People v. Davis

• Decision Date: 10 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 1-05-3086.,1-05-3086.
• Citation: 880 N.E.2d 1046,378 Ill. App. 3d 1
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Nathaniel DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

880 N.E.2d 1046

378 Ill. App. 3d 1

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Nathaniel DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-05-3086.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

December 10, 2007.

Office of the State Appellate Defender, Michael Pelletier, Deputy Defender, Suzan-Amanda Ingram, Assistant Appellate Defender, Chicago, for Appellant.

Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, County of Cook, Chicago (James E. Fitzgerald, Marie Q. Czech, Mary L. Boland, and Kingsley S. Sawyers, of counsel), for Appellee.

Justice ROBERT E. GORDON delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Nathaniel Davis was convicted after a bench trial of aggravated kidnaping and possession of a stolen motor vehicle and sentenced to concurrent terms of 18 years and 7 years of imprisonment. On appeal, defendant claims that his vacillating waiver of his right to testify required the trial court both to clarify his answer and to inquire into his competency to stand trial. The defendant also claims that the Sex Offender Registration Act (730 ILCS 150/1 et seq. (West 2004)) was unconstitutional as applied to him because there was no finding that his kidnaping offense was sexually motivated.

BACKGROUND

The indictment charged the defendant with four counts of aggravated kidnaping: (1) by secretly confining the victim for the purpose of obtaining ransom; (2) by using force or threat of force to carry the victim from one place to another for the purpose of obtaining ransom; (3) by secretly confining a person under the age of 13 years; and (4) by using force or threat of force on a person under the age of 13, with the intent to secretly confine. 720 ILCS 5/10-1, 5/10-2(a)(1), (2) (West 2004). Count V charged aggravated vehicular hijacking; and count VI charged possession of a stolen motor vehicle. 720 ILCS 5/18-4(a)(2) (West 2004); 625 ILCS 5/4-103(a) (West 2004). Defendant was ultimately found guilty of counts III and V, and acquitted of the other counts.

On May 3, 2004, the trial court granted the defendant's request for a fitness examination with respect to both his fitness to stand trial and his sanity at the time of the offense. On August 10, 2004, Dr. Jonathan Kelly, a forensic psychiatrist, reported that the defendant was presently fit to stand trial and was not taking any psychotropic medication. However, Dr. Kelly was unable to complete the sanity evaluation because he was waiting for additional records. On August 11, the parties appeared before the trial court and acknowledged receipt of Dr. Kelly's letter. Defense counsel did not raise any objections to Dr. Kelly's conclusion. On November 17, 2004, Dr. Kelly reported that the defendant was legally sane at the time of the alleged offense. On November 18, 2004, the parties appeared before the trial court and acknowledged receipt of Dr. Kelly's second letter. Again, defense counsel did not raise any objections to Dr. Kelly's second conclusion.

On January 20, 2005, the defendant waived his right to a jury trial both in open court and in writing, and the case proceeded to trial. The State called six witnesses: Aki and Nina Williams, parents of the kidnaped child; Dewan Jackson and Jesse Hall, who accompanied the defendant and the kidnaped child in the stolen vehicle; and police officers Lopez and Keller, who investigated the kidnaping. The defense called one witness: Nancy Evans, defendant's mother.

Aki Williams testified as follows: He is the father of one-year-old Aki Jonathan Williams. On March 29, 2004, at 3:45 p.m., he stopped his four-door silver Ford Taurus in front of a house on West Walnut Street, and left his child in the backseat, with the motor running. The windows were down because it was approximately 80 degrees. Acting as the rent collector for his grandfather, he rang the door bell of a house on Walnut Street that had been converted into two apartments. The front door was approximately 25 feet away from the vehicle. After a woman came to the door, Aki and the woman were "discussing the matter" on the front porch and then she signed a rent receipt. As she was signing the receipt, Aki saw the defendant entering Aki's vehicle and driving away at a high rate of speed. Aki did not see anyone on the street in pursuit of the defendant. Approximately six or seven minutes elapsed between the time Aki exited his vehicle and the time the defendant drove it away.

