People v. Martinez
| Decision Date | 13 May 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-02-2050.,1-02-2050. |
| Citation | 810 N.E.2d 199,348 Ill.App.3d 521,284 Ill.Dec. 546 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the state of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Johnny MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Steven Decker, Chicago (Donald S. Honchell, of counsel), for Appellant.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, Alan J. Spellberg, and Jon Neuleib, of counsel), for Appellee.
Following a bench trial, defendant, Johnny Martinez, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 25 years' incarceration for his participation in the fatal gang-related group beating of the victim, Daniel Garcia. On appeal, defendant raises several issues, including whether: (1) the State proved him guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) the circuit court erred in admitting in evidence a key eyewitness' prior inconsistent statement; (3) the court erred in admitting in evidence his written statement; and (4) he received effective assistance of counsel.
Defendant proceeded by way of a bench trial.1 At trial, the following evidence was heard by the court. Daniel Garcia died after being beaten by defendant, his codefendants, and others. One or two days before Garcia was beaten, Manuel Rodriguez had driven Garcia to the area of Armitage Avenue and Whipple Street in order to buy narcotics. Garcia got out of Manuel's car, and proceeded into an alley, just south of Armitage and west of Whipple, forming a "T." A parking lot adjoined the alley. Manuel saw Garcia go into the alley, and then come running out. Garcia told Manuel to open the door of the car and then said, "[s]tep on it!" The two sped away from the alley. Garcia was now holding a bag of cocaine.
On October 12, 1998, Garcia returned to the area near Whipple and Armitage with Jesus Fuentes and Esteban Rodriguez, who dropped him close to the same alley and waited. Garcia got out of the van. Neither watched Garcia when he left the van. Fuentes drove the van around the block of Whipple and Armitage after waiting for about 15 minutes, looking for Garcia. Fuentes drove around the block a second time, then to an alley at Whipple and Armitage where he saw a group of five or six men who looked like they were pushing or shoving each other further down the alley. The alley was lit by a street light and Fuentes was able to see some of the young men's faces. Rodriguez also saw the group of young men. Rodriguez made an in-court identification of defendant and his two codefendants as three of the people he saw on the night of October 12, 1998. Defendant was one of the people who Rodriguez saw pushing and kicking in the alley. On their third drive around the block, Rodriguez and Fuentes went down the alley where they had seen the group of men, and found Garcia lying in a parking lot at the edge of the alley beaten and covered in blood, in the same spot where Fuentes and Rodriguez had seen the group of men. Garcia was unconscious. Rodriguez tried to lift Garcia into the van, but he was too heavy. Fuentes and Rodriguez flagged down a police car, but were unable to communicate with the officers because Fuentes and Rodriguez only spoke Spanish and the officers could not understand them. Rodriguez and Fuentes then went to tell Garcia's family what had happened.
Melloney Parker, on October 12, 1998, lived directly across the alley from the place where Garcia was beaten. She was awakened at 1:55 a.m., looked out of the front window of her third floor apartment, and saw six or seven young men in various places across the alley. They appeared to be involved in drug transactions. Parker saw Garcia with codefendant Tinajero and heard Tinajero say, "[w]here's my money?" and, As he said this, Tinajero hit Garcia.
Defendant's statement averred that he heard a commotion coming from the alley, saw Garcia lying on the pavement with codefendants standing around him, and was told that Garcia was a member of a rival gang, the Gangster Disciples. Parker saw defendant punch Garcia while he was on the ground, and defendant admitted that he kicked Garcia hard in the ribs because Garcia was from a rival gang. Defendant stated that he turned Garcia over with his foot, and noticed that Garcia was having a hard time breathing, his face was bloody and he was gasping for breath. Defendant turned, walked away and went home to sleep.
During the beating, Parker could not see the faces of the men who were hitting Garcia. A tree outside her window did not obscure Parker's view of the events in the alley. Everyone she saw that night, including defendant, hit Garcia at some time during the beating. After the beating, all of the men including defendant walked out of the alley. Shortly thereafter, Tinajero walked back and continued to stomp on Garcia and, afterwards, got into a silver-gray car and also left the scene.
