People v. McDonald

• Decision Date: 15 December 2016
• Docket Number: Docket No. 118882
• Citation: 77 N.E.3d 26,2016 IL 118882
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Stanley MCDONALD, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

2016 IL 118882

77 N.E.3d 26

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee,

v.Stanley MCDONALD, Appellant.

Docket No. 118882

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Opinion filed December 15, 2016.

Rehearing denied January 23, 2017

Michael J. Pelletier, State Appellate Defender, Patricia Mysza, Deputy Defender, and Deborah Nall, Assistant Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Chicago, for appellant.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Anita Alvarez, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Michelle Katz, and Heather Fahrenkrog, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

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

¶ 1 Defendant, Stanley McDonald, was convicted in the circuit court of Cook County of the first degree murder of his boyfriend, Lawrence Gladney. The incident took place in May 2004 during a physical altercation between defendant and Gladney, who lived together in an apartment on West 111th Street in Chicago. Defendant was initially tried in 2007 and was convicted of first degree murder. That conviction was overturned on appeal due to an erroneous jury instruction and the cause remanded for a new trial. People v. McDonald , 401 Ill.App.3d 54, 339 Ill.Dec. 712, 927 N.E.2d 253 (2010). In February 2012, defendant was tried for first degree murder a second time and convicted. The trial court instructed the jury on second degree murder, unreasonable belief in self-defense, but declined to give instructions on second degree murder due to serious provocation or involuntary manslaughter. The trial court sentenced defendant to 27 years' imprisonment. The appellate court affirmed, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing the tendered instructions. 2014 IL App (1st) 121009–U, 2014 WL 7099293. This court granted defendant's petition for leave to appeal. Ill. S. Ct. R. 315 (eff. Mar. 15, 2016).

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 At defendant's trial, paramedic Luis Ponce de Leon testified that on the evening of May 16, 2004, he and his partner responded to an emergency at 337 West 111th Street in Chicago. There, he observed the victim, identified as Lawrence Gladney, lying on the ground in the backyard of the residence. His face was covered in blood, and there was a very large laceration to the right side of his face. The paramedics could smell alcohol on Gladney's breath, and they observed needle track marks indicating drug use. Gladney was bleeding profusely and was very combative as the paramedics attempted to treat him. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Gladney had lost approximately half his blood volume.

¶ 4 The testimony of Dr. Gerald Lemole, a neurosurgeon, was presented by stipulation. He testified that two days after admission to the hospital, Gladney had a massive stroke. The stroke occurred as a result of the stab wound to Gladney's right cheek, which had damaged the carotid artery and caused a blood clot to form. Dr. Lemole performed surgery to remove some bone from Gladney's skull to relieve the swelling of his brain. However, the pressure in his brain continued to increase.

¶ 5 Dr. Nancy Jones, Cook County chief medical examiner, performed an autopsy on Gladney. She found three stab wounds on his body. There was a stab wound on the right side of his face that was about two inches long. Another stab wound was located on the left side of Gladney's chest, and that one was about one inch in length. The third stab wound was to his left upper arm and also measured one inch in length. The wounds to the chest and arm were superficial in that they did not go into the body cavity but were confined to tissue and muscle under the skin. The wounds to the face and chest were both downward wounds, indicating that the knife came down from above Gladney's body. Gladney also had abrasions on his left arm and both legs. With respect to the facial wound, Dr. Jones testified that for the carotid artery to be involved, the knife would have to go through facial bones, down and toward the center of the body. Gladney died of multiple stab wounds, and the manner of death was homicide. Dr. Jones further testified that if someone were aiming to cut the carotid artery, he would aim for the neck, rather than the face.

¶ 6 Charlotte Davis, defendant's cousin, testified that on May 16, 2004, she lived in the basement of the house on West 111th Street. The basement was divided into two sections. She and her boyfriend, Calvin Holliday, lived in one section, and defendant and Gladney lived in the other section. When she saw defendant on that day, he was upset and angry because Gladney had been gone all day. He said he was going to "get" Gladney when he got home. He also said he was going to kill Gladney. When he said these things, defendant had a knife in his hand. Defendant thought Gladney was having an affair.

