell Dumas a kilogram of cocaine for $26,000.

Dumas and the officer sat in the officer’s car and Dumas held a bag containing the kilogram for about 30 seconds, according to court documents.

Dumas said he was concerned about the quality of the cocaine and didn’t have the money with him, according to court documents. Dumas wanted to drive to a house on Elgin’s east side where his friend could see it first.

The detective followed Dumas for a few blocks, but never met Dumas again.

At an October 2009 bench trial before Kane County Judge Allen Anderson, the detective testified that the plan was for other officers to arrest Dumas after he paid for the cocaine. The detective didn’t want to move the drug deal somewhere else because “it would be too hard to control the situation and there was a risk of being robbed or killed.”

Although no future drug deal took place, Dumas was eventually arrested in January 2009. He was convicted by Anderson and sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2009.

Citing two other similar cases in which defendants showed up for a drug deal but never actually completed the sale, the appellate panel reversed the conviction of Dumas.

The appellate court panel noted that Dumas had concerns over the drug’s packaging, didn’t have the money with him and wanted to go to another location.

“The defendant’s conduct did not demonstrate an unequivocal agreement to complete the drug transaction,” the judges wrote.

Dumas could not be reached for comment.

The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office said it was consulting with the Illinois Appellate prosecutors office to see what remedies, if any, were available.

On the surface, it would appear the state cannot reprosecute the case against Dumas because that would be double jeopardy.

hhitzeman@dailyherald.com