People v. Higgins

• Decision Date: 14 January 1972
• Docket Number: No. 42471,42471
• Citation: 50 Ill.2d 221,278 N.E.2d 68
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee. v. Henry HIGGINS, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 68

278 N.E.2d 68

50 Ill.2d 221

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee. v. Henry HIGGINS, Appellant.

No. 42471.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 14, 1972.

Robert S. Bailey, and Ronald P. Alwin, Chicago, for appellant.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Atty., Chicago (James B. Zagel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert A. Novelle, and Henry A. Hauser, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.

UNDERWOOD, Chief Justice.

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant Henry Higgins was found guilty of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to 30 to 60 years imprisonment. This appeal followed.

On May 8, 1968, between the hours of 1:30 and 2:00 A.M., Mary Halley and her niece, Julia Ridesky, were returning to Mary Halley's home at 4722 South Loomis in Chicago where they were robbed and Mary Halley shot. The offenses were committed by a male Negro who had come from a small white car containing several Negroes. Officer Gary Maynard testified that he and Officer Gerald Corliss were parked in separate police vehicles at approximately 1:30 A.M. when they received a radio call that a robbery was in progress at 4722 Loomis Avenue. As they proceeded toward that address they received another call that shots had been fired and that the suspect's car was a small white car containing black occupants. While driving west on 47th Street, Officer Maynard saw a car with occupants fitting the earlier description turn east onto 47th Street from either Loomis or Adams (sic). He testified that there was no other traffic in the area at that time. As the suspected vehicle approached and passed by, Officer Maynard made a U-turn, gave chase and saw an object tossed out the right-hand side of the vehicle. He stopped the car and arrested its five occupants including defendant. Officer Corliss arrived, was sent back to search for the thrown object and found a .32 caliber revolver. Shortly thereafter Mrs. Ridesky was brought to the scene of the arrest and identified defendant as the offender. He and the other occupants of the car, including his sister, Imogene, were taken to the Ninth District Police Station where a search of the five produced six dollars and some change.

When Detective Davis arrived approximately one hour after the arrest, all five suspects were together in the interview room. Officer Davis testified that he told the two males and three females that they were charged with robbery and murder and orally advised defendant and the other individuals of their constitutional rights. Officer Davis also testified there was no questioning of the individuals then but that he did have a conversation with the three females later as they were being processed by the police women, and that they asked how they could 'all be charged with killing somebody when nobody identified (them) as doing anything.' Officer Davis related to them that they were equally as guilty as the person who committed the crime when they had knowledge of the crime and were with the person when it was committed. Officer Davis further testified that defendant's sister then asked him to talk to the defendant because he had gotten out of the car to go to the bathroom, and might have done something while he was out of the car but she didn't know. The officer told defendant of his sister's statement to which defendant responded, 'If I tell the truth would you let the other people go?' Detective Davis answered that he had no authority to release anyone who was arrested and charged and that only the State's Attorney or judge could do so, but that, if defendant told the truth, the State's Attorney would take this into consideration. Defendant said he would do so and after the officer again advised him of his constitutional rights defendant said he understood and then gave an oral statement concerning the robbery. That same morning at 9:30 A.M. defendant gave a statement to an assistant State's Attorney which was transcribed and which the defendant read and signed.

At the hearing on his motion to suppress both the oral and written statements defendant testified that when he first arrived at the police station he was beaten outside the presence of his friends by two unknown police officers and told to confess; that when Detective Davis initially advised them of their constitutional rights defendant asked someone, unknown to him, for a lawyer; that he continually claimed innocence but after repeated questioning, threats of the electric chair and promises to release his friends, he gave an oral statement to Officer Davis. He further testified that he had informed the assistant State's Attorney of his beating by the police.

All police officers involved denied that the defendant was beaten by them in their presence, or, with the exception of Detective Davis, that they had any conversations with the defendant concerning the release of his friends. The assistant State's Attorney denied that he was told by defendant of the claimed mistreatment.

On this appeal defendant contends the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress since his statements were the product of psychological coercion and therefore involuntary. He argues that his decision to confess was 'impelled by one major consideration, Viz., to obtain the release of his sister and three friends'; that having been subtly lead to believe by Detective Davis that his confession would accomplish that end, defendant confessed. He also points to his statement to the State's Attorney that he would confess in order not to get the other people involved, and contends that the involuntariness of the confession is clear when one views the totality of circumstances surrounding its giving which include (1) Detective Davis's failure to give full and complete individual Miranda warnings to him prior to interrogation, (2) the absence of any positive evidence indicating an intention to waive those rights, (3) his repeated denials of complicity in the events before the confession was given, (4) the threats, overt and implied, communicated to him and his companions by police officers predicting dire consequences, including electrocution, in the absence of a confession, (5) his youth and inadequacy to cope with police interrogation, (6) the repeated statements by police officers to him, based upon the identification of Mrs. Ridesky, that he had been 'fingered', and (7) the failure to take him before a committing magistrate for a period of more than 30 hours following his arrest. We do not agree, since the trial court's finding that the confessions were voluntary and therefore properly admissible against defendant is, in our judgment, not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. As the trial judge noted in his findings and as is apparent from a reading of the record of the testimony on the motion to suppress, the version of the facts testified to by defendant and his witnesses is replete with significant inconsistencies. The direct conflict between the facts related by witnesses for the defense and those testified to on behalf of the People was essentially a question of the credibility of the witnesses, best resolvable by the trial judge whose determination will be sustained unless contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. As we earlier said: 'The preliminary inquiry into the voluntary nature of the confession is a question of its competency and is for the trial court. In making its decision the court is not required to be convinced beyond a reasonable...