People v. Illgen

• Decision Date: 21 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 71151,71151
• Citation: 145 Ill.2d 353,164 Ill. Dec. 599,583 N.E.2d 515
• Parties: , 164 Ill.Dec. 599, 24 A.L.R.5th 864 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Eric James ILLGEN, Appellee.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 515

583 N.E.2d 515

145 Ill.2d 353, 164 Ill.Dec. 599, 24

A.L.R.5th 864

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Eric James ILLGEN, Appellee.

No. 71151.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 21, 1991.

Neil F. Hartigan and Roland W. Burris, Attys. Gen., Springfield, and Edward A. Burmila, Jr., State's Atty., Joliet (Rosalyn B. Kaplan, Sol. Gen., and Terence M. Madsen, Arleen C. Anderson and Margaret O'Connell, Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, and Kenneth R. Boyle, John X. Breslin, and Nancy Rink Carter, Office of the State's Attys. Appellate Prosecutor, Ottawa, of counsel), for the People.

Robert Agostinelli, Deputy Defender, and Mark D. Fisher, Asst. Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for appellee.

Justice BILANDIC delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Will County, the defendant, Eric James Illgen, was convicted of the murder of his wife, Linda, and was sentenced to a term of 30 years' imprisonment. The appellate court, with one justice dissenting, reversed the defendant's conviction and remanded the cause for a new trial. (204 Ill.App.3d 701, 149 Ill.Dec. 877, 562 N.E.2d 341.) The majority of the appellate court concluded that the trial court improperly admitted testimony that the defendant had, in the past, physically abused the victim. The dissenting justice concluded that the testimony was admissible to establish the defendant's intent. (204 Ill.App.3d at 707, 149 Ill.Dec. 877, 562 N.E.2d 341 (Heiple, J., dissenting).) We allowed the State's petition for leave to appeal (134 Ill.2d R. 315(a)).

The defendant contends that his conviction must be reversed because the trial court improperly admitted evidence that he physically abused the victim in the past and because he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He also argues that the sentence imposed is excessive. Because we find no reversible error among these claims, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court and affirm the decision of the circuit court.

THE EVIDENCE AT TRIAL

The victim, Linda Illgen, sustained a fatal gunshot wound on April 14, 1989. At trial, Sally and Lisa Illgen, the daughters of the defendant and the victim, testified for the State. Sally and Lisa testified that on the evening of April 14, 1989, they played while their parents watched a movie on television. At some point during the evening their mother told them to play in the back of the house because their father, the defendant, had a loaded gun. The girls testified that they then went to a storage room in the back of the house and hid between some boxes. While in the storage room, the girls heard their mother say, "Don't point that gun at me." The girls subsequently heard their mother call them into the living room. As they walked toward the living room, they heard a gunshot. When they entered the living room, they saw their mother slumped on the couch, bleeding. Sally testified that she saw her father holding a gun and standing in front of her mother. She heard him say that it was an accident. Lisa testified that her father said "Oh my God, Linda," and put the gun on the kitchen table. The girls testified that their parents had not argued on the night of the shooting. Sally also stated that her father often played with guns and their mother always had them leave the room when he did so.

Officer Kenneth Simpson of the Bolingbrook police department testified that, when he arrived at the Illgen home, he observed the victim sitting on the couch with a gunshot wound below her right eye. He spoke with the defendant for approximately 50 minutes. During this period of time, the defendant intermittently asked for help, said he wished he were dead, and stated "I slipped," "They did it" and "Someone pushed me." The defendant also asked Simpson to kill him because he had shot his wife.

Detective Joseph Andalina testified that the defendant was sobbing when he arrived at the Illgen home at approximately 9 p.m. When he asked the defendant what happened, the defendant stated that "Lester was here." Andalina later determined that the defendant's father was named Lester. When asked whether the shooting was an accident, the defendant stated "these things are never an accident." The defendant also told Andalina that he had a sleepwalking problem. Andalina testified that the defendant appeared alternately calm and upset and stated that Lester made him do it, that his wife pushed him, pushed Lester, and finally, pushed the wrong button, so he shot her. Andalina and another officer questioned the defendant further at the police station later that evening. The defendant told the officers that he was sitting on the couch cleaning and "working" the gun mechanism. His wife was also sitting on the couch, watching television. At some point, he heard the gun discharge and saw blood on his wife's face. The defendant told the officers that he wished he knew what happened "because these things are never accidents." Andalina testified that the defendant alternated between giving responsive answers to questions and making bizarre, irrational statements.

