People v. Hernandez

• Decision Date: 18 June 1993
• Docket Number: No. 2-91-0287,2-91-0287
• Citation: 186 Ill.Dec. 39,615 N.E.2d 843,246 Ill.App.3d 243
• Parties: , 186 Ill.Dec. 39 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Miguel Sierra HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 843

615 N.E.2d 843

246 Ill.App.3d 243, 186 Ill.Dec. 39

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Miguel Sierra HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-91-0287.

Appellate Court of Illinois Second District.

June 18, 1993.

G. Joseph Weller, Deputy Defender, Kim M. DeWitt, Office of State Appellate Defender, Charles A. Canning, Trial Counsel, Elgin, for Miguel Hernandez.

David R. Akemann, Kane County State's Atty., William L. Browers, Deputy Director, David A. Bernhard, State's Atty. Appellate Prosecutor, for the People.

Justice BOWMAN delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant, Miguel Sierra Hernandez, and three codefendants were charged by indictment with the murder of Guadulupe Jaimes. The indictment alleged that the defendant beat Jaimes on the head and neck, then cut his throat with a knife. Defendant's case was severed from that of the three codefendants for trial. A Kane County jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 9-1(a)(1)), and the court sentenced him to a 35-year term of incarceration. On appeal defendant contends that he should be granted a new trial because (1) his trial attorney had a conflict of interest, (2) his trial attorney and the court-appointed attorney who represented him on post-trial motions provided ineffective assistance of counsel, and (3) the trial court committed reversible error by allowing the State to introduce prejudicial evidence about the victim's family.

Relevant facts produced at trial indicated that the body of Guadulupe Jaimes (Lupe) was discovered near a city park adjacent to the Fox River in Elgin, Illinois. Broken tree limbs with traces of the victim's blood on them were found near the body. Police recovered a knife, later identified as the one used to cut the victim's throat, from the Fox River. Defendant, together with Antonio Mendez and Antonio's cousins, Juan Mendez and Roberto Aguilar, were arrested for the murder.

During trial, the State introduced evidence that, following his arrest, defendant told the police through an interpreter that he, the other defendants, and the victim were at the Fox River drinking beer when a fight occurred between Roberto and the victim. After they calmed down, defendant picked up a small tree branch and hit the victim a couple of times, "just goofing around." In retaliation, the victim pulled out a metal chain with a lock at the end; however, Antonio took the chain and threw it in the river. The group then continued their beer drinking.

As the victim was departing, he stated that he was going home to get his brothers to return and "get" the defendant. In response, the defendant got mad and went after the victim. Although Antonio attempted to stop defendant, defendant hit the victim several more times with a tree limb until he was knocked to the ground and then hit him one more time while he was down. Defendant's companion stated that if the victim was not dead it would be bad for defendant. Defendant then obtained a knife from the car in which the group had driven to the park. Resisting Antonio's efforts to stop him, defendant slashed the victim's throat and threw the knife in the river. Afterwards, Roberto departed the area by bicycle, and defendant drove Antonio and Juan home.

Defendant next picked up his girlfriend, Linda Lara, and her young daughter, and drove to an Elgin motel where they were residing. At the motel, defendant put his clothes and shoes in a garbage dumpster. In his statements to police, defendant denied telling his girlfriend the details of all that happened, but instead told her only that he had gotten into a fight with Roberto.

Linda Lara, called to testify as a State witness, stated that she was defendant's former fiancee. Before he was arrested, a June wedding had been scheduled. Prior to his arrest, defendant was a close friend of Antonio and saw him about every day. On June 5, the day of the alleged murder, she had driven defendant, Antonio and Juan to work at a construction site. Because it rained, they worked only part of the day. Thereafter, defendant went out with Antonio and Juan in Linda's car while Linda waited for him at Antonio's residence.

When defendant returned at 9:30 p.m., his shirt was ripped and his face smudged. Although defendant previously had been painting barns, Linda speculated that the red spots on his clothing may have been blood. At the motel later that night, the witness asked defendant why he was throwing out his clothes. He told her that he had cut the victim's throat. She did not recall if defendant told her he had hit the victim with a tree branch. This last testimony, however, was impeached with a taped statement Linda had made to the police on June 11, in which she indicated that defendant told her he had hit the victim with a tree limb.

