People v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 11 September 2018
• Docket Number: NO. 5-15-0274,5-15-0274
• Citation: 116 N.E.3d 1025,426 Ill.Dec. 725,2018 IL App (5th) 150274
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Aaron JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

2018 IL App (5th) 150274

116 N.E.3d 1025

426 Ill.Dec. 725

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Aaron JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant.

NO. 5-15-0274

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District.

Opinion Filed: September 11, 2018

Michael J. Pelletier, Jacqueline L. Bullard, and Susan M. Wilham, of State Appellate Defender’s Office, of Springfield, for appellant.

Brendan F. Kelly, State’s Attorney, of Belleville (Patrick Delfino, David J. Robinson, and Chelsea E. Kasten, of State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE CHAPMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The defendant, Aaron Jackson, appeals his conviction for first degree murder. He argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt due to credibility problems with two State witnesses and weaknesses in the forensic evidence. The defendant also argues that he was prejudiced by the admission of portions of a letter written by one of the witnesses to the court and by remarks during closing arguments in which the prosecutor overstated the strength of the forensic evidence. He contends that he was denied a fair trial by the cumulative effect of these claimed errors. Finally, the defendant argues that the court erred by allowing the State to present an argument at a preliminary inquiry into claims of ineffective assistance of counsel he raised in a posttrial letter and that the court abused its discretion in declining to appoint a new attorney to help him present these claims. We affirm.

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 During the early morning hours of April 1, 2010, Washington Park Mayor John Thornton was shot to death in his vehicle. Witnesses told police that they heard gunshots, saw Mayor Thornton's car crash into a tree in a vacant lot, and then saw the defendant get out of Thornton's vehicle. Witnesses reported seeing the defendant limp from Mayor Thornton's car to a different car and drive away. The mayor was found in the driver's seat of his car. Both airbags had deployed. The defendant was arrested and charged with Thornton's murder.

¶ 4 The First Trial

¶ 5 The matter first came for trial in October 2011; however, the first trial ended in a mistrial. We need only discuss the testimony of two witnesses from that trial—Nortisha Ball and Laqueshia Jackson. Ball's testimony is relevant to this appeal because the defendant points to inconsistencies between her testimony at the two trials in arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson's testimony is relevant because the defendant argues that counsel was ineffective for failing to call her as a witness in his second trial.

¶ 6 Ball was in jail awaiting trial on charges of residential burglary and theft when she testified in the defendant's first trial. She testified that she heard two gunshots and then saw a white car crash into a tree. She gave inconsistent testimony concerning what she witnessed after that. At one point, she said that she saw someone get out of the driver's side just before the car hit the tree, but she was not sure who it was. At another point, she acknowledged telling police that she saw the defendant get out of the car, but she did not remember which side of the vehicle he exited. At another point, she testified that she could not remember anything that happened on the morning of the shooting because she was high.

¶ 7 Ball remembered giving a statement to police but could not remember what she told them. She first stated that when she was interviewed by Illinois State Police Special Agent Joseph Bates on the morning of the shooting, she told him the truth. She later testified, however, that what she told him "might not have been true because [she] was under the influence." She testified that she told Special Agent Bates that morning that she thought she saw "Chill" get out of the car. She explained that "Chill" was the defendant. She also testified that she picked the defendant's picture out of a photo array several days later. However, she claimed that she did so because Bates asked her if she knew any of the people pictured, and the defendant was the only person pictured whom she knew.

¶ 8 Laqueshia Jackson testified that she was in her car when the crash occurred. She explained that she was spending the night at her mother's house when she received an alert, notifying her that the burglar alarm had gone off at her house. When she got there, she was afraid to enter the house because the police were not there, so she decided to drive back to her mother's house. As she sat parked in her driveway making this decision, she heard gunshots. She did not recall how many shots she heard, but she knew it was more than one. As she drove to her mother's house, she saw a white car hit a tree. She then saw a man she knew as Chill get out of the passenger side. Jackson did not know Chill's real name, but she was able to recognize the defendant as Chill.

