People v. Buss

• Decision Date: 15 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. 81911.,81911.
• Citation: 187 Ill.2d 144,718 N.E.2d 1,240 Ill.Dec. 520
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Timothy D. BUSS, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

718 N.E.2d 1

187 Ill.2d 144

240 Ill.Dec. 520

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Timothy D. BUSS, Appellant.

No. 81911.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 15, 1999.

Rehearing Denied October 4, 1999.

Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, Kim Robert Fawcett, Assistant Appellate Defender, Chicago, for appellant, and Timothy D. Buss, Menard, appellant pro se.

James E. Ryan, Attorney General, Springfield, James Glasgow, State's Attorney, Joliet (Barbara A. Preiner, Solicitor General, William L. Browers, Jay Paul Hoffman, Assistant Attorneys General, Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

In connection with the August 7, 1995, disappearance and murder of Christopher Meyer, defendant, Timothy D. Buss, was indicted on six counts of first degree murder, three counts of aggravated kidnaping, and one count of aggravated unlawful restraint. Following a trial in the circuit court of Will County, a jury found defendant guilty of all of these charges. The same jury determined that defendant was eligible for the death penalty. After hearing evidence in aggravation and mitigation, the jury found that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty. The circuit court sentenced defendant to death for first degree murder and imposed sentences of 30 years' imprisonment and 5 years' imprisonment for aggravated kidnaping and aggravated unlawful restraint, respectively.

On appeal, defendant argues that this court must grant him a new trial and capital sentencing hearing because of errors relating to voir dire, the denial of his pretrial motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence, errors that occurred at trial, and errors at both stages of the sentencing hearing. Defendant's 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 defendant's convictions and death sentence.

BACKGROUND

At defendant's 1996 trial, Mika Moulton, Christopher Meyer's mother, testified that, in August 1995, she and her children lived in Aroma Park, Illinois. During the afternoon of August 7, 1995, she gave 10½-year-old Christopher permission to go to the Aroma Park boat launch on the Kankakee River. Moulton instructed Christopher to return home at 5 p.m. that day. When he left on his bicycle for the boat launch, Christopher was wearing blue shorts, a green patterned T-shirt, Chicago Blackhawks high-top tennis shoes, and Ninja Turtle underwear. When Christopher did not return home that evening, Moulton looked for him without success. She notified police, who began a search for Christopher.

In the days following Christopher's disappearance, members of the team searching for him found Christopher's clothing and bicycle in areas around the Kankakee River. Searchers testified that, while dragging the river on August 8, they found one of Christopher's shoes floating near the Aroma Park boat launch. That same day, searchers found the bicycle Christopher was last seen riding. The bicycle was recovered across the river from the boat launch in a wooded area east of the railroad trestle on Birchwood Drive. During the morning of August 9, 1995, Christopher's other shoe was found floating in the Kankakee River near the Kankakee Country Club, which is downstream from the Aroma Park boat launch. On August 12, searchers found pieces of Christopher's clothing in the area around the gravel parking lot for Hunting Area 10 in the Kankakee State Park. On a path leading from the parking lot, there was a piece of Christopher's T-shirt on the ground, and a pair of Ninja Turtle underwear was hanging in a nearby bush.

While the search for Christopher proceeded, police learned that several individuals had seen Christopher and a man resembling defendant at the boat launch during the afternoon of August 7. Jacob Mailloux, who was 14 years old at the time of trial, testified that he went to the boat launch with his friend Paul Buckner during the afternoon of August 7. As he and Buckner fished at the bayou, an area adjacent to the boat launch, Mailloux saw Christopher talking to a man. Mailloux knew Christopher because he had seen him at the boat launch before. The man with Christopher had dark hair and a mustache and was wearing a turquoise tank top and blue jean cut-off shorts. During a conversation Mailloux had with this man, the man said that he had been raised in Aroma Park, had family in the area, and had just returned from Florida. The man also talked to Mailloux about salt water fishing in Florida. Mailloux noticed that the man's tackle box contained a filet knife and lures that were too big to be used by fishermen in the Aroma Park area. Although Mailloux was unable to make a positive identification of defendant in court or at the lineup he viewed, he testified that defendant was similar to the man he saw with Christopher.

