People v. Kraybill

• Decision Date: 30 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. 1–12–0232.,1–12–0232.
• Citation: 14 N.E.3d 1131
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. David KRAYBILL, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

14 N.E.3d 1131

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.David KRAYBILL, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 1–12–0232.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

June 30, 2014.

Kathleen T. Zellner & Associates, of Downers Grove (Douglas H. Johnson, of counsel), for appellant.

Anita M. Alvarez, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Mary Needham, and Clare Wesolik Connolly, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

Justice MASON delivered the judgment of the court with opinion.

¶ 1 Defendant David Kraybill appeals his conviction for the first-degree murder of Joel Cacharelis following a jury trial.¹ Kraybill raises the following evidentiary rulings as a basis for the reversal of his conviction: (1) preclusion of evidence of Cacharelis's criminal activities; (2) preclusion of evidence relating to the destruction of a detective's interview notes; (3) preclusion of a tape recorded interview between Kraybill and a detective; and (4) admission of photographs of collector coins and evidence of a .22–caliber silencer discovered in his house. Kraybill claims that the cumulative effect of the trial court's erroneous evidentiary rulings warrants a reversal of his conviction. We disagree and affirm.

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Cacharelis was murdered in Winnetka, Illinois, on February 24, 2003. Cacharelis and Kraybill were childhood friends who kept in touch after Kraybill moved to Madison, Wisconsin. Kraybill visited Cacharelis at his home in Winnetka on February 24 and left with him in his car later that evening. Cacharelis's body was discovered on a remote road in Winnetka shortly after 11 p.m. Approximately one year later, a grand jury indicted Kraybill on one count of first-degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9–1(a)(2) (West 2002)) and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon (720 ILCS 5/24–1.1(a) (West 2002)).

¶ 4 A. Motions in Limine

¶ 5 Prior to trial, Kraybill filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence relating to a .22–caliber silencer recovered from his house following a search, arguing that the silencer was irrelevant and the probative value, if any, was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. During the hearing on the motion, Kraybill acknowledged that he was connected to the silencer because it was recovered from his house, but argued that the State failed to present evidence that a silencer was used in the murder. The State responded that the silencer was relevant because it was purchased in the same transaction as Kraybill's .22–caliber Beretta handgun, the type of weapon used to murder Cacharelis, and no residents who lived in the vicinity of the crime scene heard approximately 11 gunshots or called 911, rendering it likely that a silencer was used to commit the murder. After hearing arguments, the trial court denied Kraybill's motion in limine finding that the silencer was relevant and the probative value outweighed any prejudicial impact.

¶ 6 During trial, Kraybill filed another motion in limine requesting the court to bar from evidence reference to and photographs of collector coins found in his home. Kraybill argued the evidence relating to the coins was irrelevant, unfairly prejudicial and would invite speculation regarding a connection between certain unique coins recovered from Cacharelis's vehicle and the coins discovered in Kraybill's house. Kraybill further argued that if the trial court allowed the State to reference the photographs of the collector coins, then he should be permitted to introduce evidence relating to pending burglary charges against Cacharelis and other burglary-related facts.

¶ 7 The State responded that the collector coins were relevant not to suggest that Kraybill was part of a burglary ring, but to establish the reasonable inference that Kraybill may have placed the coins in Cacharelis's vehicle. The trial court denied Kraybill's motion in limine, finding that: (1) unique coins were found underneath the floor mat on the passenger's side of Cacharelis's vehicle and (2) Kraybill's fingerprint was found on that side of Cacharelis's vehicle indicating that in all likelihood he was sitting in the passenger seat. In rendering its decision, the trial court specifically stated that it would have been inclined to grant Kraybill's motion but for the fact that the defense first argued the relevancy of the coins in Cacharelis's vehicle. The trial court also stated that its ruling did not render relevant evidence relating to Cacharelis's pending burglary charges.

¶ 8 Before trial, the State filed a motion in limine to bar Kraybill from mentioning that Cacharelis had burglary charges pending at the time of his death and that a ring discovered in his vehicle was stolen. At the hearing, Kraybill argued that Cacharelis's pending charges were relevant because they suggested that Cacharelis's involvement in illegal conduct, and not Kraybill's actions, caused his death. The trial court granted the State's motion but ruled that if Kraybill could produce new evidence linking the victim's alleged criminal activities to his murder, the court would revisit the issue.

