People v. Hodges
| Decision Date | 15 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 105767.,105767. |
| Citation | 234 Ill.2d 1,912 N.E.2d 1204 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Richard HODGES, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Michael J. Pelletier, State Appellate Defender, Patricia Unsinn, Deputy Defender, and Patrick F. Cassidy, Assistant Appellate Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for appellant.
Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, Anita M. Alvarez, State's Attorney, Chicago (James E. Fitzgerald, Alan J. Spellberg and Michele Grimaldi Stein, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
Following a jury trial, defendant, Richard Hodges, was convicted of first degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. The circuit court of Cook County sentenced him to 70 years' imprisonment. On direct appeal, the appellate court affirmed defendant's convictions and sentences. People v. Jackson, Nos. 1-03-2233, 1-03-3099, 1-03-3216 cons., 357 Ill. App.3d 1087, 324 Ill.Dec. 200, 895 N.E.2d 695 (2005) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23).1 Defendant thereafter filed a pro se petition for relief under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (the Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2006)). The circuit court summarily dismissed the petition as frivolous and patently without merit, and the appellate court affirmed. No. 1-06-0902 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). We granted defendant's petition for leave to appeal. 210 Ill.2d R. 315. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court.
Defendant's convictions stemmed from a shooting incident that occurred around 1 a.m. on January 20, 2001, at a gas station on Chicago's West Side. According to the evidence adduced at trial, defendant and his nephews, Toniac Jackson and David Jackson, arrived at the gas station in a black Geo Tracker shortly after 1 a.m. At about the same time, the victim, Christopher Pitts, and several of Pitts's friends, including Marquis Scales, arrived at the gas station in a red van. Pitts got out of the van and walked to the gas station's cashier's window, where he saw Toniac Jackson. Following an argument between the two men, who were members of the same gang, Pitts turned and ran around the corner of the gas station building and then behind the building. Toniac began chasing Pitts, and defendant joined in the chase. Toniac fired a 10-millimeter handgun at Pitts, and defendant fired shots in Pitts's direction with a nine-millimeter handgun. Pitts was later found dead in the street about a quarter-block from the gas station, with six gunshot wounds to the back of his head and body. No gun was recovered from Pitts's body, and the State's occurrence witness testified that Pitts was unarmed.
Approximately 24 cartridge cases were recovered from various locations at the scene. Some were nine millimeter, some 10 millimeter, and some .25 caliber. Seven nine-millimeter cases were found near the victim's body, along with two fired bullets, which were determined to be nine-millimeter as well. The .25-caliber cases were fired from a handgun subsequently recovered by police which apparently belonged to defendant's codefendant, David Jackson. Police did not recover a nine-millimeter gun or a 10-millimeter gun. However, the nine-millimeter cartridge cases found at the scene were all fired from the same nine-millimeter weapon, and the 10-millimeter cases were fired from the same 10-millimeter gun.
Defendant testified that he shot toward Pitts in self-defense, after seeing and hearing gunfire coming from Pitts's direction. Defendant also testified that he saw gunfire coming from the van. Defendant denied trying to shoot Pitts.
Defense counsel argued self-defense and second degree murder, and the jury was instructed as to each of these defenses. The State urged the jury to reject self-defense and second degree murder, emphasizing that Pitts was unarmed— "[t]here was no weapon recovered from Christopher Pitts"—and that the only cartridge cases recovered from the scene were of the same caliber as the weapons used by defendant and his codefendants— nine millimeter, 10 millimeter, and .25 caliber.
The jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 2002)), aggravated discharge of a firearm (720 ILCS 5/24-1.2(a)(2) (West 2002)), and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon (720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) (West 2002)). On June 20, 2003, the circuit court sentenced defendant to 40 years' imprisonment on the murder conviction, with an additional 20 years for personally discharging a firearm during the commission of the murder; 10 years' imprisonment for aggravated discharge of a firearm, to be served consecutively to the murder sentence; and 5 years for unlawful use of a weapon, to be served concurrently; for an aggregate sentence of 70 years' imprisonment.
