People v. Martinez

• Decision Date: 29 June 2021
• Docket Number: 1-19-0490
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

2021 IL App (1st) 190490
187 N.E.3d 1218
453 Ill.Dec. 480

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
John MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-19-0490

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Second Division.

Opinion filed June 29, 2021

Joshua Tepfer, Karl Leonard, and Debra Loevy, of The Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, John E. Nowak, and Noah Montague, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE LAVIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

453 Ill.Dec. 486

¶ 1 On October 12, 1998, Daniel Garcia was severely beaten in an alley near Whipple Street and Armitage Avenue. He died two months later from cranial cerebral injuries. Defendant, John Martinez, was charged in this incident alongside codefendants, Jose Tinajero and Thomas Kelly. Following a bench trial, defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

¶ 2 This appeal arises from the second-stage dismissal of defendant's successive petition filed under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) ( 725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2012)). On appeal, defendant asserts the trial court erroneously dismissed his claims that (1) Detective Reynaldo Guevara's manipulation of evidence violated his right to due process; (2) the State failed to disclose evidence of the detective's misconduct, in violation of Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) ; and (3) new evidence demonstrated his innocence. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing.

¶ 3 I. Background

¶ 4 A. Trial

¶ 5 To set the scene, we note there is no dispute that defendant was in the alley where Garcia was killed on the night he was killed. Rather, defendant disputes that he participated in the attack and claims that he came upon Garcia at the attack's conclusion.

¶ 6 At trial, the State presented witnesses who were supposedly in the area of the attack and subsequently spoke with Detective Guevara. Those witnesses’ accounts at trial varied from their accounts memorialized by the police and the assistant state's attorney. Additionally, three witnesses—Manuel Rodriguez (Manuel), his brother Esteban Rodriguez (Esteban), and Jesus Fuentes—demonstrably struggled with a language barrier while testifying, notwithstanding the assistance of an interpreter. Melloney Parker, who lived near the scene, professed to have a poor memory at the time of trial and expressly stated that she was relying on the accuracy of her prior statement, which was itself made months after the attack. These issues contributed to a somewhat laborious trial.

¶ 7 Manuel testified that one or two nights before the attack, Garcia asked Manuel to drive him to the area of Armitage Avenue and Whipple Street for the purported purpose of buying beer. When Rodriguez turned south on Whipple Street, Garcia told him to stop the car. Garcia

187 N.E.3d 1225

453 Ill.Dec. 487

exited, exchanged words with a heavyset black woman standing on the curb, and then followed her into the alley. Manuel then knew that Garcia was buying drugs, not beer. Garcia eventually ran out of the alley, got back in the car with cocaine, and told Manuel to "step on it."

¶ 8 Fuentes testified that at about 1:30 a.m. on October 12, 1998, he and Esteban were drinking beer with Garcia. Fuentes had consumed three or four beers starting at about 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Fuentes then drove Garcia, Esteban, and Fuentes's six-year-old son to buy beer. When Fuentes's van arrived at Albany Avenue and Armitage Avenue, Garcia exited the car and told Fuentes to wait there. Fuentes did not see where Garcia went. After about 15 minutes, Fuentes drove around looking for him. Specifically, Fuentes drove down Whipple Street and back to a spot near the place where Garcia told him to wait.

¶ 9 After 10 minutes, Fuentes circled a second time and saw five or six young men, about 40 feet away, playfully shoving each other in the alley by Whipple Street. Four of them had short hair. The area was lit by streetlight, and a van was parked 10 to 15 feet from where the group was standing. Fuentes was able to see the faces of the men who faced his direction. Although Fuentes apparently made an in-court identification of defendant and codefendants as members of that group, the attorneys did not make a clear record of that identification at trial.¹ Fuentes testified that it "[s]eems like" defendant was one of the two men he saw wearing sweatshirts. Fuentes did not see Garcia, however, and circled a third time.

¶ 10 About 30 minutes after Garcia had first exited Fuentes's car, Fuentes saw a young man lying facedown where the group of men had been. That man proved to be Garcia, who was unconscious. When Esteban was unable to get Garcia into the car, he and his companions left to tell Garcia's family about the situation. In addition, Fuentes flagged down a police car, but the language barrier prevented him from obtaining assistance. Fuentes testified that he never saw anyone hit or push Garcia.

¶ 11 Esteban substantially corroborated Fuentes's trial account. Additionally, he identified defendant and codefendants as having been with the group playing, pushing, and kicking each other in the alley. Esteban also testified, however, that he "was not able to see it very well." Esteban could not say what defendant was wearing that night or describe whether he had any facial hair because he was too far away.

¶ 12 Margarita Casiano lived in the area and bought drugs there daily. She testified that she saw defendant, codefendants, and "Rabbit," apparently referring to Angel Serrano, in the alley on October 13 or 14, which we observe was not the date of the attack. We also note that Serrano was interviewed but not charged in this case. After Garcia died, Manuel, Esteban, Fuentes, and Casiano all spoke with Detective Guevara.

¶ 13 During his testimony Detective Guevara acknowledged that his report did not reflect that Esteban or Fuentes said a group of four or five guys were playing in the alley. Yet, Esteban testified that he had relayed similar information to Detective Guevara at some point. Additionally, Detective Guevara ultimately testified that he interviewed Fuentes only once and that Fuentes never described anyone he saw on the night of the beating. Curiously,

187 N.E.3d 1226

453 Ill.Dec. 488

Fuentes testified that while he and Esteban initially did not describe anyone in order to avoid trouble, they subsequently described the men they had seen when Detective Guevara drove them to the scene on the night they were interviewed. The detective did not recall whether he drove them to the scene.

¶ 14 According to Detective Guevara, when he interviewed Esteban again in February 1999, Esteban relayed the same information that he had testified to in court. Esteban also told Detective Guevara at that interview, however, that four people at the mouth of the alley started yelling and throwing bottles at them as Esteban tried to get Garcia into Fuentes's car. During his testimony, Esteban denied telling Detective Guevara this. Fuentes similarly testified that no one chased his van or threw bottles at it.

¶ 15 Detective Guevara testified that on February 23, 1999, Fuentes and Esteban identified three individuals, apparently defendant and codefendants. According to Fuentes, he never told Detective Guevara that he saw those individuals actually hit Garcia. Furthermore, Fuentes testified that Detective Guevara stayed outside the lineup room and Esteban testified that the detective did not help him identify anyone. Although Detective Guevara had given Esteban a ride to view the lineup, Esteban denied that they discussed the case en route to the station.

¶ 16 The State's key witness was Parker, who lived in a third-floor apartment near Whipple Street and Armitage Avenue on October 12, 1998. Her living room window overlooked Whipple Street, and she had an unobstructed view of the alley, notwithstanding a tree that was in front of her window. Based on what she saw from her window that night, she made an anonymous call to 911. She ultimately encountered Detective Guevara, who was present when she signed a written statement.

¶ 17 Before reciting the substance of Parker's testimony about the night Garcia was attacked, we reiterate that she provided certain details that conflicted with her written statement or was otherwise unable to recall details. In those instances, she repeated that her memory was better at the time of her statement. Furthermore, she knew the statement was accurate because she signed it and she had been "very sure" of her observations at that time. Yet, she testified that "as of today, I am not sure. It's not vivid in my head."

¶ 18 Parker testified that at about 1:55 a.m. on the night in question, she woke up and noticed six or seven young men in various places in the alley. She saw two of their faces. In court, Parker identified defendant and codefendant Kelly as having been part of the group. In contrast, during a previous...