People v. Hobley

• Decision Date: 29 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. 81609,81609
• Citation: 696 N.E.2d 313,231 Ill.Dec. 321,182 Ill.2d 404
• Parties: , 231 Ill.Dec. 321 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Madison HOBLEY, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 313

696 N.E.2d 313

182 Ill.2d 404, 231 Ill.Dec. 321

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Madison HOBLEY, Appellant.

No. 81609.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

May 29, 1998.

Kurt K. Feuer, Ross & Hardies, Chicago, Marshall J. Hartman, Deputy Director, Capital Litigation Division, Chicago, for Madison Hobley.

Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney Cook County, Criminal Appeals Div., Chicago, Jim Ryan, Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Div., Chicago, James Veldman, Assistant State's Attorney, Chicago, for the People.

Justice BILANDIC delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, the defendant, Madison Hobley, was found guilty of seven counts of felony murder, one count of arson, and seven counts of aggravated arson. The charges related to an arson fire in which seven persons died and several other persons were injured. Following a sentencing hearing, defendant was sentenced to death. This court affirmed defendant's convictions and death sentence on direct appeal. People v. Hobley, 159 Ill.2d 272, 202 Ill.Dec. 256, 637 N.E.2d 992 (1994). Defendant's petition for a writ of certiorari was denied. Hobley v. Illinois, 513 U.S. 1015, 115 S.Ct. 575, 130 L.Ed.2d 491 (1994).

Defendant subsequently filed a second-amended petition for post-conviction relief, which the circuit court dismissed without conducting an evidentiary hearing. He appeals to this court from the dismissal of that post-conviction petition. 134 Ill.2d R. 651(a). We now affirm in part and reverse in part, and remand to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing.

FACTS

Trial Evidence

The evidence presented at defendant's trial is detailed in part in this court's opinion on direct appeal. Hobley, 159 Ill.2d 272, 202 Ill.Dec. 256, 637 N.E.2d 992. Because an understanding of the trial evidence is necessary to evaluate the first claim presented in defendant's post-conviction petition, we present a summary of that evidence.

State's Case

The State's evidence showed that, on January 6, 1987, at approximately 2 a.m., a fire broke out in a multiple-unit apartment building at 1121-23 East 82nd Street in Chicago. The fire claimed the lives of Anthony Bradford, Johnny Mae Dodds, Shelone Holton, Schalise Lindey, and Robert Stephens, as well as Anita Hobley and Philip Hobley, defendant's wife and infant son. The cause of death for each victim was acute carbon monoxide toxicity.

The apartment building consisted of four floors: the garden-level English basement and the first, second and third floors. The building was long and narrow, with an inside stairwell located at its front and an outside stairwell located at its rear. A single hallway ran the length of each floor and could be accessed by both stairwells. The top three floors each contained seven apartments, numbered -01 through -07. The fire was located in the front stairwell of the building, nearest the apartments numbered -01 and -02.

At the time of the fire, defendant lived in apartment 301 with his wife and son. Apartment 301 was located directly across from the front stairwell on the third floor.

Investigation revealed that gasoline, an accelerant, was used to start the fire. The front stairwell completely collapsed as a result of the fire. Tests of stairwell debris revealed the presence of gasoline in the front stairwell. Experts for both the State and the defense agreed that the fire was intentionally set with gasoline somewhere in the front stairwell.

Tests of the area outside of apartment 301 revealed no traces of gasoline. The door and door jam of apartment 301 were burned almost completely.

A firefighter called to the scene saw that the fire was burning hotter on the third floor, and he smelled the presence of gasoline in the burning stairwell.

While the fire still raged, firefighters discovered four bodies in the third-floor hallway. Another body was found in the second-floor hallway. A firefighter located the bodies of Anita and Philip Hobley inside of apartment 301, lying to the right of the window up against the wall. He testified that, when he arrived, the door was shut but burned off. The window had been stripped or blown out. Some furniture in the apartment had melted tops, which evidenced the enormous heat that had been in the apartment. He smelled the odor of gasoline.

Louis Casa, the building manager, testified that he rented apartment 301 on November 12, 1986, to defendant. A woman named Angela McDaniel was also there. Casa was under the impression that defendant and McDaniel would live together. Casa was not aware that at some time between November 12, 1986, and the day of the fire, McDaniel had moved out and defendant had moved his wife and son into the apartment.