¶ 7 At around 10:00 that evening, Gladney came home. Davis was standing by the back door in the main part of the house when she heard Gladney and defendant arguing in the backyard. Gladney had his bicycle, and he and defendant were arguing over it. Davis went outside to see what was happening. She observed both men standing at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. She did not see what happened at the beginning of the argument. She saw defendant try to pull the bicycle downstairs and Gladney standing further up and pulling the bicycle in the opposite direction. She heard Gladney say, "ugh" and put his hand to his right eye. Blood was running down his face. Davis's mother called the police.

¶ 8

Davis testified that she did not see Gladney hit defendant. She acknowledged testifying before the grand jury and during defendant's previous trial, where she testified that Gladney hit or may have hit defendant during the struggle over the bicycle. Davis identified the knife that defendant had in his hand on the day of the incident. Davis testified to a previous incident between defendant and Gladney on New Year's Eve in 2003, when defendant cut Gladney on the head with a knife during an argument.

¶ 9 Calvin Holliday testified that around 9:00 a.m. on the day of the incident, he drank a few beers with defendant, who was upset due to an argument between him and Gladney. Defendant had a knife, and he told Holliday that he was going to kill Gladney. Later, Holliday went to a liquor store. He saw Gladney, and they shared some wine. They both went back to the house. Defendant was there, and he and Gladney talked. On direct examination, Holliday acknowledged that he testified before the grand jury that when Gladney came home the first time, defendant still had the knife and that he pointed it at Gladney, saying he was going to kill Gladney that day. On cross-examination, Holliday testified that when Gladney came home the first time, defendant and Gladney talked, and there was no fighting at that time.

¶ 10 Holliday testified that Gladney left and came home again in the evening around 10:00. Holliday was on the phone with his sister. Davis came into the house yelling. Holliday went outside and saw Gladney lying on the ground with defendant on top of him, saying "please don't die." Defendant had a knife in his hand. Holliday acknowledged that during his grand jury testimony, he said that Gladney was "bloody everywhere" and that defendant asked him to help Gladney.

¶ 11 Officer Carroll Conry of the Chicago police department testified that she was on beat patrol with her partner when they received a call to respond to the West 111th Street residence. When they arrived, Conry saw defendant leaning over Gladney. Defendant's clothes were covered with blood. A large carving knife was lying on the ground.

¶ 12 Officer Reginald Arrington testified that he and his partner also responded to the scene. When they arrived, Arrington observed Gladney lying on the ground bleeding from the right side of his face, and he appeared to be trying to shove defendant away. Arrington saw a butcher knife on the ground about two feet from Gladney. Arrington took defendant into custody and took him to Roseland Hospital. Arrington observed a laceration to defendant's lip and scrapes on his knees.

¶ 13 Dr. Carrie Wilson testified that she treated defendant in the emergency room. Defendant had a superficial laceration to the upper lip and a sore throat. He also had abrasions to both his knees. An X-ray of defendant's neck did not show any bone damage.

¶ 14 Detective Todd Pierce of the Chicago police department testified that at the time of the incident, he was a domestic violence detective. A trail of blood led from the area where Gladney had been lying to the rear basement door. Pierce found blood spatter marks on the sides of the door frame and some drops of blood on the stairs to the basement. There was blood inside the entryway between the door and the rest of the apartment. It appeared the fight started in that entryway at the bottom of the stairs.

¶ 15 The parties stipulated to the testimony of Dr. James Doherty, a trauma surgeon who treated Gladney. Doherty performed surgery to repair Gladney's carotidartery and remove the blood clot. However, Gladney's condition continued to worsen, and he was referred to a neurosurgeon. Gladney was very combative when first brought into the emergency room. He attacked the nurses and the emergency medical technician. He removed the IV from his arm. Gladney's blood alcohol level was 0.19, and he had cocaine in his system. Doherty observed no defensive wounds on Gladney's body.

¶ 16 Over defendant's objection, Officer Conry testified in rebuttal for the State that when she arrived at the scene, she approached defendant and asked what had happened. Defendant said that "somebody" stabbed Gladney.

¶ 17 At the jury instruction conference, the State objected to defendant's tendering of instructions on (1) second degree murder based on serious provocation and on unreasonable belief in self-defense, (2) involuntary manslaughter, and (3) self-defens...