Beaman v. Freesmeyer

• Decision Date: 29 July 2021
• Docket Number: Docket No. 125617
• Citation: 2021 IL 125617,183 N.E.3d 767,451 Ill.Dec. 310
• Parties: Alan BEAMAN, Appellant, v. Tim FREESMEYER et al., Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

2021 IL 125617

183 N.E.3d 767

451 Ill.Dec. 310

Alan BEAMAN, Appellant,

v.Tim FREESMEYER et al., Appellees.

Docket No. 125617

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Opinion filed July 29, 2021.

Rehearing denied September 27, 2021

David M. Shapiro and Locke E. Bowman, of Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and Jeffrey Urdangen, of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP, both of Chicago, for appellant.

Thomas G. DiCianni, Kathleen M. Kunkle, and Mary Jean Dolan, of Ancel Glink, P.C., of Chicago, for appellees.

James I. Kaplan, Thomas J. McDonell, and Hailey A. Varner, of Quarles & Brady LLP, of Chicago, for amicus curiae The Innocence Network.

Tamara L. Cummings, of Western Springs, for amici curiae Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council et al.

JUSTICE NEVILLE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 In 1995, plaintiff Alan Beaman was convicted of the murder of his former girlfriend, Jennifer Lockmiller, and sentenced to a term of 50 years’ imprisonment. After Beaman had served more than 13 years in prison, this court overturned his conviction because the trial was tainted by a Brady violation ( Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) ). People v. Beaman , 229 Ill. 2d 56, 82, 321 Ill.Dec. 778, 890 N.E.2d 500 (2008) (hereinafter referred to as Beaman I ). Thereafter, the State declined to retry Beaman and dismissed the murder charge against him. Beaman subsequently initiated this action against defendants Tim Freesmeyer, Dave Warner, and Frank Zayas, former detectives of the Normal Police Department, asserting claims of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy. Beaman also requested damages from defendant the Town of Normal, under theories of respondeat superior and indemnification. The circuit court of McLean County granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all claims, and the appellate court affirmed. Beaman v. Freesmeyer , 2017 IL App (4th) 160527, 415 Ill.Dec. 296, 82 N.E.3d 241. In February 2019, this court reversed the appellate court's judgment and remanded to that court for review of "whether the defendants’ conduct or actions proximately caused the commencement or continuance of the original criminal proceeding by determining whether defendants played a significant role in Beaman's prosecution." Beaman v. Freesmeyer , 2019 IL 122654, ¶ 47, 433 Ill.Dec. 130, 131 N.E.3d 488 (hereinafter referred to as Beaman II ). On remand, the appellate court again affirmed the circuit court's entry of summary judgment for defendants. 2019 IL App (4th) 160527, ¶ 130, 442 Ill.Dec. 848, 160 N.E.3d 1028. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the appellate court's judgment and remand the cause to the circuit court for further proceedings.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 A. The Murder and Prearrest Investigation

¶ 4 Jennifer Lockmiller, a 21-year-old student at Illinois State University, was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment in Normal, Illinois, on August 28, 1993. Her body was severely decomposed, and the electrical cord of a clock radio was wrapped and tied around her neck. She had sustained multiple stab wounds that appeared to have been made by scissors with red plastic handles, which were embedded in her chest. Her shirt and bra were pushed up around her neck, and her shorts and underwear were pulled down around her left leg. A box fan partially covered her face and was resting on the scissors in Lockmiller's chest.

¶ 5 A plastic garbage can was found lying on its side in front of the open door of the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink. A bag of trash was found on the living room sofa. Lockmiller's closed book bags and purse were on a table and appeared undisturbed. Her wallet contained $17.71 in cash. Both the air conditioner and the television were on. Several letters were found under Lockmiller's bed.

¶ 6 In addition, seven fingerprints were recovered from the alarm clock. Eventually, it was determined that two of the fingerprints were from Beaman; four belonged to Lockmiller's then-current boyfriend, Michael Swaine; and one fingerprint was unidentified. No suitable fingerprints were found on the cord of the alarm clock or the scissors that were used to stab Lockmiller.

¶ 7 An autopsy revealed that Lockmiller died from ligature strangulation caused by the cord of the alarm clock. The medical examiner estimated the time of death between 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 25, and 9 a.m. on Friday, August 27. He could not narrow the time frame any further due to the body's decomposition. However, the investigators narrowed down the likely time of death to the afternoon hours of Wednesday, August 25, because they had not found anyone who had seen Lockmiller alive after she attended a class that ended at 11:50 a.m. that day.

