People v. Davis

• Decision Date: 25 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. 1-07-0398.,1-07-0398.
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Addolfo DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

904 N.E.2d 149

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

No. 1-07-0398.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

February 25, 2009.

Rehearing Denied March 25, 2009.

Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago (Patricia Unsinn, Deputy Defender and Asst. Appellate Defender Emily E. Filpi, of counsel), for Appellant.

Anita Alvarez, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago (Asst. State's Attys. James E. Fitzgerald, Alan J. Spellberg, Tasha-Marie Kelly and Omar Jaleel, of counsel), for Appellee.

Justice QUINN delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, while a juvenile, was transferred to the criminal courts where he was charged with and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and home invasion. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder convictions and lesser concurrent terms on the other convictions. Defendant's convictions and sentences were affirmed on direct appeal. People v. Davis, No. 1-93-1821, 275 Ill.App.3d 1128, 229 Ill.Dec. 884, 692 N.E.2d 873 (October 23, 1995) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23), appeal denied, 165 Ill.2d 556, 214 Ill.Dec. 861, 662 N.E.2d 427 (1996). Defendant also filed several pro se petitions for relief under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2002)), which were summarily dismissed by the circuit court. These summary dismissals were affirmed by this court. Defendant now appeals from the second-stage dismissal of a supplemental postconviction petition.

On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the circuit court erred in dismissing his petition where defendant made a substantial showing that, pursuant to our supreme court's holding in People v. Miller, 202 Ill.2d 328, 269 Ill.Dec. 503, 781 N.E.2d 300 (2002), the mandatory sentence of natural life in prison, as applied to defendant, who was a 14-year-old juvenile convicted based on an accountability theory, was unconstitutional; (2) the circuit court erred in dismissing his petition where defendant showed that he was never placed on notice that he was charged with an enhanced form of first-degree murder which would result in a sentence of natural life in prison based on the fact that there were two decedents in this case; and (3) this court should remand his case for privately retained counsel to comply with Supreme Court Rule 651(c) (134 Ill.2d R. 651(c)). For the following reasons, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant and two codefendants¹ were charged with the first-degree murders of Bryant Johnson and Keith Whitfield, the attempted murders of Melvin Harvey and Keith McGee, and home invasion. Following a hearing, defendant's case was transferred from the juvenile division of the circuit court of Cook County to the criminal division. Defendant and codefendant Caffey were tried simultaneously with separate juries; whereas codefendant Bowman elected to have a bench trial and was tried separately.

The following evidence was adduced at trial. The third-floor apartment located at 5616 South Calumet Avenue, in Chicago, Illinois, was used by the Black Disciples, a street gang, as a residence to sell drugs. The building at 5616 South Calumet Avenue was nearly abandoned, except that Alfred Weeden lived in the third-floor apartment and his mother lived on the first floor of the building. Weeden controlled the drug operations in the third-floor apartment, paid the workers, and gave the proceeds to the "minister of the city," who was the leader within the Black Disciples. Weeden allowed defendant and codefendants, who were members of the Gangster Disciples, another street gang, to "double up," which is a street term referring to reselling drugs that they purchased from Weeden. Weeden warned defendant and codefendants to sell the drugs in the back of the building and not to get caught by the "minister of the city." Several days before the murders in this case, the "minister of the city" caught codefendant Caffey selling drugs and slapped him in the face. As a result, defendant and his codefendants started shooting at the Black Disciples, which resulted in the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples shooting back and forth throughout an entire weekend.

At about midnight on October 9, 1990, Weeden and Bryant Johnson arrived at the third-floor apartment at 5656 South Calumet Avenue to begin their shift of selling drugs. On that evening, Weeden was to sell drugs and Johnson was responsible for security. When they arrived at the apartment, Keith McGee, Keith Whitfield, Melvin Harvey, Lamont Baxter and Weeden's girlfriend, Joann Reed, were already at the apartment. At about 1 a.m., Baxter, who was not a gang member, left the apartment to purchase fast food for the group.

