People v. Jones, 62883

• Decision Date: 26 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 62883,62883
• Citation: 123 Ill.2d 387,123 Ill.Dec. 944,528 N.E.2d 648
• Parties: , 123 Ill.Dec. 944 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. William T. JONES, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 648

528 N.E.2d 648

123 Ill.2d 387, 123 Ill.Dec. 944

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. William T. JONES, Appellant.

No. 62883.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

May 26, 1988.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 3, 1988.

Alan Raphael, Professor of Law, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Supreme Court Unit, Springfield, for appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Roma Jones Stewart, Sol. Gen., Marcia L. Friedl, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, for appellee.

Justice MILLER delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Jefferson County, the defendant, William T. Jones, was convicted of murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, residential burglary, and aggravated battery. The defendant waived his right to a jury for purposes of a death penalty hearing, and the trial judge sentenced him to death. The defendant's execution was stayed pending direct review by this court. Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 107 Ill.2d Rules 603, 609(a).

On January 26, 1982, Margaret Dare was found dead and her husband, James Dare, was found severely injured in the living room of their home near Dix, Illinois. Blood stains were visible throughout much of the house, and a number of items, including a television set and a stereo phonograph, were missing. The offenses were discovered around 9 o'clock that morning by Mrs. Dare's sister, Lucy Baker. Baker had gone to the house in response to an inquiry from her aunt, who had been trying, without success, to reach Mrs. Dare on the telephone. Baker entered the house through the back door and found her sister slumped on the living room couch; she was dressed in nightclothes and covered with blood. Mr. Dare was struggling from the couch toward the front door; he too was soaked with blood. Baker summoned an ambulance and notified the Jefferson County sheriff's department. Mr. Dare was in deep shock when paramedics arrived, and they were unable to obtain a blood pressure reading, which signified a massive loss of blood. At a local hospital, the attending physician found a deep stab wound to Mr. Dare's left hip, two small puncture wounds in his chest, lacerations on both hands, and a compound skull fracture. An autopsy of Mrs. Dare revealed nine lacerations to her hands and chest; her death was attributed to massive blood loss resulting from a stab wound to her heart.

The defendant previously was convicted of the offenses here and sentenced to death for the murder of Mrs. Dare; he was granted a new trial in an earlier appeal. (See People v. Jones (1985), 105 Ill.2d 342, 86 Ill.Dec. 453, 475 N.E.2d 832.) On remand, the place of trial was changed from Jefferson County to Saline County, and the jury was sequestered during the proceedings. The defendant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence of his guilt, and for purposes of the discussion that follows, that evidence is summarized below.

The defendant's wife, Dorothy Jones, testified in the State's behalf at trial. She said that on January 25, 1982, the defendant left the house around 8 p.m. and returned some time after 10 o'clock. He went upstairs, and she heard water running in the bathroom. The defendant left the house again about 10 to 15 minutes later, explaining that he was going over to see two of his friends, Larry Faint and James Jennings. Mrs. Jones said that the defendant called her around 5 o'clock the following morning and said that he was at his sister's house in Decatur. He returned to Mt. Vernon during the evening of January 26. Mrs. Jones also testified that sometime later, in February 1982, she found a blood-stained stocking cap tucked away in her lingerie drawer, and she noticed that the defendant's jacket, which was hanging in their closet, had blood stains on it.

Larry Faint and James Jennings testified that the defendant was at their house sometime after midnight on January 26, 1982, and that the three of them later left for Decatur in the defendant's car. In the backseat were some objects covered with a blanket. The group arrived at the defendant's sister's apartment in Decatur around 5 o'clock that morning. There, the defendant and his sister's boyfriend carried a television set and stereo components into the apartment. The television and stereo had blood on them, and they were cleaned off. Faint testified that they spent that morning and part of the afternoon trying to sell the items; the television was finally sold to a Decatur auction house, where the defendant received $55 in payment. Investigators later traced the television set and were able to identify it, from its serial number, as one that the Dares had bought in May 1981 at a store in Dix.

