People v. Fields
| Decision Date | 16 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | 64277,Nos. 64276,s. 64276 |
| Citation | 142 Ill.Dec. 200,552 N.E.2d 791,135 Ill.2d 18 |
| Parties | , 142 Ill.Dec. 200 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Nathson FIELDS, Appellant. The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Earl HAWKINS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Randolph N. Stone, Public Defender, Chicago (James H. Reddy, Asst. Defender, of counsel), for appellant Nathson Fields.
Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and James E. Chadd, Asst. Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for appellant Earl Hawkins.
Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Richard M. Daley and Cecil A. Partee, State's Attys., Chicago (Terence M. Madsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, and Inge Fryklund, Kevin Sweeney and Sara Dillery Hynes, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.
The defendants, Nathson Fields and Earl Hawkins, and a codefendant, George Carter were charged by indictment with the murders of Talman Hickman and Jerome Smith. Carter's case was later severed and Fields and Hawkins were tried together. Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County, both defendants were convicted of the murders. When the State filed a motion seeking a death penalty hearing, the defendants waived their right to a jury for the first stage of the sentencing hearing, and the trial court found both defendants eligible for the death penalty. A jury was then empaneled to hear aggravating and mitigating evidence. After weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the jury concluded that there were no mitigating circumstances sufficient to preclude the imposition of death. Accordingly, the trial court sentenced both defendants to death. The defendants' sentences were then stayed (107 Ill.2d R. 609(a)), pending direct review by this court (Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 107 Ill.2d R. 603).
The defendants' convictions and death sentences are the result of their participation in the murders of Jerome "Fuddy" Smith and Talman Hickman on April 28, 1984. At approximately 10 a.m. on that date, the victims were standing in front of a Chicago Housing Authority apartment building located at 706 East 39th Street. The building is part of the Ida B. Wells housing complex. Jerome Smith was the leader of the Black Gangsters Goon Squad street gang (Goon Squad). According to witnesses, two black men wearing ski masks over their faces approached the victims from behind. The two gunmen then shot and killed the victims.
The State presented the following evidence at the defendants' trial. Officer Anthony Mikel of the Chicago police department testified that he arrived at the scene of the crime within minutes after the shooting. Mikel testified that a crowd gathered at the scene. He stated that, while he talked to numerous persons at the scene, none were eager to help or to give their names.
Randy Langston, the State's key witness, testified that he was standing directly across the street from the building where the shooting occurred, on a sidewalk adjacent to a baseball field. Langston testified that he saw two black men wearing ski masks approach the victims. Both men carried guns, wore their hair in braids and had facial hair. He stated that one of the assailants was shorter, heavier, and had a darker complexion than the other and was dressed in blue pants and a blue shirt. The other gunman was taller, thinner and had a light complexion and wore blue pants and a red jacket. Langston testified that, immediately after shooting the victims, the two gunmen pulled up their ski masks so that their faces were visible, stepped into the sunshine and looked around for approximately 15 to 30 seconds apparently to see who had witnessed the shooting. Langston testified that at this time he was able to see the faces of the two men. He testified that he immediately recognized one of the men as the defendant Hawkins, known to him as "Monsieur." He did not recognize the second gunman at the time of the shooting but he later identified him as the defendant Fields from a police photo display and at a lineup.
Langston testified that, after looking around, the two men turned and ran back through the breezeway which led to the rear of the building. The two men ran to a large dark-blue car parked on Langley Avenue, alongside the apartment building. The gunmen got into the car, which then proceeded north on Langley. Langston testified that the two gunmen did not pull their ski masks down again before running to the car.
Langston admitted that he was a member of the Goon Squad street gang. He also admitted that, although he told the police on the night of the crime that he witnessed the shooting, he did not tell them that he recognized one of the gunmen. He explained, however, that he lived in the building where the shooting occurred, had seen defendant Hawkins around the building and, after witnessing what happened to two of his friends, was reluctant to say anything to the police. He testified that he was contacted by the police and identified the defendants in photo displays and lineups more than a year after the crime, at which time he had moved from the Ida B. Wells housing complex.
