People v. McClellan

• Decision Date: 30 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 1-88-3794,1-88-3794
• Citation: People v. McClellan, 600 N.E.2d 407, 232 Ill.App.3d 990 (Ill. App. 1992)
• Parties: , 175 Ill.Dec. 476 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard McCLELLAN, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 407

600 N.E.2d 407

232 Ill.App.3d 990, 175 Ill.Dec. 476

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard McCLELLAN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-88-3794.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Third Division.

June 30, 1992.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 10, 1992.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago, (Renee Goldfarb, James E. Fitzgerald, Christine Perille, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

John L. Conlon, Russell E. Marsh, Kathleen M. Burch, Jennifer M. Baratta, Hopkins & Sutter, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Presiding Justice GREIMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Richard McClellan, was convicted ofvoluntary manslaughter and armed robbery, and received extended-term sentences of 60 years for armed robbery and 30 years for voluntary manslaughter to be served concurrently.

On appeal, defendant raises seven issues: (1) the legality of his arrest; (2) the procurement and use of his statements to the police; (3) the flawed jury selection; (4) the admission of certain evidence; (5) the refusal to instruct the jury as to theft; (6) jury verdicts inconsistent or unsupported by the evidence; and (7) the impropriety of the extended-term sentences for both armed robbery and voluntary manslaughter.

For the reasons which follow, we reduce defendant's sentence for voluntary manslaughter to 15 years and affirm the trial court's decisions on the remaining issues.

On October 31, 1986, about 7:30 a.m., a police officer found the body of the victim, Paulette Washington, in an alley directly beneath the open window of the victim's third-floor apartment. The cause of death was subsequently determined to be multiple stab wounds combined with blunt trauma injuries. The officer entered the victim's apartment and found her three minor children who were taken to the police station.

About 8:30 a.m., detective David Nowak arrived at the scene to investigate the victim's death. Nowak noticed that the window in the victim's apartment was open, the area around the window was stained with blood, and there were no signs of forced entry. Nowak interviewed several residents of the building, including Lorraine and Charlene Powell who lived in another apartment on the third floor, Michael and Delores Banks who lived in a first-floor apartment, and defendant, Delores Banks' nephew, who was staying in the Banks' apartment.

At this first interview, defendant stated that he was in the Powell's apartment until about 1 a.m., returned to the Banks' apartment, fell asleep, and woke up about 7 a.m. at which time he learned of the incident. The police did not note any blood on defendant's clothing or any bandages on his hands.

Lorraine and Charlene Powell stated that they were asleep at the time of the incident, but believed that Michael Banks may have been involved because the previous day the victim had allowed the electric company to enter the building and turn off the electricity in two apartments, one of which was the Banks' apartment.

Detective Nowak located Michael Banks outside the building and took him to the police station for further questioning.

Michael Banks told Nowak that on the night of the incident, he had arrived home about 10 p.m. after having gone to his mother's house to borrow money. He fell asleep watching television and listening to the radio and woke up about 4 a.m. He then observed defendant entering the apartment, returned to bed, and next awoke between 6:30 and 7 a.m.

Banks submitted to a polygraph examination and the technician who performed the polygraph test opined that Banks had an idea of who committed the crime but did not actually participate in the crime himself.

The investigation of the victim's death continued from November 1 through November 7. During this time, the victim's six-year-old daughter, Alanda, told family members that the person who had hurt her mother sometimes resided in the building and had keys to her mother's apartment.

On the evening of November 7, Michael Banks flagged down a police car and told the officers that he had information about the investigation. Banks was taken to police headquarters where he described the events of the night of the victim's death. Banks said that defendant came into his apartment about 4 a.m. and gave him $50 to buy cocaine. Banks left to obtain the cocaine and when he returned to the apartment, he observed that defendant had a fresh bandage on one of his hands and a reddish brown stain on one of his shoes. Banks said that he refrained from giving this information to the police earlier because he did not want to admit his involvement in drug use.