¶ 9 In the same motion in limine, the State sought to preclude Kraybill from discussing a tape-recorded conversation between Kraybill and Sergeant James Christensen of the Winnetka police department that occurred on February 21, 2004. The State argued the conversation was hearsay unless: (1) the State questioned Christensen about that conversation during his direct examination or (2) Kraybill decided to testify. Kraybill responded that Christensen recorded the conversation with a concealed recording device that was unknown to Kraybill and the recorded conversation was not hearsay. Kraybill claimed that the recorded conversation addressed statements Kraybill allegedly made to Christensen in 2003 and explained the interaction between the two individuals during the 2003 interviews. The trial court granted the State's motion but noted that the conversation could be admitted if Kraybill took the stand and denied making the earlier statements.

¶ 10 B. Trial Evidence

¶ 11 Cacharelis lived with his mother, Charlotte, in Winnetka. Charlotte had known Kraybill for most of his life because he grew up close by and was her son's childhood friend. Around 1990, Kraybill moved to Madison, Wisconsin, but remained in contact with Cacharelis and visited him approximately every six to eight weeks.

¶ 12 On February 24, 2003, at approximately 9 p.m., the front door bell rang at the Cacharelis home. Charlotte began walking toward the front door from her bedroom on the second floor. Before she reached the front door, she saw Kraybill coming up the stairs. Kraybill was wearing a red and black puffy winter jacket. Kraybill looked at Charlotte, but he did not say hello or acknowledge her in any way, which was unusual since he had previously always greeted her. After Kraybill reached the top of the stairs, he went toward Cacharelis's bedroom, walking past Charlotte, who was not expecting to see him that night. Cacharelis was home at the time and was in his bedroom.

¶ 13 After about 10 minutes, Charlotte heard Cacharelis and Kraybill walk down the wooden front stairs. Charlotte assumed that they left through the back door because that door was near Cacharelis's vehicle, a Mercury Cougar, which he typically parked at the rear of the house. No one other than Cacharelis had a set of keys to his car.

¶ 14 At approximately 10:30 p.m., Charlotte went to bed. Neither Cacharelis nor Kraybill returned to the house by the time she fell asleep and she did not hear Cacharelis's vehicle return home. At approximately 3 a.m., the police arrived at the house and told her that her son had been killed. Charlotte told the police that Kraybill was at the house earlier and that Cacharelis left the house with him.

¶ 15 On February 22, 2003, Russell Sundsmo, Kraybill's co-worker who was interested in buying a vehicle from Kraybill, called Kraybill to arrange a time on Monday, February 24 to view the vehicle. Kraybill told Sundsmo that he would have to come early that day because Kraybill planned to go to Chicago to visit an old friend. Kraybill did not mention the friend's name.

¶ 16 The parties stipulated that at approximately 11:09 p.m. on February 24, 2003, Heidi Lubin was driving northbound on Forestway Drive in Winnetka when she swerved to avoid hitting what she believed to be a body in the road. Forestway Drive is a winding, paved road in a fairly secluded area, although there are some homes nearby. Lubin swerved a second time when she saw a pair of gloves in the road. Lubin did not see anyone else in the area. After she arrived home, Lubin called the Glencoe police department at approximately 11:20 p.m. to report what she had seen.

¶ 17 After receiving Lubin's call, Glencoe police notified the Winnetka police department. Apart from Lubin's call, no one called 911 that night to report hearing gunshots.

¶ 18 Daniel Weber was a detective and evidence technician for the Winnetka police department and was eventually called to investigate the scene. When Weber arrived, he noticed Cacharelis's body on the roadway and saw bullet wounds to the back of his head and wet, pooling blood around his head. Near Cacharelis's body, Weber found seven .22–caliber shell casings, which suggested that the bullets had been fired from a semiautomatic weapon. North of Cacharelis's body, Weber discovered two leather gloves. Folded inside each leather glove was a purple nitrile glove, which is very similar to a latex medical examination glove. The purple gloves appeared to be unworn.

¶ 19 At a nearby garbage can, Weber located three additional shell casings from a .22–caliber handgun, as well as three sets of distinct footwear impressions and four distinct tire impressions that were left on the snow. One set of the footwear impressions was discovered in three areas at the murder scene and had a triangular outsole pattern. In one area, the...