On direct appeal, the appellate court affirmed defendant's convictions and sentences. People v. Jackson, Nos. 1-03-2233, 1-03-3099, 1-03-3216 cons., 357 Ill. App.3d 1087, 324 Ill.Dec. 200, 895 N.E.2d 695 (2005) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). This court denied defendant's petition for leave to appeal.
In January 2006 defendant filed a pro se petition for relief under the Act, along with a motion to proceed in forma pauperis and to appoint counsel. In his postconviction petition, defendant alleged that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to produce evidence that would have supported his claim of self-defense. Specifically, defendant alleged, among other things, that counsel failed to investigate or interview three potential witnesses whose testimony would have corroborated defendant's theory. Defendant alleged that two of these witnesses, Marquis Scales and Dontay Sanders, would have testified that on the night of the shooting, they arrived at the gas station in the same van as Pitts and knew that Pitts was armed with a gun. Defendant further stated that he told his trial counsel about a man he met named Michael Glasper who was at the gas station the night of the shooting, saw Pitts with a gun, and was willing to testify on defendant's behalf. Defendant alleged that these witnesses would have corroborated his claim of self-defense, and he argued that, because of counsel's incompetence, the jury "did not get a chance to hear any of this evidence." According to defendant, if counsel had provided effective assistance, the verdict undoubtedly would have been different.
Defendant also alleged that trial counsel was aware that the police had actually recovered 45 to 50 shell casings from the scene—not just the 24 presented at trial— including casings from weapons of different calibers than those used by defendant and his codefendants. Defendant referred to an alleged police report signed by Detective Edward Cunningham which included this information. The report was not attached to defendant's petition, but defendant explained the steps he took to obtain a copy. Defendant asserted that he spoke to a person in the medical examiner's office who confirmed the existence of a report indicating .22-and .45-caliber casings had been recovered from the scene, but told him he would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get a copy, which he did. Defendant also spoke to his counsel on direct appeal, who contacted the medical examiner's office but was told that documents could not be released without a court order or subpoena. Defendant filed a request for a court order to secure the report, which the circuit court denied.
Attached to defendant's petition were the signed affidavits of Glasper, Scales and Sanders. Glasper's affidavit stated that in July 2002, he and defendant were cell mates at the Cook County jail, where Glasper was being held on a charge of first degree murder. While Glasper and defendant were discussing their cases with each other, Glasper realized that he was familiar with the circumstances of defendant's case. Glasper stated in his affidavit that he had been driving near the gas station the night of the shooting and heard gunshots. He drove to the scene, saw someone lying on the ground, parked his car in the gas station, walked toward a "small crowd" of people, and saw a bystander pick up a black handgun and "rush[ ] off Glasper stated that he agreed to testify on defendant's behalf, but defense counsel never contacted him.
Scales stated in his affidavit that around 1 a.m. the night of the shooting he was in a van with Pitts and five companions.2 When the van stopped for gas, Pitts and two others got out of the van to buy something to drink. Minutes later, Scales heard gunshots and ducked down in his seat in the van as his friend "Ant" (Anthony Brown) drove the van out of the gas station. When they returned to the gas station to pick up their friends, Scales saw someone lying on the ground. Scales then saw a bystander pick up a black handgun from the area where the person was lying and walk away. Scales stated that he and "Ant" got out of the van and saw that it was Pitts lying on the ground, and Scales said, "that guy just took Chris['s] gun." According to Scales, the police arrived "several minutes later."
The content of Sanders' affidavit was essentially the same as that of Scales, with one addition. Sanders stated that when Pitts got out of the van, he took his gun with him "because it was very late and [there's] always something happening around in this area."
The circuit court summarily dismissed defendant's petition as frivolous and patently without merit, and the appellate court affirmed (No. 1-06-0902 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23)).
In this appeal, the parties dispute whether the circuit court should have summarily dismissed defendant's postconviction petition alleging ineffective assistance based on counsel's failure, among other things, to investigate and...
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