Fifteen-year-old Edward Meier testified that, around 4 p.m. on August 7, 1995, he was at the boat launch with his friends Dustin and Darren Posing. Meier saw Christopher walk out of the woods on a path leading from the fishing area adjacent to the boat launch. Christopher walked to a car, where he spoke to someone, after which he jogged to the boat ramp to wash mud from his shoes in the river. He then retrieved his bike, which was leaning on a nearby tree. Darren suggested that Christopher ride his bike into the river but Christopher refused, saying he had to be home by 4:30 p.m. Dustin told him it was only 4:17 p.m., but Christopher replied that he had to leave. Meanwhile, the car slowly circled around the parking lot and then drove out of the lot toward Harry's Bait Shop. Christopher quickly rode out of the parking lot after the car. On August 10, 1995, Meier selected defendant's car from 25 or 30 cars in the parking lot of the Kankakee County sheriff's department and identified it as the car he saw at the boat launch on August 7.

Darren Posing's testimony was essentially the same as Meier's, except that he did not see Christopher talking to anyone at the boat launch. Posing, who was 12 years old at the time of trial, did, however, see one car in the boat launch parking lot, a gray or dark blue car that appeared to be a 1984 Oldsmobile Ciera. He told police that defendant's car was similar to the one he saw at the boat launch. In addition, he testified that Christopher rode toward Harry's Bait Shop when he left the parking lot of the boat launch.

Beth Waselewski testified that she was at the Aroma Park boat launch with her boyfriend, Jason Forbes, on August 7, 1995. She saw Christopher pushing his bike and following a man in his late thirties or early forties. The man wore a dark sleeveless shirt, had a mustache, had dark hair, and was smoking a cigarette. Christopher and this man were walking out of the woods on the path leading from the bayou. Waselewski saw a dark gray four-door car in the parking lot of the boat launch but was unable to tell members of the Kankakee County sheriff's department whether the car she saw at the boat launch was among the cars she later viewed in the parking lot of the department. She was also unable to tell whether the man she saw with Christopher was in a lineup she viewed, but she testified that it was "very possible" that defendant was that man, and it was "possible" that defendant's car was the one she saw at the boat launch. Other individuals saw defendant or defendant's car in the Aroma Park area around August 7. Charles Henry testified that, in August 1995, he lived east of the trestle on Birchwood Drive. Across the road from his house there was a park between the road and the river. On August 7, 1995, he was driving home from work when he saw a car in the parking area of the park. The car was parked facing him, and there was a man standing behind the car by the open trunk. As Henry drove past the park, he had a side view of the man. He made eye contact with the man when the man turned to look at him.

According to Henry, the man had dark, wavy hair and was wearing blue jeans and a gray T-shirt. Henry did not notice any facial hair on the man, but he did see a filet knife in a leather case protruding from the man's back pocket. Henry, a fisherman, explained that it was common for fishermen to have this type of leather case and filet knife, which he described as a thin, single-edged, flexible knife. Henry could not remember whether he saw the car and the man when he came home for lunch between 12:30 and 1 p.m. or when he returned home from work between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.

Henry reported his observations to police on August 9. On August 10, Henry viewed a group of 20 to 25 cars in the parking lot of the Kankakee County sheriff's department. From these cars, he selected defendant's car, which he stated looked like the car he saw on August 7. On August 11, Henry viewed a lineup, from which he identified defendant as the person he saw on August 7. Henry also made a courtroom identification of defendant.

Bobbye Fancher testified that, at 12:45 a.m. on August 7, 1995, she was driving to work on Route 113 when she saw an older model silver-blue Spectrum turn in front of her from a dirt road just west of Hunting Area 7 in the Kankakee State Park. At about 9:25 p.m. on August 8, Fancher was driving on the same route when she saw the same car turn onto Route 113 at the same location. The car did not turn on its headlights for one-half to one mile. The man driving the car had a mustache. Fancher contacted police and, after viewing a group of 23 to 35 cars at the police station, she identified the defendant's car as the one she saw on August 7 and 8. She admitted having worked with defendant's father at one time but stated that she was unaware that defendant had been arrested for Christopher's murder when she contacted police about the car she saw. David Buss testified that he and Fancher had had disagreements at work but...