People v. Childress

• Decision Date: 03 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 72024,72024
• Citation: 198 Ill.Dec. 794,633 N.E.2d 635,158 Ill.2d 275
• Parties: , 198 Ill.Dec. 794 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. John CHILDRESS, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 635

633 N.E.2d 635

158 Ill.2d 275, 198 Ill.Dec. 794

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. John CHILDRESS, Appellant.

No. 72024.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 3, 1994.

Rehearing Denied April 4, 1994.

Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and Allen H. Andrews, Asst. Defender, the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for appellant.

Roland W. Burris, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., Chicago (Terence M. Madsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, and Renee G. Goldfarb and Eileen M. O'Neill, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.

Justice MILLER delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, the defendant, John Childress, was convicted of first degree murder, home invasion, burglary, and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. At a separate sentencing hearing, the same jury found the defendant eligible for the death penalty and further determined that there were no mitigating circumstances sufficient to preclude imposition of that sentence. The defendant was accordingly sentenced to death for his conviction for first degree murder. On the remaining convictions, the trial judge imposed a 60-year term of imprisonment for home invasion, a seven-year term for burglary, and a five-year term for attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. The prison terms were to run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the death sentence. The defendant's death sentence has been stayed pending direct review by this court. (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d Rules 603, 609(a).) For the reasons that follow, we reverse the defendant's conviction for burglary and modify the sentences of imprisonment for the remaining offenses so that they run concurrently with the sentence of death. In all other respects, however, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

There is little dispute regarding the facts in this case, and the relevant testimony is summarized below. During the evening of August 15, 1989, the defendant entered the residence of a neighbor, Sarah Cardona, and killed her. The victim, who was 30 years old at the time of her death, lived with her son, Ruben Lopez, Jr., and Ruben's father, Ruben Lopez, Sr., in Chicago. At trial, the defendant acknowledged performing the acts that caused the victim's death but asserted that the killing occurred after the victim tried to attack him with a knife.

The victim's son testified at trial. He was six years old at the time of the offenses committed here, and was eight at the time of the defendant's trial, in April 1991. Ruben testified that on August 15, 1989, he left his home to visit a friend who lived down the street. Outside, Ruben saw the defendant, whom he knew. A short time later, Ruben returned to his apartment and spoke to his mother, who said that the defendant was there. Ruben then went back to his friend's home. Ruben returned home later. At that time, he pushed open the door of his mother's bedroom and saw the defendant stabbing his mother. According to Ruben, the defendant dropped the knife he was using and ran out the back door.

A neighbor, Marie Taylor, was walking by the victim's house when she heard Ruben screaming. At trial, Taylor testified that she ran inside the victim's apartment and went to the back bedroom. Taylor said that she pushed the bedroom door open and saw the defendant having sex with the victim; at the time, a knife was protruding from the victim's chest. Taylor spoke to the defendant, who stood up and struck Taylor. The defendant then pulled his pants up, smiled at Taylor, and left.

Taylor testified that the victim got up from the bed, removed the knife from her chest, and walked to the front room of the apartment, where she collapsed. Taylor wrapped the victim in a blanket, and police officers and paramedics soon arrived. According to Taylor, the victim stated that the defendant had raped her and had said that he would kill her before he did any time. Taylor estimated that the victim was about 5 feet 1 inch or 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 90 pounds.

Another neighbor, Angel Cruz, testified that he was in front of his house during the evening of August 15, 1989, when he heard screams coming from the victim's home. Cruz ran in to the apartment, where he saw the victim and Marie Taylor. Taylor told Cruz that the assailant was still present, and Cruz then ran to the rear of the apartment and saw the defendant leaving through the back door. Cruz tried to follow the defendant, but the defendant eluded him. Cruz testified that he had seen the defendant about 20 minutes earlier in the alley, and that he saw the defendant enter the apartment through the back door. On cross-examination, Cruz denied that he saw the defendant knock on the door.

