Murphy v. Atchison
| Decision Date | 19 August 2013 |
| Parties | LEE MURPHY (R47189), Petitioner, v. MICHAEL ATCHISON, Warden, Menard Correctional Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
LEE MURPHY (R47189), Petitioner,
v.
MICHAEL ATCHISON, Warden, Menard Correctional Center, Respondent.1
Case No. 12 C 3106
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION
DATED: August 19, 2013
On March 17, 2003, police responded to a 911 call placed by Choni Dade. Upon arrival at Choni's home on the South Side of Chicago, they discovered Choni and her children, five-year-old Dashay Barlow and two-year-old Jailan Carter, near death due to multiple stab and gunshot wounds.2 Choni was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the hospital, but her children survived after receiving extensive medical treatment. Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Lee Murphy was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Choni and the attempted murder of Dashay and Jailan. He was sentenced to a 75-year term of imprisonment for the first-degree murder conviction and two 20-year terms of imprisonment for the attempted murder convictions, to be served consecutively.
Murphy's pro se motion for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is before the court. Murphy argues, among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to
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support his conviction and that admission of Dashay's identifications of him in a line-up and in court violated his right to due process. For the following reasons, the petition is denied.
The court begins by summarizing the facts and procedural posture. It will presume that the state court's factual determinations are correct for the purposes of habeas review as Murphy neither contests them nor points to clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Todd v. Schomig, 283 F.3d 842, 846 (7th Cir. 2002). The following facts and procedural posture are drawn from the state court record (Dkt. 9) and the Illinois Appellate Court's opinions in Murphy's direct appeal, People v. Murphy, No. 1-05-3345 (Ill. App. Ct. Mar. 31, 2008) (unpublished order) (Dkt. 9-17, Page ID# 2379-2405), and collateral appeal, People v. Murphy, No. 1-09-2411 (Ill. App. Ct. May 2, 2008) (unpublished order) (Dkt. 9-18, Page ID# 2552-2560).
A. Pretrial Motions
Prior to trial, Murphy sought to suppress evidence of a lineup identification by Dashay and to preclude her from identifying him in court. In support, Murphy asserted that Dashay's identification was unreliable because the lineup was conducted improperly and was unreasonably suggestive as he was the only person in the lineup whose photograph had been shown to Dashay and with whom she was familiar.3 Based on its conclusion that Murphy failed to allege governmental misconduct and could not present an offer of proof showing governmental misconduct, the trial court denied the motion.
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The State filed a pretrial motion seeking to preclude Murphy from introducing evidence that one of its witnesses, Officer Robert Bartik, allegedly engaged in misconduct in a different case and had been named as a defendant in a civil action predicated on that alleged misconduct. In response, Murphy sought to introduce the testimony of Donny McGee, who had been charged with an unrelated murder. Specifically, Murphy sought to present evidence that during McGee's trial, Bartik testified that while he was preparing to administer a polygraph examination to McGee, McGee confessed to committing the murder. McGee denied confessing to Bartik, was acquitted, and subsequently brought a federal lawsuit against Bartik and the Chicago Police Department. The trial court granted the State's motion and barred Murphy from presenting this evidence to the jury.
B. Murphy's Trial
The evidence adduced at trial established that Choni lived with her parents and her two children at 8014 South Troy Street in Chicago, Illinois. Approximately five years before the events at the heart of this case, Choni and Murphy attended high school together. At that time, Murphy lived with relatives at 8149 South Troy. Choni and Murphy were friends, and he visited her home on several occasions.
1. The Attack on Choni, Jailan, and Dashay
At 10:50 a.m. on March 17, 2003, Choni called 911 and reported that someone was trying to kill her. Police officers responded and followed a trail of blood to Choni, who was lying on the floor of a room on the first floor of her home. Jailan and Dashay were found lying on a bed in a second-floor bedroom. Their throats had been cut, and there was blood on their clothing. All three victims were in such distress that they were unable to communicate effectively.
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Upon her arrival at the hospital, Choni was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that she had been repeatedly stabbed and had suffered four gunshot wounds, one of which had been fired at close range. In addition, Choni had defensive injuries, consisting of multiple abrasions and knife wounds on the back of her left hand.
When two-year-old Jailan was admitted to the hospital, he had only one-half the expected amount of blood and had stab wounds on his neck and tongue. After surgery, he was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit, was on life support until March 22, 2003, and was discharged on March 28, 2003. Five-year-old Dashay had stab wounds on her neck, left shoulder, and both wrists, as well as a gunshot wound that entered her mid-abdomen, traveled through her liver, hit the back of her tenth rib, and exited her midback. She underwent surgery and was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. She remained on a ventilator until March 19, 2003, and was discharged on March 25, 2003.
2. Dashay's Testimony
At trial, Dashay, who was then seven years old, described the attack on the morning of March 17, 2003. Dashay testified that she was watching the Disney channel on television with Jailan upstairs when the doorbell rang. She came downstairs and saw her mother with a man who was wearing a black "doo-rag" on his head. Dashay identified Murphy as the man she saw in her home and stated that he had visited their house before. Dashay saw Murphy and her mother in the kitchen. Murphy pushed her mother into the refrigerator and started beating her up. After Dashay returned upstairs with Jailan, Murphy shot her in the chest, stabbed her in the back, and stabbed Jailan. Murphy then left and the police came and took her to the hospital.
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While Dashay was hospitalized, a woman showed her some pictures. She picked out the picture of the man who hurt her, her mother, and Jailan. Dashay also testified that she subsequently went to the police station and looked at "a room full of men." She saw the man who had hurt her — Murphy — and pointed him out to the police. She also identified Murphy in court. On cross-examination, Dashay acknowledged she initially told the woman at the hospital that she could not identify the intruder because that person was wearing a mask. She testified, however, that Murphy was not wearing a mask on the day of the attacks and that she could see Murphy's face when her mother opened the door. She further stated that her grandparents did not tell her what to say at trial and the police did not tell her that the person who attacked her would be at the police station.
3. Christine Escobar's Testimony
Christine Escobar was a forensic services manager at the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center. She was trained to interview children and by the time she met Dashay, she had interviewed more than 1,600 children. On March 19, 2003, police detectives asked Escobar to interview Dashay, who was in the pediatric intensive care unit of Advocate Hope Children's Hospital. Escobar stated that she spoke with Dr. Jaimovich, who explained that Dashay could talk but was on medication and was in and out of consciousness. According to Escobar, Dashay was very groggy during the initial interview and could not provide any details about the events of March 17, 2003.
Escolar interviewed Darshay a second time about 90 minutes later. Dashay was still very groggy and her description of events "jumped around." Dashay initially said she saw a single man wearing a mask in her home on the day of the attack. She later said there were three men
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wearing masks. When Escobar returned an hour later, Dashay repeated that there were three men with masks. Escobar stated that she told Dashay's grandparents not to ask their granddaughter any questions about what happened.
According to Escobar, Dashay seemed less groggy when she returned on March 20, 2003. When asked what had happened on March 17th, Dashay said that her mother let a man into her house. Dashay told Escobar that she heard her mother say the man's name, but did not know what the name was, and did not see the man's face. Escobar returned to the hospital on March 21, 2003. Dashay seemed a little more alert and stated that one man had come to the house and that her mother knew him and let him in. Dashay further stated that the man had a "black thing" on his head. She then said that the man "got" her, Jailan, and her mother before the police came.
Escobar interviewed Dashay again on March 25, 2003. Dashay repeated that the man who came to the house was wearing a "black thing" covering the top of...
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