People v. Bull

• Decision Date: 10 November 1998
• Docket Number: No. 81578,81578
• Citation: 705 N.E.2d 824,235 Ill.Dec. 641,185 Ill.2d 179
• Parties: , 235 Ill.Dec. 641 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Donald BULL, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 824

705 N.E.2d 824

185 Ill.2d 179, 235 Ill.Dec. 641

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Donald BULL, Appellant.

No. 81578.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 10, 1998.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 1, 1999.

State Appellate Defender/Supreme Court Unit, Springfield, Steven Clark, Assistant Appellate Defender, Capital Litigation Division, Chicago, for Donald R. Bull.

Jim Ryan, Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Div., Chicago, State's Attorney Fulton County, Lewistown, Penelope M. George, Assistant Attorney General, Chicago, for the People.

Chief Justice FREEMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Fulton County, defendant, Donald Bull, was convicted of the first degree murder of Donna Tompkins and her daughter, Justine, the concealment of their homicidal deaths, and the aggravated arson of their home. See 720 ILCS 5/9-1(a), 9-3.1(a), 20-1.1(a)(1) (West 1992). Defendant chose to have the trial judge determine his sentence. At a separate sentencing hearing, the trial judge found defendant to be eligible for the death penalty and further determined that there were no mitigating circumstances sufficient to preclude the imposition of that sentence.

Accordingly, the trial judge sentenced defendant to death on the murder convictions, to a consecutive five-year prison term on the homicidal death convictions, and to a 30-year prison term on the aggravated arson conviction, consecutive to the death penalty and concurrent with the other prison term. The death sentence has been stayed pending direct review by this court. Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d Rs. 603, 609(a). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

The State's evidence at trial was essentially as follows. The victim, 30-year-old Donna Tompkins, worked at the Canton National Bank. Beginning in the spring of 1992, she also worked part-time as a waitress at the Canton Elks Club. In October 1992, she rented an apartment at 367 S. First Avenue in Canton for herself and for the other victim in this case, her three-year-old daughter, Justine.

A coworker of Donna's at the Elks Club, Iona Price, introduced Donna to defendant. He worked with Price's husband, Mike, delivering furniture. Donna told defendant that she wanted to buy a sofa bed for her new apartment, and defendant responded that he had one to sell. Later that evening, Price warned Donna not to allow defendant into her apartment if she were ever there alone.

Defendant soon thereafter sold Donna a used sofa bed. She arranged for defendant to deliver the sofa while she and Justine were not at home. In her mailbox, she left for defendant a check for the sofa bed and the key to her apartment.

At 9 a.m., on January 13, 1993, Donna had not yet arrived at the bank. A coworker, Sheila Sisk, reported Donna's absence to her supervisor, David Haynes. He telephoned Donna's apartment and received her answering machine. A short time later, Sisk again telephoned Haynes and this time reported that Justine was not at her day care center. Sisk suggested that Haynes go to Donna's apartment and check on her.

At approximately 9:15 a.m., Haynes left the bank and drove a few blocks to Donna's apartment. He parked behind Donna's car in the garage driveway. He knocked on her apartment door and did not hear an answer. He attempted to look into the apartment through windows next to the door, but could not see anything. Haynes went to the adjoining apartment to speak with the owner of the building, Pauline Newcomb. She did not know if the victims were still at home. Haynes telephoned the bank from Newcomb's apartment; Donna was not there. Haynes then telephoned the Canton police department for assistance.

While on the phone, Haynes heard knocks on the wall or floor. After hanging up, he noticed a faint puff of smoke emanating from the adjoining wall. Haynes instructed Newcomb to leave her apartment.

Haynes ran to Donna's door; he still could not open it. He ran to a window and pulled out from the window an air conditioner. Smoke, under pressure, billowed out from the opening. Haynes ran back to the apartment door, broke a window in the door, reached inside and opened the door. He could see only smoke and a bright orange glow. Haynes ran to the rear of the building, broke out windows, and called out to the victims. Reaching inside for the victims, Haynes felt only furniture.

A police officer arrived, who called for the fire department. Firefighters soon arrived and extinguished the fire. The fire had been intentionally set, and had been fast, intense, and extremely hot.

Firefighters discovered the charred remains of the victims. They were found on the metal framework of the sofa bed, the bed extending from the sofa. Donna lay rigidly faceup on what had been the mattress; her legs hung over the edge of the mattress frame. Justine lay curled on her side next to her mother.

