Hernandez v. Cooper, 97-C-1296.
| Decision Date | 02 November 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-C-1296.,97-C-1296. |
| Citation | 28 F.Supp.2d 498 |
| Parties | Ramiro HERNANDEZ, Petitioner, v. Keith COOPER, Warden, Joliet Correctional Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Ramiro Hernandez, Joliet, IL, pro se.
Joel T. Pelz, Jerold Sherwin Solovy, Susan E Moore, Jenner & Block, Chicago, IL, for Ramiro Hernandez.
Chief of Criminal Appeals, Illinois Attorney General's Office, Chicago, IL, for Illinois Department of Corrections.
Catherine F. Glenn, Illinois Attorney General's Office, Chicago, IL, for Keith Cooper.
Ramiro Hernandez petitions this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a writ of habeas corpus. Following a jury trial, Hernandez was convicted of murder and armed violence. Hernandez raises six issues in his habeas petition that he claims entitle him to relief: 1) the state court's failure to sever his joint trial resulted in harmful constitutional error; 2) the state court denied his right to be acquitted absent proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; 3) Hernandez was compelled to testify and the state court erred in concluding that his testimony waived his right to a directed verdict; 4) prosecutorial misconduct infected the fact-finding and sentencing processes; 5) the state court relied on inaccurate and highly prejudicial information in imposing an extended sentence; and 6) he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. After thorough consideration of Hernandez's claims, this Court denies the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
A. Murder of Jorge Orosco
At approximately 1:00 a.m. on January 16, 1979, Jorge Orosco was shot and killed while walking on Spaulding Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. On February 6, 1979, police arrested Daniel Santisteven for an unrelated crime — the murder of Gilbert Santiago. When the police searched Santisteven's home, they found numerous firearms, including a .38 caliber revolver which was later identified as one of the weapons used to murder Orosco. Record ("R."). at 255-62. While in custody for Santiago's murder, Santisteven admitted shooting Orosco twice and implicated Ramiro Hernandez as well. That same day, police arrested Hernandez in connection with the Orosco shooting. Hernandez, however, denied any involvement, claiming that he was home sleeping at the time of the shooting.
Prior to trial, Santisteven's counsel moved to suppress Santisteven's statement and the guns retrieved from Santisteven's bedroom. The trial court held a pretrial hearing on the motions to suppress, but neither Hernandez nor his attorneys attended. The trial court ultimately denied Santisteven's motion. In addition to evidence on the merits, the trial court heard evidence about an alleged deal between Santisteven, the police, and the State's Attorney's Office. Specifically, Santisteven testified that the police told him that if he implicated Hernandez in the Orosco shooting and testified against Hernandez, the police would "take care of" the gun charge and ask the State's Attorney to drop the Santiago murder charge. Santisteven complied and the State dropped both charges before trial. Similarly, Assistant State's Attorney Mark Rokoczy told Santisteven that if he testified against Hernandez, he would tell the court that Santisteven had cooperated, and recommend a reduction in Santisteven's charge or that his sentence be served in a minimum security prison.
Hernandez filed a pretrial motion to sever the joint trial, claiming that the introduction of Santisteven's statement would violate Hernandez's right to confrontation under Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). After the State agreed to redact all references to Hernandez in Santisteven's statement, the trial court denied Hernandez's motion. R. at 302.
Hernandez also filed a motion in limine to preclude the State from referencing gang activity. In response, the prosecutor indicated that he did not intend to introduce evidence of the defendants' gang activity, but left the issue open with regard to cross-examination. R. at 315-16. The trial court gave no explicit ruling, but stated "All right, counsel, I think that should satisfy you." R. at 316.
The State presented the following evidence at the trial. Angel Cruz testified that while walking down Homan Avenue, one block west of Spaulding, he heard two or three shots followed by more shots. After hearing the shots, Cruz walked toward the alley between Homan and Spaulding and saw two figures running through the alley. Cruz testified that he recognized one of the persons as Hernandez, but could not identify the other individual.
Officer Joe Rodriguez testified that when he and other officers arrested Hernandez, they searched Hernandez and the area around him, but found no evidence implicating him in the shooting. R. at 554-57. Officer Eshoo testified that Santisteven confessed that he saw Orosco walking down the street, and when Orosco fell, Santisteven shot him twice. R. at 386-87. Assistant State's Attorney Rokoczy read Santisteven's incriminating statement to the jury, eliminating any reference to Hernandez's role in the crime. In the statement, Santisteven admitted shooting Orosco twice with a .38 caliber revolver.