The pathologist who performed an autopsy on the victim testified that a bullet entered the victim's head just below her right eye and followed a downward course at a 20-degree angle, exiting in the back of her neck. The physician testified that there was a heavy deposit of soot in a three-inch area surrounding the wound. Other testimony established that such a soot pattern would appear if the muzzle of the gun was anywhere from 3 to 12 inches away from the victim's face when the gun discharged. The evidence also established that the weapon used to kill the victim was a .45 caliber with a single-action mechanism. In other words, the hammer had to be cocked and the trigger pulled before the gun could be fired.

A police evidence technician testified that he found a bullet lodged in the rear of the center back couch cushion. He also testified that he observed a blackened area on the back of the victim's left hand. Subsequent analysis revealed that this blackened area was gun powder residue which could have resulted if the victim's left hand was on or near the muzzle of the gun when it discharged. The evidence at trial established that the victim was left-handed.

Over the defendant's objection, the trial court admitted evidence of prior incidents of physical abuse inflicted upon the victim by the defendant in order to establish his motive and intent and to show that the shooting was not an accident. This evidence was introduced through the testimony of Carol Svarz. Svarz testified that she had known the defendant since 1969 and the victim since 1970. Svarz testified that she personally observed the defendant strike his wife on several occasions between 1972 and 1989. In 1972 or 1973, she saw the defendant hit the victim on the back of the head because the victim had failed to retrieve the defendant's shotgun from the back seat of their automobile. In 1978, Svarz observed the defendant screaming and yelling at his wife while they were at the Svarz home. He demanded that his wife wash his boots and, when he later found water inside the boots, he hit her in the face. In January of 1980, while visiting the victim at her home in Bolingbrook, Svarz observed black and blue marks on Linda's face. At that time, the defendant told her that the victim had bumped into a door. Two months later, in March 1980, the defendant told Svarz that he sleepwalks and when he awakens, his wife is black and blue, and he does not know how it happens. Svarz further testified that Linda sought help from the Brookfield police in January of 1982. The police took her to the Glen Ellyn Abuse Center for Women, where she stayed for six months before reconciling with the defendant. In October of 1982, while Svarz was visiting in the Illgen home, she heard the defendant say that he never had to worry about his wife leaving him again, because she and the children would get a bullet and the barrel of the gun would go into his mouth. In 1986, Svarz again saw the defendant strike his wife while in the Illgen home, apparently because he was angry with her for seeing her parents. In January of 1989, the defendant was in Svarz's home in Bolingbrook discussing gun legislation and said, "Nowadays you could kill your old lady and plead insanity and get out."

The defendant testified on his own behalf at trial. He testified that he returned home from work on April 14, 1989, between 4 and 5 p.m. He ate dinner and then watched a movie on television with his wife. The defendant sat on one side of the couch and his wife sat to his left. While watching the movie, he drank vodka and soda and worked the mechanism of one of his guns, repeatedly pulling the hammer back and releasing it. He testified that he remembered nothing else until he heard a loud noise and realized that his wife had been shot. He denied pointing the gun at his wife and denied any intention to kill her. The defendant also alleged that he did not remember making any statements to the police.

In closing argument, the prosecutor contended that, on the night in question, the defendant stood in front of his wife while she sat on the couch, pointed the gun at her and intentionally fired. The defense maintained that the defendant fell asleep or passed out on the couch while holding the gun with the hammer cocked. According to the defense, the victim, while seated on the couch, turned to her right and reached out her left hand to take the gun and, as she did so, the gun accidentally fired. Following deliberations, the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder.

I ADMISSIBILITY OF PRIOR PHYSICAL ABUSE EVIDENCE

As stated, the appellate court reversed the defendant's conviction, holding that the trial court erred in admitting Svarz's testimony of prior physical abuse inflicted upon the victim by the defendant. (204...