Officer Jesus Sanchez received a call of a man down at 1:50 a.m., October 12, 1998, went to the alley behind 1946 North Whipple, and saw a person lying on the ground 20 yards from the mouth of the alley. The person was lying behind a gray van that Sanchez had to walk past to see the victim fully, later identified as Garcia. At first, the officer thought Garcia was merely intoxicated, then noticed he was the victim of a battery, with blood pouring out of his face onto the ground. The officer could see Garcia's injuries because the alley was lit by a street light. Garcia was motionless and did not respond to verbal communication. Sanchez called for an ambulance to take Garcia to the hospital. There he learned that Garcia's injuries included fractured skull at the base on both the right and left sides, and his left temple was fractured. It was unclear how many times he had been struck. Garcia never regained consciousness; stayed in the hospital for two months; was removed to a nursing home; returned to the hospital on December 10, 1998, and died. The medical examiner determined that Garcia died of cranial cerebral injuries due to blunt trauma.
On December 28, 1998, Margarita Casiano was at the 14th District Police Station on an unrelated matter and spoke with an investigator. Casiano had been in the alley at Armitage and Whipple on the 13th or 14th of October 1998 and had witnessed defendant, codefendants and one other man talking to each other and laughing. After telling the investigator what she had seen and heard, Casiano met with Detective Raynaldo Guevara on January 22, 1999, and identified a photograph of codefendant Kelly. During trial, Casiano testified that she was familiar with all three defendants and identified each in court.
On January 24, 1999, Detective Guevara went to the home of Parker and showed her six photographs. Parker was able to pick Tinajero out of the photo array. On February 8, 1999, Detective Guevara took Parker to Area Five Headquarters. There she viewed a lineup and picked out defendant and Tinajero. After the lineup, Parker spoke to Assistant State's Attorney (ASA) Jake Rubinstein and gave a statement. Although she was not sure of the events during trial, she was certain of her identification of defendant and of the veracity of the statement she had given to Rubinstein. At trial, Parker stated that she remembered maybe 50% of the event, but had been certain of the events described when she gave her statement.
Rodriguez, one of Garcia's companions on the night of the beating, viewed a lineup of 12 men on February 8, 1999, from which he identified the three defendants. Detective Guevara was in the room with him. Rodriguez had spoken with Guevara before the lineup. Rodriguez did not remember a time when he told Guevara that he had forgotten to tell the detective a number of details about the crime. In Rodriguez's first statement to Guevara on February 4, 1999, he reported that people were throwing bottles at the van. Rodriguez told Guevara that he had forgotten to tell him earlier that he had seen people in the alley.
Fuentes, Garcia's other companion that night, viewed a lineup on February 23, 1999, and picked out the three defendants. Fuentes had spoken to Detective Guevara sometime between the beating and the lineup but did not remember the day. At trial, Fuentes became confused regarding when he had spoken to the police, which photographs they had shown him, and who was with him when he identified defendants from the lineup. Fuentes never gave a description of the people that he saw. The State asserted that Fuentes had seen some photographs before the lineup although Fuentes testified on cross-examination that he had not.
ASA Rubinstein took Parker's statement on February 8, 1999, and took defendant's statement the next day. Rubinstein told defendant that he was an attorney, but not defendant's attorney, nor was he an attorney for any of the codefendants. He informed defendant of his constitutional rights, which defendant indicated he understood and wished to give a statement. The first conversation lasted for about 45 minutes. Defendant agreed to give a handwritten statement; however, the first paragraph has a pre-printed portion with the constitutional rights written out. Rubinstein had defendant read the paragraph aloud and then had defendant and Detective Troche, who was also present, sign underneath the paragraph. Defendant was sitting right next to Rubinstein so that defendant could read along as the statement was being written. Corrections were made in the statement and initialed by Rubinstein, defendant and Troche. After reading through the statement, Rubinstein, Troche and defendant signed each page.
Once everything but the last paragraph had been written, ASA Rubinstein had defendant read a portion of the statement aloud. Defendant identified some photographs, which were attached to the statement. After the...
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