Langston admitted on cross-examination that he had told defendant Hawkins' attorney that he was standing on the pitchers' mound, rather than the sidewalk (a much farther distance), at the time of the shooting. He stated, however, that the statement was untrue and that he made the statements because he did not know who the defendant's lawyer was. He denied stating, however, that he was not able to see the shooters.
Richard Buckles, another teenage boy, testified for the State. Buckles stated that he was standing at the corner of 39th Street and Langley, across the street from the Ida B. Wells housing complex at the time the shooting occurred. He testified that he saw two black men, one tall, light skinned, wearing a red jacket and blue pants and a ski mask, and the other shorter, bigger, dark-skinned, and wearing blue pants, a blue shirt and a ski mask. He testified that the men shot Talman Hickman several times and shot Jerome Smith twice. The men then pulled up their ski masks and looked around. He testified that he immediately recognized defendant Hawkins, whom he knew as "Monsieur," because he had seen him at the Ida B. Wells complex. He testified that the two men then ran to a large blue car parked on Langley Avenue with their masks off, threw their guns in the car, jumped in the car and drove away. Buckles testified that he was approximately 25 feet away from the victims at the time of the shooting.
Buckles testified that he lived in the Ida B. Wells complex at the time of the shooting and was a member of the Goon Squad. He testified that he first spoke to the police two years after the shooting, after he moved from the complex. He testified that he had never viewed photo displays or a lineup involving the defendants. At the trial, he positively identified defendant Hawkins as one of the gunmen, but could not be sure if defendant Fields was the other gunman.
Gerald Morris, another Goon Squad member, also testified for the State. Morris stated that, shortly before the shooting, he leaned out the window of his second-floor apartment and spoke with Jerome Smith, one of the victims. He testified that he remained at the window for several minutes after Smith walked through the breezeway toward the front of the building. As he stood at the window, he observed two black men follow Smith into the breezeway. He testified that one man was tall, thin, light-skinned, had hair on his face and was wearing a red jacket. The other was shorter, heavy, dark-skinned, had a beard, and was dressed all in blue. After seeing the men enter the breezeway, Morris left the window to get his shirt. Shortly thereafter, he heard shots. He ran to another window and saw two men, dressed in the same manner as the men he had seen enter the breezeway shortly before, run out of the breezeway to a parked car. The men threw the guns into the car and jumped into the car, which proceeded north on Langley.
Morris identified both defendants in court as the two men he saw follow Smith into the breezeway leading to the front of the building and then run out without ski masks, after the shooting, to a waiting blue Cadillac. Morris also testified to his previous lineup and photo identifications of both defendants.
The State also introduced the testimony of Detective O'Callaghan of the Chicago police department, who testified that both Randy Langston and Gerald Morris had identified the defendants from a stack of 25 photos and a lineup.
Anthony Sumner, a former El Rukn gang member, also testified for the State. Sumner testified that he spoke with defendant Hawkins at Hawkins' home several days after the shooting. He testified that Hawkins told him that Hawkins, Fields, George Carter and Hank Suddleman "got" Smith. Sumner testified that Hawkins told him that the four men rode around on the day of the shooting until they saw Smith. They then parked the car and two persons got out of the car, shot Smith, got back into the car and drove off. Hawkins indicated that they had used Hank Suddleman's car in the shooting. Sumner testified that Suddleman owned a blue Cadillac. Sumner also testified that he spoke with defendant Fields at the El Rukn headquarters several days after the shooting. Sumner testified that he told Fields that he (Sumner) had heard that Fields was involved in the shooting of "Fuddy" Smith, to which Fields responded, "It was good exercise."
Sumner also testified as to how he came to be a witness for the State. He admitted that, in May 1985, the police raided the Cleveland house in which he was hiding out with several other El Rukn gang members. When questioned by the police, Sumner implicated himself and other El Rukn gang members in various crimes....
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