¶ 9 Jackson testified that she saw Chill limp from the white car to a white Suburban driven by her ex-boyfriend, David Taylor. Once Chill was in Taylor's vehicle, Taylor drove off. On cross-examination, however, Jackson testified that after learning from one of the investigating officers that police were looking for a red Impala, she told the officer that she saw Chill drive off in a red Impala.

¶ 10 Jackson was asked about one of the investigating officers, Washington Park Detective Kim McAfee. McAfee was later indicted on federal charges unrelated to this case, and other officers involved in the investigation acknowledged at trial that they no longer considered him trustworthy as a result. Jackson testified that McAfee was present at the scene, but she did not speak with him. We note that according to Special Agent Bates, she did tell him that she spoke with McAfee.

¶ 11 Later during the trial, one of the prosecutors told the court about an anonymous call received by the state's attorney's office. The caller stated that if Laqueshia Jackson was recalled to the stand, she should be asked if a police officer offered her a bribe to testify that he was not at the crime scene. The court, prosecutors, defense counsel, and the defendant discussed the matter, and all agreed that Jackson should be questioned out of the presence of the jury to determine whether the caller was telling the truth. The trial proceeded while the state's attorney's office attempted to locate Jackson.

¶ 12 Once Jackson was located, she was questioned outside the jury's presence by the court, prosecutors, and defense counsel. She stated that she did not want to testify further in the case because she had been receiving threatening phone calls. She explained that the caller knew where she lived, where she worked, and what time her children got on the school bus. Jackson denied that she was offered a bribe. Initially, she reiterated that she did not talk to Detective McAfee about the case. However, she later testified that McAfee was present when she spoke to another investigating officer, but she "never said anything directly to McAfee."

¶ 13 Defense counsel indicated that, although he believed further cross-examination of Jackson in front of the jury would be useful for purposes of impeaching her testimony, he was concerned about the potential for prejudice if jurors were allowed to see Jackson sobbing on the witness stand. After consulting with the defendant, however, counsel decided to cross-examine Jackson in front of the jury.

¶ 14 On the stand in front of the jury, Jackson acknowledged that she previously testified that she never spoke with Detective McAfee in this case. She could not remember whether she ever told other officers that she did talk to him. Counsel then tried to ask Jackson why she testified that she never spoke to McAfee, but she did not respond. The court and attorneys for both parties later stated for the record that the jury was removed from the courtroom after Laqueshia Jackson went into what they described as a "stupor." Jackson suffered a seizure after the jury was removed.

¶ 15 The following morning, deputy court clerk Mary Ponder testified out of the presence of the jury about a phone call she received from Laqueshia Jackson's sister, Angela Dodd. Dodd informed Ponder that Jackson suffered another seizure that morning. Dodd told Ponder that Jackson was admitted to the hospital because her blood pressure was dangerously high and the paramedics were concerned that she might suffer a stroke. Ponder further testified, "She also told me that she was a witness when [Detective] McAfee told Laqueshia Jackson that if she kept her mouth shut, he would pay her off." The state's attorney then told the court about a phone conversation he had with Jackson the previous day while he was attempting to locate her. He stated that Jackson acknowledged to him that McAfee offered her money "if she would just keep his name out of it and say that he was not in the area at that time." However, he noted that she also told him that her testimony about what she saw the morning of the shooting was accurate.

¶ 16 The defendant moved for a mistrial, and the State did not object. The court granted the motion.

¶ 17 The Second Trial

¶ 18 The defendant's second trial took place in April 2012. Nortisha Ball, who was by then serving a four-year sentence for burglary, again testified for the State. She testified that she was outside "just hanging out" when she witnessed the car crash. She also testified that she was "intoxicated, under the influence" at the time. Ball testified that she saw the person who was sitting in the passenger seat get out of the car, but she could not see his face. She admitted that she told police that she saw Chill get out of the car, but she then said that she did not know if it was him. Asked what she told police about Chill, Ball initially said she could not remember. She then acknowledged that she told police that he got out of...