Two witnesses testified regarding a gasoline purchase on the night of the fire. Andre Council testified that he was visiting Kenneth Stewart while Stewart worked at an Amoco station located at 83rd and Cottage Grove in Chicago. Council parked his car next to a gasoline pump. Sometime after midnight on January 6, 1987, Council saw a man walk up to the station. The man was carrying a gasoline can and asked to purchase one dollar's worth of gasoline. Council was not certain of the size of the can, but he said it looked like a one-gallon can. Council made an in-court identification of defendant as the man who had purchased the gasoline. Council described defendant as wearing a navy blue or black pea coat, a hat and jeans while at the station.

Council stated that the man then left the station, walking toward the direction of the building. Sometime later, fire trucks passed the station. Council left because he lived near the direction where the fire trucks were heading. After a brief stop at home, Council went near the fire. While there, he again saw the man, now standing near the viaduct, about two houses away from the fire. Council claimed that the man was wearing the same clothing as when he saw him at the Amoco station. When Council later saw defendant on television as a suspect in the fire, he called police and told them about the gasoline purchase.

The second witness, Kenneth Stewart, was working at the Amoco station on the night of January 5 and 6, 1987. He recalled that a short man purchased one dollar's worth of gasoline with a standard red and yellow gasoline can. The can was a one-gallon can. Stewart acknowledged that the gasoline can introduced as People's exhibit 8 was a two-gallon can, but said that it looked similar to the can he saw. Stewart witnessed a lineup at 4 p.m. on January 6, 1987. After some difficulties, Stewart stated that defendant "favored" the man who purchased the gasoline. He also stated that he could not tell with "any degree of certainty." At trial, Stewart expressed more certainty, but acknowledged that he saw the man's face for only three to four seconds.

A number of professionals investigated the fire to determine its cause. One of them was Fire Marshall Francis Burns. He testified that the extreme heat outside of apartment 301, and the damage sustained at that location, evidenced that an accelerant had been poured on the floor outside the door of apartment 301. He also stated, however, that if the door to apartment 301 had been left open and a window inside the apartment was open, the fire would have been drawn to apartment Detective Virgil Mikus, a Chicago police officer then assigned to a federal arson task force, arrived at the scene at 3:10 a.m. and was assigned to investigate the cause and origin of the fire. As part of his investigation, he examined the exterior and interior of the building, and collected debris samples for examination. Mikus testified that a flammable liquid was poured in front of apartment 301. As evidence of this, he noted a circular pour and burn pattern outside the apartment door with a four to six foot diameter, and that the roof and baseboards had been completely burned.

[231 Ill.Dec. 328] 301 more intensely because fire seeks oxygen.

Chicago police Detectives Robert Dwyer and James Lotito also investigated the fire. At about 9 a.m. on January 6, 1987, Dwyer and Lotito interviewed defendant at his mother's home after determining that he had been a tenant of apartment 301. Dwyer, Lotito and defendant sat in Dwyer's vehicle, and Dwyer told defendant that the fire had been intentionally set and asked defendant if he had any idea who may have done it. Dwyer testified that defendant mentioned a suspicious fire in the building on December 31, 1986. Defendant also mentioned that he suspected a woman named Angela McDaniel, with whom he had previously had an affair. Defendant then agreed to accompany the officers to Area Two Police Headquarters (Area 2).

After arriving at Area 2, Dwyer learned information that contradicted defendant's story. Defendant was read his Miranda rights so that he could be questioned again. Defendant gave Dwyer the address and telephone number of McDaniel.

Defendant was then taken to another area police headquarters, at 11th and State Streets, where he was interviewed by Sergeant Patrick Garrity. In the meantime, Dwyer and Lotito interviewed McDaniel over her lunch hour. Garrity testified that no one else was present during their interview. According to Garrity, defendant first denied involvement with the fire, but mentioned his suspicions of McDaniel. Garrity told defendant that he had reason to believe that he was lying. Defendant then allegedly broke eye contact and made an admission. Garrity testified that defendant told him that he had gone to a gasoline station with a can, purchased gasoline, poured it in the stairwell and in the hallway outside his apartment, lit the gasoline with a match, and then threw the gasoline can down the second-floor hallway. Defendant said that he did this because he was experiencing trouble with his girlfriend Angela and his wife. Garrity took notes during this interview, but those notes stated only that defendant made "...