The next day Nowak verified this information with Michael Banks and re-interviewed Charlene Powell. Charlene stated that on the night of the incident, defendant was drinking in her apartment until about 3:30 a.m. Defendant asked Charlene to lend him $10 to purchase cocaine. When she refused to loan money to defendant, he left.

On November 9, 1986, around noon, detective Nowak and his partner went to defendant's grandmother's house, knocked on the front door and defendant's grandmother let the police officers in her apartment where they found defendant asleep on the couch. Detective Nowak testified that he told defendant he was continuing the investigation and wanted to interview defendant again and that defendant agreed to accompany him to the police station. Defendant was transported to the station in the unmarked detectives' car and was not handcuffed.

Defendant was taken to a windowless interview room which contained a desk and two chairs. After reiterating his original statement, defendant denied asking Charlene Powell for $10 for cocaine and denied giving Michael Banks $50 to buy cocaine. At the request of the police, defendant agreed to take a polygraph examination.

About 4 p.m. the police took defendant to the polygraph unit located in another building. After the test was completed, the polygraph examiner opined that defendant was not being truthful about his knowledge of or participation in the death of the victim.

Police returned defendant to an interview room, told him that he was under arrest, and advised him of his Miranda rights. About 11 p.m., defendant was placed in a line-up viewed by Alanda, the victim's daughter. Alanda was unable to identify anyone.

The following day, November 10, detective Nowak re-interviewed Michael Banks who stated that the night of the incident defendant was wearing black, loafer dress shoes. The police took defendant's shoes, which he was wearing, and brought them to the crime lab. The serologist, Pam Fish, tested the shoes and found blood present on the right shoe and the instep area of the shoe; however, the amount of blood present was insufficient to perform further tests to determine whether the blood was animal or human.

About 4 p.m. Detective Nowak informed defendant that traces of blood had been discovered on his shoes and again advised defendant of his Miranda rights. Defendant again denied any involvement in the crime. The investigation was then turned over to two other detectives, Dennis Keane and Greg Baiocchi.

The evening of November 10, after informing defendant of his Miranda rights, detectives Keane and Baiocchi questioned defendant who denied knowledge of anything about the death of the victim. Defendant was told that his statements were inconsistent with the information given by Michael Banks. The police then allowed defendant to read Michael Banks' statements. After reading his uncle's statements, defendant gave a statement relating the events which led to the death of the victim.

In his statement, defendant said that he had gone to the victim's apartment during the afternoon of October 30, 1986, to use her telephone and ask if he could borrow some money. The victim told defendant to come back later. About 2:30 a.m. on October 31, defendant returned to the victim's apartment. The victim told defendant that "he would have to be with her or she would not give him any money." When defendant told her he could not comply, an argument began. When defendant walked to the apartment door, the victim came out of the kitchen with a butcher knife. Defendant grabbed the victim's wrists and threw her to the floor. When she landed on the floor, she somehow stabbed herself once. Defendant then picked up the knife and stabbed the victim five or six times. Defendant went into the bedroom, found the victim's purse and took about $100. While he was in the bedroom, he heard the window open. When he looked into the living room, defendant saw that the victim was gone. Defendant then went to the Banks' apartment, told Michael Banks what had happened, and gave Banks $50 to buy cocaine to calm him down.

Defendant filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence and his statements. At the suppression hearing, defendant testified that on November 9, 1986, when the police entered his grandmother's house, they told defendant they wanted to ask him some more questions. Defendant also testified that he "went willingly" and was not handcuffed but thought he was under arrest at this time.

When they arrived at the police station, defendant testified that he was placed in the interview room, handcuffed to the wall, and denied permission to call his parents. After being questioned for about one hour, the police took his shoes and left. When the police returned, defendant was asked to take a lie detector test and he agreed.

After taking the lie detector test, defendant was again placed in the interview room and denied permission to call his father to get a lawyer. After defendant denied knowing anything, the police took his shoes, shirt, and jacket and left. When they returned, the police told defendant that blood had been found on defendant's clothing, accused him of committing the crime, and started punching him.

Defendant further testified that he was then put in a...