Linda further testified that defendant never told her he was forced to injure the victim. Too, the day after the killing, while driving defendant, Antonio, and Juan to work, she heard defendant say that the victim was a "poor-stupid guy." Finally, according to Linda, the defendant was a heavy drinker and quite often got drunk with Antonio. On cross-examination, Linda said defendant was very drunk when he picked her up the night of the killing. About an hour before he picked her up that night, she saw him drive up to Antonio's house and then pull away very fast, although she did not tell this to the police in her taped statement because it seemed at the time a minor point.

When called as a defense witness, Linda stated that on June 10, the day defendant was arrested, she was driving defendant and her daughter from Elgin to Waukegan. Defendant was lying down in the car's backseat area because he was tired. The police, who had followed Linda from Elgin, stopped the car after observing defendant in the rear seat and arrested defendant. Linda stated that at the time of defendant's arrest she was unaware of any outstanding warrants for his arrest.

When called as a witness in his own behalf, defendant retracted virtually the entire statement he had given to the police at the time of his arrest. He testified that he had falsely incriminated himself because Antonio had threatened to kill Linda and her child if defendant told the police that it was Antonio and Roberto who had beaten Lupe with the tree limbs. As for the true story, defendant stated that the victim and Roberto had a fist fight. After the fight, Roberto pulled a knife on the victim, but Antonio took the knife away. The victim then accosted the defendant for helping break up the fight between him and Roberto. The victim took from his clothes a chain with a lock at the end and threatened defendant; however, Antonio took the chain and threw it in the river. The victim then accosted Antonio for throwing his chain in the river. A short time later, Antonio attempted to take the victim's jacket from him. As a result, Antonio and the victim started to fight. Roberto entered into the fight by picking up a stick and hitting the victim. Antonio also picked up a stick and struck the victim until he collapsed. Defendant told Antonio and Roberto to calm down, but Antonio hit the victim twice more on the head while he lay on the ground. At this time, defendant believed the victim had died from the beating.

Defendant, Antonio and Roberto returned to the car and started to drive to Antonio's residence. On the ride back, Roberto told defendant they would kill him if he told the police. After driving almost to the residence, Antonio pulled a knife on defendant and told him to drive back to the location of the victim's body. Roberto and Antonio, armed with knives, took defendant to the victim's body, and Antonio told him to cut the victim's throat. When defendant refused, Antonio threatened to cut defendant's throat. Antonio then gave defendant a knife and pushed him onto the victim's body. Believing him to be already dead, defendant cut the victim's throat. Antonio and Roberto then had defendant throw the knife into the river. Later, Antonio and Roberto threatened to kill defendant's girlfriend and child if he told the police about the killing. Although defendant testified that, prior to the killing, he had consumed 15 beers, smoked one marijuana cigarette, and was very intoxicated, he denied ever striking the victim with a stick. Defendant's belief that the victim was already dead when defendant cut his throat was supported by the autopsy physician's testimony that the victim died from blunt trauma to his head and larynx before his throat was cut.

Shortly after the killing, defendant picked up Linda at Antonio's residence, and the two of them returned to the motel. Defendant told Linda to place the clothes he wore that evening in a dumpster. When she refused, defendant placed the clothes in the dumpster. On cross-examination defendant admitted that, on the night of the killing, he told Linda that Roberto and the victim had been in a fight; that he, the defendant, had beaten the victim with either logs, branches, or tree limbs; and that he had slashed the victim's throat and thrown the knife in the river. Defendant claimed he told Linda that story because of the threats by Antonio and Roberto, although he did not tell Linda that he had been threatened. Defendant denied that he knew the police were looking for him prior to his arrest. Defendant, who was age 34 at the time of the trial, stated that he grew up with Antonio, having known him since he was eight years old, and they were the best of friends. Roberto and Juan were Antonio's first cousins, and defendant was good friends with each of them.

Defendant first argues that his trial attorney had a conflict of interest, either per se or one resulting in substantial prejudice. In support of his argument, defendant observes that Linda Lara, a State's witness, paid the fees for his attorney and that his attorney had two years previously been Linda's lawyer...