The defendant's sister, Shirley Jones, testified that the defendant arrived at her apartment around 5 a.m. on January 26. He was accompanied by Faint and Jennings. Jones testified that one of the defendant's fingers was bleeding, and she said that he explained that he had cut it when he slipped and fell on a patch of ice in the parking lot outside her home. Shirley Jones said that a phonograph and television set were brought in to her apartment from the car; she noticed blood on the phonograph.

Faint and Jennings testified that on their return trip with the defendant from Decatur to Mt. Vernon on January 26 they stopped in Centralia; there they tried to sell the phonograph at a bar but were unsuccessful. Faint and Jennings also said that the defendant had appeared at their home on Saturday, January 23, 1982, with a television set, television stand, and several other items. On that occasion the defendant explained to his friends that he was in the process of moving, and he returned for the things the next day.

The State presented evidence of a burglary and theft that occurred at the home of Dorothy Lacey, located near Mt. Vernon, during the evening of January 23, 1982. Mrs. Lacey testified that a number of things were missing from her home following the break-in, including a television set and stand, several pieces of jewelry, and a homemade quilt. Jewelry and a quilt had been found in a search of the defendant's car on January 27, and at trial Mrs. Lacey identified those items as having been taken from her home. The same quilt was identified by Larry Faint as the blanket he had seen in the backseat of the defendant's car during the early-morning trip to Decatur on January 26. A large butcher knife belonging to Mrs. Lacey was discovered in a dish pan in the Dares' kitchen sink; Mrs. Lacey and her daughter were able to identify the knife from a distinctive nick in its handle.

Forensic scientist Andrew Wist testified to certain consistencies between the known blood types of the defendant and Mr. and Mrs. Dare and blood stains found at the crime scene. Wist said that he was able to distinguish among the blood types of the defendant, Mr. Dare, and Mrs. Dare on the basis of two tests: the ABO grouping test, and the PGM enzyme test. The defendant's blood was ABO type B and PGM type 1; Mrs. Dare's blood was ABO type A and PGM type 2-1; Mr. Dare's blood was ABO type B and PGM type 2-1. Wist also provided the frequency of those combinations of blood types in the United States, based on race; according to Wist, 12% of the black population and 6% of the white population share the defendant's combination of ABO and PGM groupings.

Wist analyzed possible blood stains found at the crime scene and in the defendant's car. In most instances, he was able to determine the ABO and PGM characteristics of those samples, and he could therefore conclude whether they were consistent or inconsistent with the blood types of the defendant and the two victims. Wist testified that blood consistent with the defendant's, based on the ABO and PGM tests, was found on the front porch of the Dares' residence and on a number of items inside the house, including a jewelry box, a nightstand, the dust cover of a record turntable, a desk lamp, and the fabric cover of the couch where Mrs. Dare's body was found. Both Faint and Jennings had ABO type O blood, and therefore Wist was able to conclude that they could not have provided the blood that he tested from the crime scene.

Wist also testified to comparisons he made between head hair samples from Mr. and Mrs. Dare and three Caucasian hairs discovered in the backseat area of the defendant's car--one of those hairs was found on a floor mat, and the other two were found in a washcloth. According to Wist, the hairs from the defendant's car had 13 characteristics in common with the hair standards taken from the Dares, which he said were common types. Wist also testified that he examined the stocking cap and jacket that were found by the defendant's wife in February 1982. Wist was able to determine only that human blood was present on the stocking cap; Wist found several blood stains on the jacket, and one of them was consistent with the defendant's ABO and PGM types.

The defendant testified at trial, and he denied all involvement in the offenses here. The defendant said that during the evening of January 25, 1982, he was at a restaurant in Mt. Vernon, the 12th Street Barbecue Pit, and that he left only once during that period, a little after 10 o'clock, to go home and change his shoes. The restaurant closed shortly after midnight, and at that time the defendant gave a friend a ride home. The defendant testified that he then went to the house where Faint and Jennings lived, arriving between 12:30 and 1 a.m. The defendant wanted to drive to Decatur to visit some family members, but he did not have enough money for both legs of the trip. According to the defendant, Faint suggested that they take some items to Decatur and sell them there to pay for the return trip. Faint then put something in the backseat of the defendant's car, and they left for Decatur.

The defendant said that they arrived in Decatur at his sister's...