People v. Miller

• Citation: 104 Ill.App.3d 57,432 N.E.2d 650,59 Ill.Dec. 864
• Decision Date: 03 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. 16469,16469
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois
• Parties: , 59 Ill.Dec. 864 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles "Chuck" MILLER, Defendant-Appellant.

Page 650

432 N.E.2d 650

104 Ill.App.3d 57, 59 Ill.Dec. 864

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles "Chuck" MILLER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 16469.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

March 3, 1982.

Daniel D. Yuhas, Deputy State Appellate Defender, Gary R. Peterson, Asst. State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for defendant-appellant.

Tim P. Olsen, State's Atty., Jacksonville, Robert J. Biderman, Deputy Director, Garry W. Bryan, Staff Atty., State's Attys. Appellate Service Commission, Springfield, for plaintiff-appellee.

MILLS, Justice:

The State's Attorney asked a single, fatal question of the defendant on cross-examination.

The query was in direct violation of the U. S. Supreme Court's edict in Doyle v. Ohio.

Because of it, we must reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

Miller, Clarence "Butch" Armstrong, and Randy Williams were charged with abducting, beating, robbing, and killing Neil Gorsuch.

Armstrong's case was tried separately. Williams pleaded guilty to kidnapping and the other charges against him were dropped when he agreed to testify against Miller and Armstrong.

Upon denial of Miller's motion for change of venue, a jury trial was held in Morgan County. The prosecution's case against Miller consisted mainly of the testimony of Randy Williams. At Miller's trial, Williams testified substantially as follows:

At 1:30 a. m. on February 9, 1980, Williams, his brother Rick, "Butch" Armstrong, and a person later identified as the victim left a tavern in Jacksonville, Illinois. The four got into a car belonging to a friend of Rick Williams. Rick drove to his house and got out. Randy began driving with the victim sitting behind him and Armstrong sitting in the back seat next to the victim. During this trip, Armstrong administered a beating to the victim.

After driving around for an undetermined length of time, the trio arrived at Williams' house. Once inside, it was discovered that the victim had become incontinent. While the victim was in the bathroom cleaning himself, Armstrong obtained from Williams a .12 gauge shotgun, shells, and a .32 caliber pistol containing one shell. When the victim exited the bathroom, Armstrong, finding feces on the floor, struck and knocked Gorsuch down. Williams attempted to clean up the feces and blood, but was not completely successful. Thereafter, the trio prepared to leave. Armstrong placed both guns in the car, shoved the victim into the rear seat, and then got in the passenger side of the car. Williams began driving and at some point, Armstrong fired the .32 caliber pistol into the back seat of the car, ostensibly to convince Subsequently, with Armstrong giving directions, Williams drove to a trailer court. According to Williams, it was still dark at this time. Armstrong got out and went to a trailer, but returned shortly thereafter. Miller followed a few minutes later and got into the back seat of the car with the victim. Williams again began to drive, with Armstrong and Miller giving directions. Miller asked the victim if he had any money. According to Williams, the victim replied affirmatively, whereupon Miller hit the victim and demanded all of his money. Williams testified that he then heard Miller going through the victim's pockets.

[59 Ill.Dec. 866] the victim to keep his head down. During this time, the victim's face was covered with a stocking cap.

Williams testified that he drove west out of Jacksonville through the country until he came to a bridge, where Armstrong ordered him to stop. Miller was the first to exit the car. Armstrong followed, and handed Miller the shotgun. Williams was the next to get out. Armstrong then took the victim by the arm, pulled him out of the back seat of the car, and shoved him up against the rail of the bridge. Williams testified that Miller then shot the victim in the head. According to Williams, Armstrong took the shotgun, reloaded it, and also shot the victim in the head. Armstrong put a third shell in the shotgun and gave it to Williams. When Williams shot and missed, Armstrong ordered Williams to shoot again and to do it right this time or be buried there with the victim. As the shotgun was reloaded for this fourth shot, the empty shell fell through the floor of the bridge. Williams testified that he thought he hit the man with his second shot.

Armstrong then grabbed the body of the victim by the feet and flipped it over the north side of the bridge. On Armstrong's orders, Williams picked up the spent shells-except the one which fell through the bridge. Armstrong, Miller, and Williams got into the front seat of the car, with Williams again driving. According to Williams, it was still dark when the trio left the bridge, heading west. A short while later, the shells, along with the victim's wallet and driver's license, were thrown out the passenger side of the car. The three returned to Williams' house, where they disposed of the shotgun. While it was still dark, Williams and Miller took Armstrong home and proceeded to a cafe. It was beginning to get light out when they arrived at the cafe. Later, Williams took Miller home.

That afternoon, Miller, Williams, and Armstrong met at another tavern in Jacksonville. All of them then went to Williams' house where Williams cleaned up the house and the car used in the murder. The three returned to the tavern. Armstrong later left, but Williams and Miller were soon joined by Williams' brother, Rick. Williams informed his brother, Rick, that he was in trouble and needed to talk. After some more drinking, Miller, the Williams brothers, and Chris Peterson went to Williams' house. Williams testified that he and Rick went into a bedroom, where he told brother Rick that "they" had killed the person who was with them the previous evening. Thereafter-according to both brothers' testimony-Miller entered the bedroom and admitted the killing. Miller and Williams then left for another bacchanalian evening. They were arrested together the next morning.

Williams' testimony was challenged in several respects on cross-examination. Williams admitted to lying to the police about what he had told his brother the day after the murder and was unable to give details of the conversation between Miller, Rick, and himself when Miller allegedly admitted the murder. It was also brought out that the day after the offense, Williams told the police that Armstrong had fired the .32 caliber pistol into the rear seat while on the way to the bridge where the victim's body was found, and not before picking up defendant, as Williams had testified at trial. Additionally, Williams admitted that he had been drinking since 1:30 p. m. on the date of the offense; could not recount exactly where he had driven on the night of the murder; and was unable to say how much Finally, an expert witness for the defendant testified that in his opinion, the victim was not shot at the bridge where his body was found. On cross-examination, however, the witness stated that his opinion was based on the belief that the victim's body could not have hung over the railing of the bridge after the shooting, but that he had never examined either the bridge or the body of the deceased.

[59 Ill.Dec. 867] time elapsed between the events leading up to the murder.

Despite these infirmities, there was some corroboration for Williams' testimony. Several persons...