The victims and the sofa bed had been saturated with kerosene, gasoline, and whiskey. A trail of the accelerants had been poured to a pool formed by the door. The prosecution pathologist opined that the victims probably had been strangled or smothered to death prior to the fire. Also, Donna had drunk alcohol prior to her death, but the evidence conflicted as to when.

On the night before the fire, defendant was living approximately 10 blocks from the victim's home, at the home of his new girlfriend, Rochelle Hillemeyer. Also present were David Nell and several others. They played cards and drank beer. At approximately 2 a.m., defendant borrowed Hillemeyer's car to drive Nell home. Hillemeyer went to bed. When she awoke at around 7 a.m., defendant had not yet returned.

Instead of driving Nell directly to his home, defendant drove around Canton drinking beer for approximately 30 minutes. Defendant twice drove past Donna's apartment. Each time defendant drove past, he pointed to the victims' apartment and told Nell that "he would like to f-k her," referring to Donna. According to Nell, "he [defendant] said that about all girls though."

Hillemeyer's mother, Jacqueline Day, drove to Hillemeyer's home on the morning of the fire to take one of her children to school. While Day was out doing errands, she noticed Hillemeyer's car parked within a block of the victims' apartment. Day stopped and exited her car, and inspected Hillemeyer's car. Day did not see a flat tire, or anything else wrong with the car. Day returned to Hillemeyer's home at around 8:30 a.m. Defendant had not yet returned.

At around 9:45 a.m., defendant returned with Hillemeyer's car. Defendant told Hillemeyer that he had a flat tire and had injured his leg while attempting to change the tire. Defendant further told Hillemeyer that he had entered the car and slept. However, upon inspection, Hillemeyer did not see any injury to defendant's leg. Defendant also mentioned that he had bloodstains on his coat as a result of his injury. When Hillemeyer told defendant that she had not seen any cuts on him, he responded that the stain was probably transmission fluid. He washed his coat in their washing machine.

Defendant went to sleep. He stayed home from work even though he was scheduled to work that day. When he awoke, defendant took Hillemeyer's car to a garage and had all four tires replaced. Sometime during the next several months, defendant told Hillemeyer that "if the police ever want to search my things, you don't have to let them."

On January 27, 1993, police investigators learned that Donna had bought the sofa bed from defendant. On that date, defendant repeated to the police what he told to Hillemeyer on the morning of the fire.

On March 21, 1993, Jo Ann Wright overheard defendant talking in a bar. He said that "he could kill somebody and get by with it and not get caught."

Intact sperm was recovered from Donna's remains. Investigators requested blood samples from Donna's estranged husband, Jon Tompkins; her then-current boyfriend, Rod Franciskovich; a prior boyfriend, Terry Haynes; David Haynes; and defendant. The first four voluntarily complied. Defendant refused until around March 24, 1993, when he was arrested in a different case. In that case, the State obtained a search warrant for samples of defendant's blood, hair, and clothing fibers.

The Illinois State Police Forensic Science Laboratory determined that, of the five men, only defendant's DNA matched that of the sperm recovered from Donna's remains. Indeed, according to the prosecution DNA expert, the chance of the DNA recovered from Donna matching anyone other than defendant was at least one in 210 million.

On March 29, 1993, police investigators obtained Hillemeyer's consent to search defendant's possessions. Officers found a closed box in the bedroom that defendant had shared with Hillemeyer. In the box, officers found several rings. Witnesses identified one of these rings as belonging to Donna; further, she never took it off.

On July 15, 1993, defendant told Harold Crosier that he had sex with Donna a few days prior to her death. Defendant and Crosier were watching a television program that discussed DNA. Defendant also told Crosier that blood could not have been found in Donna's apartment because it would have been incinerated. Defendant also expressed concern over a ring that he had left at Hillemeyer's home.

In a letter to Mike Price dated July 17, 1993, defendant stated that he had sex with Donna on the Saturday or Sunday prior to her death. He further wrote: "that was my second time with her and my last."

In March 1994, defendant confessed to Chris Chester that he had murdered the victims. Defendant told Chester the following. Defendant had a relationship with Donna. On the night of her murder, he had been drinking. He took her apartment key from her mailbox and woke her between midnight and 1 a.m. Donna told defendant that it was over between them, that it was a bad idea, and that all he wanted was money and sex. Donna slapped defendant. The next thing defen...