People v. King, 2-15-1112
| Decision Date | 21 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 2-15-1112,2-15-1112 |
| Citation | 430 Ill.Dec. 876,2018 IL App (2d) 151112,127 N.E.3d 112 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Shadwick R. KING, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Gabriel A. Fuentes and Clifford W. Berlow, of Jenner & Block LLP, of Chicago, for appellant.
Joseph H. McMahon, State’s Attorney, of St. Charles (Patrick Delfino, David J. Robinson, and Victoria E. Jozef, of State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, of counsel), for the People.
¶ 1 Defendant, Shadwick R. King, appeals his conviction of first-degree murder ( 720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 2014) ) and sentence of 30 years' incarceration, following a jury trial in the circuit court of Kane County. Because defendant was prejudiced by the improper introduction of a former FBI profiler's "crime-scene-analysis" testimony, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
¶ 3 The common-law record, trial transcripts, photographs, and videos in evidence show the following. We will supplement the facts as necessary in the analysis section of the opinion.
¶ 5 On July 6, 2014, between 6:02 and 6:05 a.m., an eastbound Union Pacific freight train passed through Geneva Station. Locomotive engineer Devin Satchell saw no one on or near the railroad tracks. The tracks were surrounded by heavy brush, although there were access points at breaks in the brush.
¶ 6 An eastbound Metra passenger train traveling on track 1 approached Geneva Station at 6:36 and left it at 6:37 a.m. The train was under the Route 25 overpass when student engineer Alex Perez informed engineer Robert Soto Jr. of a "body, or something" on track 2. Perez began blowing the train's horn. Soto saw a woman lying awkwardly on the track. She had a blank stare and was not moving.
¶ 7 At approximately 6:39 a.m., the train came to an emergency stop, and crew members Dan Mongelli and Joel Cavender stepped out to investigate. Cavender observed that the woman's shirt was halfway up her back and that she did not move or breathe. Mongelli saw the woman's shirt lift, and he informed his dispatcher, "I believe this broad's still breathing." However, when he got within a foot of the woman and squatted down to look at her, he saw that she was not breathing. He determined that her shirt had lifted in the breeze. Mongelli noticed that her neck was "laid" across the track "in a perfect manner" so that an oncoming train would strike it. He also noticed a purple color around her mouth, brush (described by another witness as dried leaves and a blade of grass) in her hair, a cell phone nearby, and "spotting" on her leg. This "spotting" was later determined by paramedic Gary Grandgeorge and deputy coroner Lisa Gilbert, who also responded to the scene, to be "lividity." Mongelli realized at the scene that the woman was deceased. Mongelli and Cavender waited for the police to arrive.
¶ 8 Geneva police sergeant George Carbray arrived on the scene at approximately 6:55 a.m. According to Carbray, the body was lying on its left side, facing west. The head and neck were positioned over the northern rail. A pink iPhone was placed against a couple of railroad spikes on the opposite side of the rail from the body. It would later be determined that there were no fingerprints on the phone.
¶ 9 The body was clad in a gray top, black running shorts with no spandex liner, and black and pink running shoes. The shorts were loose, and there were no underpants beneath them. A dried leaf was on the lower abdomen, just above the pubic area. A Maidenform underwire bra was pulled up, half exposing the breasts.
¶ 10 Carbray found no pulse. He believed that the woman had been dead for some time, but he wanted a medical opinion, so he called for paramedics. They attached a heart monitor to the body but found no heartbeat. Grandgeorge testified that the monitor detected "pulseless electrical activity
," which can carry on "for some time" after a person dies. The paramedics did not make resuscitation efforts, because it appeared that the woman had been deceased for "quite some time." EMT Michael Antenore noted that the woman's skin was a "cyanotic purple" color and that the pupils were "fixed and dilated." Antenore also noted that the paramedics had mud on their shoes, due to an overnight rain, but that the woman's running shoes were clean.
¶ 11 The woman was later identified as 32-year-old Army reservist Kathleen King, defendant's wife. Their home was located 1200 to 1300 feet from where she was found. People who were in the general area of the railroad tracks between 6 and 6:30 a.m. on July 6 did not see anyone running or see any cars in nearby Esping Park. Esping Park was just north of the tracks and had walking paths providing access to the tracks. Defendant's neighbors did not see him or his SUV out between 6 and 6:30 a.m.