The defendant was arrested on August 16. A lineup was conducted, and prosecution witnesses Ruben Lopez, Jr., Marie Taylor, and Angel Cruz separately identified the defendant as the person they had seen in the victim's apartment.

The victim died on the morning of August 16. The surgeon who operated on the victim after she was taken to the hospital testified that the victim suffered major blood loss from a stab wound to her liver. According to the autopsy report, the victim sustained 12 stab wounds and 10 incised wounds and died as a result of those wounds. The pathologist who performed the autopsy did not find any sign of injury to the victim's genital area, but he was unable to conclude that the victim had not been sexually assaulted. Toxicological testing of the victim's blood did not reveal the presence of alcohol, cocaine, or opiates.

In the defendant's case in chief, Erica Luedke, a fire department paramedic, testified that shortly after 9 p.m. on August 15, 1989, she helped transport the victim from her home to the trauma center at Illinois Masonic Hospital. Luedke testified that, according to her report, she asked the victim if she had been sexually assaulted, and the victim said that a man had attempted to assault her and had stabbed her. The victim was in shock at the time.

The defendant introduced a stipulation that Christine Braun, a criminologist in the serology department at the Chicago police department crime laboratory, examined oral, rectal, and vaginal swabs and tested them for semen and sperm, and that all three swabs were negative.

The defendant also testified at trial. The defendant said that he kept his drug paraphernalia at the victim's house so that his girlfriend would not find the items, and that he had been doing so for six months prior to the offenses charged here. The defendant estimated that he went to the victim's apartment about that twice a month to use drugs. The defendant also said that on about five occasions he had provided the victim with drugs in exchange for sex.

The defendant testified that he had been drinking on the day of the offenses involved here. That evening, he bought some cocaine and took it to the victim's apartment. There, he knocked on the front door and asked the victim if he could use his "works," consisting of syringes and a bottle top. According to the defendant, the victim asked for cocaine, and the defendant said that he would give it to her in exchange for oral sex. When the defendant was unable to respond physically, he refused to give the victim any of the drug. According to the defendant, the victim left the room and returned with a knife. The defendant and the victim argued, and then they struggled over the knife. The defendant took the knife and stabbed the victim. According to the defendant, the victim removed the knife from her body and came toward the defendant again. The defendant took the knife from the victim and stabbed her a second time. He said that he was scared and intoxicated at the time and that he did not remember seeing anyone else in the apartment. The defendant denied having sexual intercourse with the victim, but he allowed that his memory was blank after he began stabbing her. The defendant stated that he was 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed more than 200 pounds.

In rebuttal, Chicago police officer Jerome Bogucki testified that he had searched the victim's residence for evidence following the offenses involved here. Bogucki said that he did not find any drugs or drug paraphernalia, such as hypodermic needles or bottle caps.

At the defendant's request, the jury received instructions on the provocation form of second degree murder. (See Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 9-2(a)(1).) In addition, the instructions defining home invasion and burglary were supplemented with one on the limited authority doctrine. (See People v. Sanders (1984), 129 Ill.App.3d 552, 84 Ill.Dec. 760, 472 N.E.2d 1156; see also People v. Peeples (1993), 155 Ill.2d 422, 487-88, 186 Ill.Dec. 341, 616 N.E.2d 294.) The jury returned verdicts finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder (knowing and intentional), first degree murder (felony murder), home invasion, burglary, and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault.

On the State's motion, the matter then proceeded to a capital sentencing hearing, which was conducted before the same jury. At the first stage of the hearing, the State presented evidence of the defendant's conviction in 1978 in the circuit court of Cook County for the murder of Webster Hardwick. The State presented a certified copy of the conviction entered in that case as well as testimony from one of the police officers involved in the investigation. The State also introduced certified copies of the defendant's convictions in the case at bar. Finally, the prosecution established that the defendant was born in 1947 and therefore was over the age of 18 at the time of the murder here. The jury found the defendant eligible for the death penalty on both grounds urged by the prosecution: that the defendant had been convicted of two murders (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(...