¶ 8 The murder quickly became a high-profile story in the college towns of Normal and Bloomington. The detectives from the Normal Police Department (NPD) who were involved in the investigation included defendants Freesmeyer, Warner, and Zayas. McLean County State's Attorney Charles Reynard and Assistant State's Attorney James Souk were part of the prosecutorial team.

¶ 9 Detective Zayas testified that the murder could have been committed by a large universe of potential suspects, given the transient nature of the campus, with young people attending activities and parties at all hours of the day and night and the location of the crime scene on a main throughfare, Route 51. According to Zayas, it was an open case, and the detectives had no idea where to begin the investigation.

¶ 10 However, since there was no sign of forced entry and it appeared nothing had been stolen, the investigation immediately focused on men Lockmiller had dated. Believing the murder was a crime of passion, the detectives questioned several of Lockmiller's current and former boyfriends, including Beaman, Michael Swaine, Stacey "Bubba" Gates, and Larbi John Murray.

¶ 11 Swaine was Beaman's former roommate and Lockmiller's boyfriend at the time of her murder. Swaine had a sexual relationship with Lockmiller beginning while she was still dating Beaman during June 1993 and continuing until her death. Though Swaine and Lockmiller tried to hide it from Beaman, he learned of their relationship in mid-July 1993 when he broke down the door to Lockmiller's apartment and found them together. Although Beaman was angry, he never touched either Swaine or Lockmiller, and he later drove Swaine back to their apartment.

¶ 12 On July 25, 1993, Beaman found two letters from Lockmiller in Swaine's bedroom and went to the theater where he and Swaine worked to confront him about his relationship with Lockmiller. Later that day, Beaman went with a friend to Ohio so he could disengage from his relationship with Lockmiller. At around that time, Lockmiller told Swaine that Beaman was over her and did not love her anymore. According to Swaine, when Beaman returned from Ohio on August 4, he seemed to be in a better place emotionally. Swaine was eliminated as a suspect based on the results of his polygraph examination and on evidence that he was working at his former high school's bookstore in Elmhurst, Illinois, on the day of the murder.

¶ 13 Stacey "Bubba" Gates, a former boyfriend of Lockmiller's, moved to Peoria, Illinois, from Janesville, Wisconsin, three days before her murder. He and Lockmiller planned to get together the following weekend, and he believed they were going to renew their relationship. Gates gave erratic and inconsistent answers during his polygraph examination but was eliminated as a suspect because check-in logs from a Peoria school showed that he was working as a teacher on August 25, 1993.

¶ 14 Larbi John Murray was a drug dealer with connections to a major supplier in Chicago, and he previously had sold drugs to Lockmiller. At the time of her death, Lockmiller owed Murray about $20 for the purchase of marijuana. In addition, Murray had a sporadic sexual relationship with Lockmiller. At the time of the murder, he lived in Bloomington, about 1½ miles from Lockmiller's apartment.

¶ 15 During his initial interview, Murray informed the investigators that he had spoken with Lockmiller and Swaine in a parking lot sometime between August 19 and 23, 1993. He also said he left Bloomington and went to Byron, Illinois, on August 24 and did not return until September 1. Murray further told the detectives that he and Lockmiller were about to renew their sexual relationship. In addition, Murray stated that Lockmiller said she had been afraid to end her relationship with Beaman.

¶ 16 The investigators later spoke with Murray's live-in girlfriend, Debbie Mackoway, who said she was with Murray after she returned from work at 2 p.m. on August 25 until 4:20 p.m., when Murray left town. Mackoway corroborated Murray's statement that he had returned to Bloomington on September 1. Mackoway further stated that she last saw Lockmiller with Swaine on August 21 and that she believed the same was true for Murray.

¶ 17 After interviewing Mackoway, investigators again spoke with Murray, who changed the information that he had provided earlier. At his second interview, Murray admitted that he was home during the morning and early afternoon of August 25 and indicated that he was with Mackoway from 1 to 4 p.m., when he left for Byron. This information was confirmed by Murray's telephone records, which showed that he was in Bloomington on August 25. Murray also admitted that he previously had a physical altercation with a former girlfriend.

¶ 18 Detective Daniels escorted Murray for a polygraph examination, but the examiner was unable to get a valid result because Murray repeatedly failed to follow directions despite being instructed numerous times. Murray told the examiner that he was not able to comply, and the examiner ultimately terminated the examination. Though the examiner did not initially conclude that Murray had intentionally prevented a valid result,...