John Sadunas, a firearms examiner with the Chicago Police Department, testified that three of the six bullets recovered from the victim's body were fired from the .38 caliber weapon that police had recovered from Santisteven's room. He further testified that the remaining three bullets came from another, unidentified .38 caliber revolver. R. at 643-45.
The State rested and Hernandez's counsel moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the State had not proved Hernandez guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court denied the motion. R. at 674. Hernandez's counsel rested without presenting any evidence and renewed his motion for a directed verdict, without success. R. at 677-79. Hernandez's counsel then asked the court to instruct the jury that Hernandez's defense had rested and that all evidence regarding Hernandez was concluded, but the trial court refused.
The trial proceeded and Santisteven took the stand. Santisteven testified that on January 16, 1979, at roughly 12:50 a.m., he and Hernandez were walking through an alley when they saw Orosco walking north on Spaulding Avenue. Hernandez and Santisteven ducked into the alley and, as Orosco walked past, Hernandez walked up to him and shot him five times. Hernandez then ran back into the alley towards Santisteven and said, "go ahead, shoot him." Santisteven complied, shooting Orosco two or three times as he lay on the ground. Hernandez and Santisteven then turned and ran down the alley. Santisteven also testified that Hernandez was carrying a .38 caliber revolver that belonged to Santisteven. Finally, Santisteven testified that he had no reason to shoot Orosco and that Hernandez shot Orosco because he thought Orosco was a Latin King. R. at 694-708.
Hernandez's counsel moved for a mistrial, arguing that Santisteven's incriminating testimony denied Hernandez a fair trial. R. at 732. The trial court, however, denied the motion. R. at 733. Hernandez's counsel then indicated to the trial court that Hernandez would testify to rebut Santisteven's testimony and moved to limit the scope the prosecution's cross-examination. R. at 735. Hernandez testified that he did not shoot Orosco. On cross-examination, Hernandez claimed that he had been at home sleeping at 1:00 a.m. on January 16, 1979. Hernandez also denied being a member of the Imperial Gangsters and denied ever wearing Imperial Gangster insignia. R. at 765.
The State then informed the court of its plan to call Officer O'Quinn to impeach Hernandez's testimony. R. at 768. Hernandez's counsel reminded the court of his motion in limine with respect to potential gang evidence and the State's agreement to limit its presentation of testimony on this issue R. at 771. The trial court allowed the State to proceed. R. at 774. The State called Officer O'Quinn, who testified that he saw Hernandez wearing an Imperial Gangster sweater and identified a photograph of Hernandez wearing an Imperial Gangster sweater. R. at 783-85.
The jury ultimately found Hernandez and Santisteven guilty of armed violence and murder. The trial court sentenced Hernandez to two concurrent sentences of 50 years for murder and armed violence. Santisteven received two concurrent sentences of 25 years for murder and armed violence.
On direct appeal, Hernandez asserted that 1) the trial court improperly admitted evidence of unrelated crimes; 2) improper comments by the prosecution and prosecutorial misconduct violated his right to a fair trial; 3) the trial court erred in failing to sever the joint trial; 4) the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict at the close of his case; and 5) the trial court erred in sentencing him for two separate offenses. In an unpublished order, the Illinois Appellate Court vacated the armed violence conviction as a lesser-included offense, but affirmed the murder conviction and sentence. Hernandez, Nos. 80-847 & 80-1879 (Ill.App.Ct. Aug. 24, 1983). Claiming that appellate counsel failed to notify him of the time to appeal, Hernandez did not file a petition for leave to appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Almost four years later, Hernandez filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. Hernandez argued that his trial counsel rendered deficient representation by 1) failing to argue antagonistic defenses in his severance motion; 2) forcing Hernandez to testify at trial; 3) failing to object to the admission of weapons recovered from Santisteven's home; 4) failing to interview alibi witnesses; and 5) failing to argue...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hernandez v. Cooper
...for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, which this Court denied on November 2, 1998. Hernandez v. Cooper, 28 F.Supp.2d 498 (N.D.Ill.1998) ("Hernandez I"). The Court will assume that the reader is familiar with our opinion in Hernandez I. On December 31, 1998, this Court gr......
-
U.S. ex rel. Johnson v. Tally
...fall well short of what is needed to make out a claim for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. See Hernandez v. Cooper, 28 F.Supp.2d 498, 511 (N.D.Ill. 1998). The second other problem is that the court finds that Johnson's appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise t......