People v. Johnson, 1-92-0251

• Decision Date: 03 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. 1-92-0251,1-92-0251
• Citation: 193 Ill.Dec. 522,255 Ill.App.3d 547,626 N.E.2d 1073
• Parties: , 193 Ill.Dec. 522 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Terrance JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1073

626 N.E.2d 1073

255 Ill.App.3d 547, 193 Ill.Dec. 522

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Terrance JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-92-0251.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

First District, Fifth Division.

Sept. 3, 1993.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Dec. 3, 1993.

Rita A. Fry, Public Defender of Cook County (Alison Edward, Asst. Public Defender, of counsel), Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., County of Cook, Renee Goldfarb and James E. Fitzgerald, Asst. State's Attys. (Michele I. Lavin, Sp. Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

MODIFIED ON DENIAL OF REHEARING

Justice MURRAY delivered the opinion of the court:

After a jury trial, defendant Terrance Johnson (Johnson) was found guilty of murder and armed robbery in connection with the March 22, 1989, shooting death of Cleotha Adams. Defendant was sentenced to 60 years' imprisonment on the murder conviction and 20 years' imprisonment on the armed robbery conviction, sentences to run consecutively. He now appeals his convictions, claiming that he was denied a fair trial based upon the improper admission of a juvenile accomplice's testimony and several other alleged trial errors. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

In the early morning hours of March 22, 1989, 59-year-old Cleotha Adams (Adams) was shot while working at the Unocal Gas Station located at 8510 S. Ashland Avenue in Chicago. Adams died as a result of a single gunshot wound to his back and the bullet recovered from his body showed that a .25 caliber weapon was used. Johnson, Lester Boston (Boston) and Demetrius Broadwater (Broadwater) were all charged with murder and armed robbery in connection with Adams' death. On March 11 1991, the simultaneous but severed trials of Johnson, Boston and Broadwater commenced. Johnson's trial was before a jury while codefendants Boston and Broadwater were tried by the bench.

Evidence adduced at trial established that Adams' coworker, Darryl Williams, had been present at the gas station at the time of the shooting, although he did not witness the incident. Williams testified that he had been dozing in the office when Adams left the gas station at about 3 a.m. to take a bike to the bicycle shop he owned across the street. Shortly thereafter, Adams ran to the office door and, before falling to the ground, said, "Darryl, call the police, I've been shot." Williams called 911 and pushed the "panic button" for the police. Within minutes the police and an ambulance arrived.

Officer Good of the Chicago police department was one of the first officers to respond to the police report of a man shot at the Unocal gas station. He testified that when he arrived at the gas station he found Adams lying unconscious on the ground near the office door with Williams at his side. Officer Good also observed that a blue garbage can had been overturned near the gas pumps, a red cap (which was identified as belonging to Adams) was lying near the overturned garbage can and coins was scattered on the ground at that location and where Adams had fallen.

The next witness to testify was 19-year-old Tremmel Broadwater (Tremmel). Tremmel was codefendant Demetrius Broadwater's nephew, although he was only a couple of years younger than Demetrius and they resided together in the same household all their lives. Additionally, Tremmel was friends with the other two defendants, stating that he had known Johnson since he was 11.

When Tremmel took the stand at trial, he testified that on April 14, 1989, four police detectives came to his home at 9035 S. Racine in Chicago, looking for Demetrius. He gave the officers an address where Demetrius could be found and was then arrested on outstanding warrants for burglary and theft. One of the officers searched the room he was in and found a sawed off shotgun, which they confiscated. He was then taken to Area 2 headquarters, where he was placed in a small interview room and asked questions regarding the gas station shooting.

The prosecutor then asked Tremmel whether he had been in a car with the three defendants on the night of March 22, 1989, and witnessed the armed robbery and shooting at the Unocal gas station. Tremmel, however, denied any knowledge of or involvement in the gas station incident. Upon further questioning he admitted that he had signed a written statement and had testified before a grand jury indicating that he had been present at the gas station shooting. Now, however, he recanted his earlier statement and testimony.