¶ 12 Defendant's and Kathleen's 10-year-old son, Brandon, testified that Kathleen ran in Esping Park. According to Brandon, when running Kathleen customarily wore an armband into which she tucked her iPhone. She also wore either glasses or contact lenses and earbuds. When her body was found, she was not wearing contacts or glasses. Her contacts, armband, and earbuds were found in her home during a later search.
¶ 14 At approximately 6 p.m. on July 5, 2014, Kathleen, defendant, and their three boys, then ages 9, 7, and 5, arrived at the home of her father, Kurt Kuester, in Elk Grove Village for a Fourth-of-July celebration. During the evening, defendant drank three or four beers, and Kathleen drank a bottle and a half of wine. According to Kathleen's younger sister Kristine, Kathleen demonstrated a maneuver to render someone unconscious, which she had learned in the Army. At about 10:30 or 10:45 p.m., Kathleen and defendant left the party. The boys stayed overnight with Kurt. According to Kristine, Kathleen did not have any injuries or bruises that night.
¶ 15 The next morning, Kristine learned from the Geneva police that Kathleen had died. At approximately 10:40 a.m. on July 6, Kristine telephoned Kurt and told him that Kathleen was dead. In a second phone call that morning, Kristine told Kurt not to allow defendant to have the boys.
¶ 16 Kurt testified that he frantically started screaming, "What are you talking about?" when Kristine broke the news to him of Kathleen's death. At about that time, defendant was approaching the front door, which Kurt thought was unusual because defendant "never" picked up the children. Kurt asked defendant, "Where is Kathleen?" Defendant replied, "We were fighting and she went running at 6:30 to clear her head." Kurt told defendant: "Kathleen is dead, Shad." Defendant bent over and said: According to Kurt, defendant did not ask what had happened to Kathleen or where she was.
¶ 18 Elk Grove Village police officers Angela Garza and Eric Perkins responded to a call at Kurt's residence on July 6 at 11:44 a.m. Defendant told Garza that Kurt would not allow him to take his children, because Kathleen was deceased. Defendant stated that he and Kathleen had an argument over her seeing a man whom she met in the military and that defendant told her to choose between the other man and him. Then, according to defendant, Kathleen went running by the river at 6:30 a.m. Defendant stated that he came to Kurt's home to pick up the children but that no one was home, so he drove to Kathleen's grandmother's house in Chicago. He arrived between 9 and 9:30 a.m. but no one was there, so he drove back to Kurt's house. Defendant asked if Kathleen was okay. Garza and Perkins transported defendant to the Geneva police station. Garza testified that defendant was so upset and anxious that it was not safe for him to drive himself. According to Garza, 20 minutes into the ride, defendant asked how Kathleen had died, but the officers did not have those details.
¶ 19 At 1 p.m., Geneva police detectives Robert Pech and Brad Jerdee interviewed defendant. The video of the interview is in evidence. Defendant explained to the detectives that Kathleen was away in basic training from February 7 to June 14, 2014. Defendant took a leave of absence from his insurance job to take care of the children while Kathleen pursued her Army career. According to defendant, when Kathleen returned home, he learned of her relationship with a man he called "Keno," whom she met in the military. Defendant stated that he mentioned divorce but, he said, Kathleen refused to consider it. Defendant also stated that he agreed that Kathleen could move out of state with the children to be with Keno as long as she agreed that defendant could have the boys during the summer. Defendant further stated that he told Tim Casey, Kristine's fiancée, that he might miss their wedding because of marital problems.
¶ 20 Casey (Kristine's husband at the time of trial) confirmed what defendant said that he had told him. Casey also testified that he had helped cover up Kathleen's affair by lying to defendant about Kathleen's whereabouts on one occasion.
¶ 21 Defendant told Detectives Pech and Jerdee that he and Kathleen went to a bar in Geneva after they left Kurt's party the night of July 5. According to the bartender, she served defendant five bottles of Miller Lite and Kathleen four glasses of wine. A man named Chad joined the Kings and bought them each a shot. Chad testified that he did not see any bruises on Kathleen's face.
¶ 22 Defendant told the detectives that he and Kathleen left the bar at approximately 1:45 a.m. and got home at about 2 a.m. Defendant was brushing his teeth while Kathleen was texting someone on her iPhone. When Kathleen put the phone down where defendant would be sure to see the message she had written, he saw that she was sending a romantic text to Keno.
¶ 23 The...
To continue reading
Request your trial