People v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 21 April 1994
• Docket Number: No. 72709,72709
• Citation: 159 Ill.2d 97,201 Ill.Dec. 53,636 N.E.2d 485
• Parties: , 201 Ill.Dec. 53 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Grayland JOHNSON, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 485

636 N.E.2d 485

159 Ill.2d 97, 201 Ill.Dec. 53

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Grayland JOHNSON, Appellant.

No. 72709.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 21, 1994.

Rehearing Denied May 27, 1994.

Daniel M. Kirwan, Dep. Defender, and E. Joyce Randolph, Asst. Defender, Office of State Appellate Defender, Mt. Vernon, for appellant.

Roland W. Burris, Atty. Gen., Springfield and Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., Chicago (Terence M. Madsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, and Renee G. Goldfarb and Gael McCaughey-O'Brien, Asst. State's Attys. of counsel), for the People.

Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Grayland Johnson, was arrested for the murder of Douglas Coleman, who was shot to death in Chicago on Easter Sunday, 1988. A jury sitting in the circuit court of Cook County found defendant guilty of first degree murder and also found him eligible for the death penalty. Defendant elected to have the trial court determine his sentence based on the evidence in aggravation and mitigation. The trial court found no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude imposition of the death penalty under the Criminal Code of 1961 (Criminal Code), section 9-1(b)(3) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(3)), and entered sentence accordingly. The death sentence was stayed pending direct review by this court (Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d Rules 603, 609(a)).

In this appeal, defendant raises a number of issues challenging all phases of the proceedings. We affirm the conviction but vacate the death penalty in accordance with the decision of Morgan v. Illinois (1992), 504 U.S. 719, 112 S.Ct. 2222, 119 L.Ed.2d 492, and remand for a new sentencing hearing.

BACKGROUND

Pretrial Proceedings

Defendant filed a motion to suppress his confession, contending that his inculpatory statement resulted from the infliction of physical and mental coercion and therefore was the fruit of an illegal arrest. The following evidence was adduced during the hearing on the motion to suppress.

Sergeant James Eldridge testified that he interviewed Arba Holden on April 16, 1988. Holden identified defendant from a photo array. Holden told the officer that he and other men, including defendant, had been together on the date Coleman was killed, April 3, 1988. According to Holden, the men left Ford City in two vehicles, defendant and Sumlin in one car and Holden and the others in a van. The men planned to "do some drug deals" in Chicago and then meet at 59th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway. Sumlin and defendant were late returning to the meeting place. Sumlin said they were late because defendant had killed a man. Defendant said he had killed the man because the man owed him $600. The group then got back into their vehicles and entered the expressway. Holden told Sergeant Eldridge that he saw defendant throw a gun into the Little Calumet River.

Detectives Craig Cegielski and his partner, Nick Crescenzo, testified that on April 17, 1988, they went to defendant's home in Ford Heights to question him about the Coleman murder. Before going to defendant's house, the officers had learned from Coleman's family that defendant had been with Coleman the day of the murder. Officers Cegielski and Crescenzo also had been informed of Arba Holden's identification of defendant as a participant in the murder of Coleman. However, at the time the officers went to defendant's house, they did not know whether Holden or anyone else had witnessed defendant shoot the victim.

Defendant agreed to accompany the officers to the police station, saying that he After obtaining Sumlin's inculpatory statements, the officers returned to the room in which defendant was waiting and advised him that he was under arrest. This occurred at approximately noon. Cegielski handcuffed him to the wall and left the room with Crescenzo. The officers testified that no one abused defendant in their presence. Approximately 10 or 15 minutes after the officers left him, defendant called out that he wanted to speak to the State's Attorney.

[201 Ill.Dec. 56] would be glad to help because the victim was his friend, and that he had come to the station on his own accord at a prior time to discuss the slaying. At the station, he was given the Miranda warnings, which he waived. Cegielski and Crescenzo took him into an interview room, where they spoke with defendant for 15 or 20 minutes. The officers then left the room to interview others who were at the station, including codefendant Jerome Sumlin. Sumlin implicated both himself and defendant in the murder.

Assistant State's Attorney Charles Burns arrived and advised defendant of the Miranda warnings. Burns spoke to defendant for 45 minutes and brought him lunch. According to Burns, no one threatened defendant or exercised force or coercion while Burns was present.