The prosecutor impeached Tremmel with his earlier written statement and grand jury testimony, wherein Tremmel had stated that in the early morning hours of March 22, 1989, he rode with Johnson, Broadwater and Boston in a brown or tan car, witnessed Johnson rob a gas station on South Ashland in Chicago, and saw Johnson shoot a man in the back with a .25 caliber semiautomatic handgun. Throughout the impeachment Tremmel admitted that the written statement he signed and the testimony he gave before the grand jury was consistent with the information being quoted by the prosecutor. He claimed, however, that he had been coerced by the police into signing the statement and testifying before the grand jury and that he had no personal knowledge regarding the shooting.

According to Tremmel, the coercion consisted of threats made by the police to arrest him for murder or for the Federal offense of possession of a sawed off shotgun if he didn't cooperate. He claimed that the police composed the written statement and obtained his signature on it by promising not to charge him with murder or other crimes and by promising to help him out on his other outstanding warrants. He testified that he signed the statement and testified falsely before the grand jury for this reason. Tremmel further testified that to insure his grand jury testimony he was kept at the police station against his will from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, when he was transported by police to testify before the grand jury.

Tremmel admitted that he never attempted to contact anyone to inform them that his written statement and grand jury testimony were untrue, with one exception. He claimed that in December 1990, when he was served a subpoena by an assistant State's Attorney at the Markham Courthouse, he told the assistant State's Attorney that his grand jury testimony was not true, but when he did so this assistant State's Attorney threatened to charge him with murder if he changed his testimony. Then, on February 5, 1991, when Tremmel was interviewed by counsel for defendant Johnson in preparation for the March 11, 1991, trial, Tremmel told the defense counsel that his previous statement and grand jury testimony were the result of police coercion. At that time he signed a new statement recanting his earlier testimony and claiming that he had no knowledge of whether any of the defendants were involved in the gas station incident.

Because Tremmel's trial testimony was inconsistent with his prior written statement and grand jury testimony, and because there was no other direct evidence linking Johnson to the shooting, ¹ the State made a motion to have Tremmel's prior written statement and grand jury testimony admitted as substantive evidence pursuant to the exception to the hearsay rule provided by section 115-10.1 of the Criminal Code. To this end, Chicago police detectives Frank Glynn, Barry Costello, and Michael McDermott testified. These witnesses gave a detailed accounting of the events of April 14 and 15, 1989, which led up to the arrests of Johnson and codefendants Boston and Broadwater.

These police officers agreed that Tremmel was taken into custody on April 14, 1989, and that he remained at the police station until he testified before the grand jury on April 17, 1989. Yet, all of the officers testified that Tremmel was never placed under arrest, that Tremmel was never threatened with arrest or made promises of any kind in return for his cooperation, and that Tremmel voluntarily agreed to assist the police.

Detective Glynn testified that after Tremmel gave a signed written statement to Assistant State's Attorney Wasik he was asked to testify before the grand jury and he agreed to do so. Admittedly, Tremmel remained at the police station until he testified before the grand jury on April 17, 1989, but Glynn testified that Tremmel stayed at his own request and was not kept against his will. Furthermore, Glynn indicated that during his stay at the station Tremmel was given the freedom to roam between several rooms at the station, was given food to eat, that he had access to a telephone and made numerous calls to his residence and mother. He also indicated that Tremmel obtained a change of clothes from his mother while at the police station.

Following the officers' testimony, Assistant State's Attorney Wasik was called to testify regarding the conditions under which he obtained Tremmel Broadwater's written statement at the police station on April 14, 1989. Wasik indicated that Tremmel was cooperative and that he witnessed no threats being made to Tremmel. Wasik further testified that Tremmel's three-page written statement was prepared from responses Tremmel gave to him during questioning.

Wasik also testified that in the early morning hours of April 15, 1989, Tremmel was asked if he would be willing to testify before the grand jury. When Tremmel readily agreed to testify, a discussion was held with the police regarding transportation to the grand jury on Monday. Tremmel then said that he did not want to go home and it was agreed that he could stay at the police station until Monday.

After Wasik's testimony and after argument outside the presence of the jury, the court determined that Tremmel's written statement met the requirements of section 115-10.1 of the Criminal Code and could be published as substantive evidence. Wasik then read the written...