Aki further testified that a neighbor lent him a telephone and he contacted: the Chicago, police department; radio station WGCI, so that the station could place an alert; and his wife. Approximately 10 or 12 minutes after the abduction, Aki called his cellular telephone, which was still in the stolen vehicle. When Aki said hello, the person on the other end said "money, money, money" and hung up. Aki called back almost immediately, and again a person answered by saying "money, money, money." The third time that Aki called, the answering person again said "money, money, money" but this time Aki managed to say "how much" before the person hung up. The fourth time that Aki called, the answering person again said "money, money, money" and Aki said, "How much? I will give you anything." This time, the person responded "ten thousand" before hanging up. After the call with the "ten thousand" demand, Aki tried calling "over and over again" but the calls were not answered. During these calls, Aki was still in front of the Walnut Street house, using the neighbor's telephone.

Aki further testified that Officers Lopez and Fouler arrived and attempted to call the kidnapper. Aki described the defendant to the officers as "dark skinned, bald guy with Dago T on." Approximately an hour later, Aki learned that his son was at the police station, and later he was reunited with his son at the station.

Next the prosecution called Nina Williams, the child's mother, who testified as follows. On March 29, 2004, she was at work, when she learned that' Aki's vehicle had been stolen with their baby in it. Like her husband, Nina called his cellular telephone repeatedly. On one call, someone answered and she asked, "[W]here's my baby?" The person replied, "[B]oy with his father." Nina then told him, "No, he is not with his father * * * he's been kidnaped * * * he's been vehiclejacked." Then Nina begged him to drop the boy off at the police station or at a "McDonald's [or] anywhere."

Nina further testified that she kept calling and eventually someone answered again. When she asked where her baby was, the person again responded "with his father." Nina then asked where the father was, and the person replied, "[W]e dropped him off at his mother's house." Nina said, "[W]hat you mean you dropped him off at his mother's house?" and "[W]hose got the baby?" The person replied, "[H]is father Nate." After stating that the father's name was not Nate, Nina' asked the person to describe the "father." The person stated the "father" was "tall and dark skinned." Nina stated no, the "baby's father is light skinned, has freckles.

Nina testified that the person on the telephone with her was later identified to her as Tewan Jackson. Nina remained on the telephone with Tewan, as he and another man drove to the police station and Tewan tried to explain the situation to the officer at the front desk. Nina kept asking Tewan to hand the telephone over to the officer so that she could speak directly with the officer, but the officer refused to speak with her over the cellular telephone. So Tewan obtained the telephone number for the telephone at the officer's desk and provided it to Nina. Nina then hung up with Tewan and called the officer. She explained to the officer that Tewan knew the location of her kidnaped baby. Nina testified that she was later reunited with her baby at the police station.

The prosecution's third witness was Tewan Jackson. Tewan testified that he had known the defendant for approximately eight or nine years. On March 29, 2004, Tewan and Jesse Hall were standing near the corner of Sheridan and Windsor, when the defendant drove up in a four-door grey vehicle and said "hop in," which they did. Tewan sat in the front, and Jesse sat in the back, next to the baby. Tewan had not seen the defendant in almost a year, and the defendant said the baby was his.

Tewan testified that the defendant was not wearing shoes, that his nose and part of his lip were black, that he was dirty and that his arms had bruises. The defendant told Tewan that "he got beat up * * * [o]n the south side" and that he was in a fight with "[h]is baby mama."

Tewan testified that the defendant had a cellular telephone that kept ringing. When the defendant answered it, he said "money, money" and hung up. Other times, he told Tewan or Jesse to say "money, money" into the telephone. Tewan thought it was a joke or a gag. Once, Tewan heard the defendant say "ten thousand" and "bitch have my money."

Tewan testified that the three of them were driving around for approximately 10 or 15 minutes during which time they picked up another friend of the defendant's and drove this friend home. Eventually, the defendant drove to his mother's home, exited the vehicle with the baby, and gave Tewan and Jesse the keys to the vehicle and the cellular telephone. When the cellular telephone rang, Tewan answered and heard a woman say that someone had kidnaped her baby. Then Tewan called her back and asked her what the problem was, and she asked him to drop off her baby at a "McDonald's or something."

Tewan testified that he then drove to the police station. When Tewan and Jesse arrived, the officer told them to go back outside and write down the license plate number of the vehicle. When they came back inside, the woman who had called previously called Aki's cellular telephone again and kept asking to speak directly to the officer, but the officer told Tewan and Jesse to tell her to call the telephone number at the police desk. After speaking with the woman, the...