Carolyn Mabry testified for defendant at the suppression hearing. She stated that defendant had called her on April 18, 1988. He told her he had been arrested and beaten by officers at the station.

Nona Cameron, a correctional officer, testified that defendant told her on April 18 that he had a headache, was dizzy, and had been beaten by the police. At defendant's request she called for paramedics, but she did not observe any injuries herself.

Defendant testified that he went to the police station "freely and voluntarily." He said the paramedics treated him for a venereal disease. He described the officer's abuse of him and told the court he was suing the officers in Federal court.

The court found defendant's allegations of abuse unfounded. The court also ruled that the detectives had possessed sufficient information to take defendant into custody and therefore denied the motion to quash the arrest due to lack of probable cause. The court declined to make a finding as to the exact time that defendant was placed under arrest.

Before trial, defense counsel made a motion in limine to preclude the State from introducing evidence of gang membership. The court denied the motion. Next, defense counsel requested that the court ask the potential jurors if they believed that they must automatically impose the death penalty if the State requested it. The court sustained the State's objection to the proposed question.

The Trial

Lucille McNeal, Coleman's girlfriend, testified that she last saw Coleman on April 3, 1988, between 9 and 9:30 at night, when he, defendant, and a woman came to her house. Coleman and defendant were friends. McNeal testified that Coleman had belonged to the Black Gangster Disciples but she did not know whether defendant was also a member. McNeal further testified that Coleman had used drugs and that she had been a regular user of cocaine at the time of Coleman's death.

Defendant told McNeal he needed her to go with them to help rob his nephew of money and drugs. She refused, saying that she did not want to go because Coleman would "jump on her." Defendant showed her a small handgun and promised that Coleman would not hurt her, because if he did, defendant would kill Coleman. McNeal tried to talk Coleman out of going with the others on April 3.

Bertha Jackson, who was Jerome Sumlin's girlfriend and the mother of his two children, testified that both Sumlin and defendant belonged to the Black Gangster Disciples. In the afternoon of April 3, 1988, Jackson and Sumlin were present at a house in Chicago Heights, with defendant and others. Defendant took two guns from that house. He joined Jackson and Sumlin in Jackson's car and the three returned to Chicago. In Chicago they tried, unsuccessfully, to buy some drugs. Then they went to Coleman's house to see if he could assist them. Before they According to Jackson, Coleman agreed to help them locate drugs and entered Jackson's car with her, Sumlin, and defendant. They stopped at McNeal's house. Later, defendant, Sumlin, Jackson, and Coleman drove to a gangway. When the car stopped, Jackson remained in the car while the others got out and walked a short distance. Defendant tried to persuade Coleman to accompany him down the gangway, but Coleman refused. As they were returning to the car, defendant shot Coleman in the head. Jackson further testified that Sumlin also shot the victim. Defendant shot Coleman "some more" and the three of them left the victim lying on the ground.

[201 Ill.Dec. 57] got to Coleman's house, defendant gave Sumlin one of the guns he had retrieved from the house in Chicago Heights.

Jackson admitted that she was afraid that she would be charged with a crime when the police came to her house a few days later with Sumlin. Jackson went to the station, where she and Sumlin were separated for several hours. Jackson identified defendant as the shooter.

A medical examiner testified that Coleman had sustained 15 gunshot wounds and died as a result of them. The wounds to the victim's face showed a "tatooing" effect, indicating that the bullets had been fired at close range. The firearms examiner testified that the bullets recovered from the victim had come from both .22- and .32-caliber guns. No weapons were recovered.

The trial testimony of investigating detective Craig Cegielski essentially paralleled the testimony he gave at the suppression hearing. Cegielski testified that at the time the officers brought defendant to the police station defendant was not under arrest and he told the officers he wanted to help with the investigation because the victim was his friend. The police put defendant in an interview room while they spoke with Sumlin, who was also at the station. The officers then took Sumlin with them to the home of Bertha Jackson, who accompanied the officers and Sumlin back to the police station. After the officers obtained additional information from Jackson and Sumlin, who implicated defendant in Coleman's murder, the officers placed defendant under arrest. The police left defendant in a room, and after a few minutes, defendant called...