At about the same time on October 9, 1990, defendant and his two codefendants took a taxicab to the area of 56th Street and Calumet Avenue to seek revenge against the Black Disciples for the insult against Caffey and to claim a spot in the area for the Gangster Disciples to sell drugs. As defendant, Caffey and Bowman contemplated their next move, they saw Baxter exit the apartment building at 5656 South Calumet Avenue and decided to use Baxter to gain entrance into the third-floor apartment building. Baxter testified that defendant, Caffey, and Bowman ran up to him. Caffey raised a gun to Baxter's head and demanded to know who was in the third-floor apartment and whether there were any guns or drugs in the apartment. Baxter testified that all three men had guns. Baxter testified that defendant, Caffey, and Bowman discussed whether they were going to kill everyone in the apartment or whether they were going to let Reed, Weeden's girlfriend, live. Baxter testified that defendant and Bowman made the final decision that they were going to kill everyone in the apartment except for Reed. Baxter testified that as he begged for his life, defendant, Caffey and Bowman forced him back to the third-floor apartment and made him knock on the apartment door while the three men stooped down behind him.

Weeden testified that about 10 minutes after Baxter left the apartment, he heard knocking on the door and opened the door after Baxter responded that he had returned. Weeden testified that defendant, Caffey and Bowman then charged into the apartment and Caffey and Bowman ran to the living room. Weeden testified that defendant stopped in front of him and held a gun toward him. Weeden testified that he was able to knock the gun out of defendant's hand and defendant ran toward Caffey and Bowman. Harvey testified that he saw defendant, Caffey, and Bowman fire their guns before he dove between the couch and the radiator to hide from the shooting. Weeden and Baxter ran out of the apartment and heard about five gunshots as they ran away. Baxter then called the police. Defendant, Caffey, and Bowman left the scene together. Weeden and Baxter subsequently identified defendant in a police photo array.

Johnson died due to multiple gunshot wounds, and Whitfield died due to a single gunshot wound to the chest. McGee and Harvey sustained multiple nonfatal gunshot wounds. Police recovered .38- and .32-caliber bullets from the bodies of Johnson and Whitfield, and a .22-caliber bullet from the window of the apartment. A .22-caliber handgun was also recovered in the closet of the apartment but that gun was found not to have been the same gun that fired the recovered .22-caliber bullet. Police recovered a plastic bag containing 43 separate packets of narcotics from the apartment.

Defendant provided a statement to Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton, who read the handwritten statement attributed to defendant to the jury. In that statement, defendant described the shootings as detailed above. Defendant stated that he spoke with Caffey and Bowman about getting revenge on the Black Disciples for slapping one of their gang members. Defendant stated that he, Caffey and Bowman agreed to go to the third-floor apartment, located at 56th Street and Calumet Avenue, and shoot their guns to kill anyone in the apartment. On October 9, 1990, defendant took a cab to the apartment with Caffey and Bowman. When they arrived outside the apartment building, Bowman gave each of them a gun. Defendant stated that they saw Baxter leave the apartment and defendant decided to use Baxter to gain access to the apartment. Defendant, Caffey and Bowman decided that they would have Baxter knock on the apartment door, they would tell everyone to lie down on the floor, get the drugs, money and guns, then kill everyone except for Reed. Defendant stated that after Baxter knocked on the door, Weeden opened the door and knocked the gun out of defendant's hand. Defendant heard Caffey and Bowman fire about five shots and they all ran down the stairs, got into a cab, and left the area.

Defendant's mother testified that she was present when defendant provided his statement, but that she was intoxicated and on drugs. Defendant's grandmother testified that she was defendant's legal guardian since his birth until he became a ward of the state a few weeks prior to the shootings.

During closing arguments, the State discussed the law of accountability and argued that defendant was responsible for his actions and accountable for the actions of Caffey and Bowman where defendant was involved in the planning and commission of the shootings. Instructions on accountability and felony murder were provided to the jury. The State also argued that there were three guns in the apartment and that defendant fired his gun. During deliberations, the jury sent a note to the trial court asking, "Does a defendant actually have to be proven to have pulled the trigger of the murder weapon during a home invasion or is that person legally responsible for the conduct of another who did?" The trial court responded, "no" to the first part of the jury's question and "yes" to the...