People v. Moody

• Citation: 145 Ill.Dec. 565,557 N.E.2d 335,199 Ill.App.3d 455
• Decision Date: 22 May 1990
• Docket Number: No. 1-87-1578,1-87-1578
• Parties: , 145 Ill.Dec. 565 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Steven MOODY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 335

557 N.E.2d 335

199 Ill.App.3d 455, 145 Ill.Dec. 565

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Steven MOODY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-87-1578.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

First District, Second Division.

May 22, 1990.

Nunc Pro Tunc April 25, 1989.

Randolph N. Stone, Public Defender, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Cecil A. Partee, State's Atty., Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice HARTMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant appeals from his conviction for murder, claiming that the circuit court erroneously: (1) admitted expert testimony at trial; (2) permitted the State to bolster witness testimony; and, (3) allowed the State to impeach defendant with his post-arrest silence. Defendant also charges that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because an issue is raised as to whether defendant was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the evidence adduced in this case must be set forth in some detail.

On August 29, 1985, defendant was arrested for the shooting of Ronald or Ronnie Lee (Lee) in Chicago, who died of his gunshot wounds at 12:47 p.m. that same day. A jury convicted defendant of murder and he was sentenced to twenty-five years in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

At trial, Lieutenant Charles Mandel testified he received a call of "SHOTS FIRED" WHILE ON PATROL AT 12:30 A.M. ON august 29, 1985, drove to the 8600 block of Kingston and saw a man pointing southward in an alley. Mandel proceeded down the alley to the rear of 8623 Essex, where he saw a man lying in a pool of blood, bleeding from the head and neck. The victim told him "Moody shot me" and that defendant drove away in an "apple red Pontiac." Mandel saw a packet of white powder on the ground, near the victim's body. After calling for an ambulance, Mandel left the scene to look for the perpetrator. Unsuccessful, he returned to the alley and noticed that police officers Ron Coleman and John Franklin had someone in the back seat of their squad car. Mandel told neither officer that he knew the name of the offender, because the officers told Mandel "they had an eyewitness to the incident" who "had all the information." Mandel told no one at the state's attorney's office of the victim's remarks until a year and one-half after the incident. He made no written report of the shooting; his job of watch commander was supervisory in nature, and he was not required to make written reports.

Officer Franklin averred he was in his squad car with Coleman at approximately 12:30 a.m. on August 29, 1985 when they received a radio call of "shots fired" and then of a "man shot in the alley of 86th and Essex." Driving to the scene, the officers noticed a man on the corner of "87th and South Chicago," jumping up and down, waving and yelling for the car to stop. The man, who Franklin identified as (Dalton) "Woods," said, "Somebody just killed my buddy," got into the squad car and directed the officers to where the victim lay in the alley, face up, with numerous wounds to the head and neck. The victim was not moving and Franklin believed him to be dead. When they touched the victim, however, he raised his upper torso and attempted to stand. Franklin also saw a clear plastic bag of white powder near the victim's body.

Detective Peter Dignan asserted he arrived at the scene at approximately 12:30 a.m. Franklin, Coleman and Woods were still in the alley. At approximately 2 a.m., he and his partner, Detective Buffo, were taken by Woods to defendant's apartment at 7620 South Shore Drive. Woods knocked on the door and identified himself to defendant as "Dog." The door swung open, and defendant came to the door pointing a gun at Dignan and Buffo. Dignan kicked in the door, grabbed defendant's gun, "took [defendant] down" and disarmed him. Dignan and Buffo kicked and hit defendant as they struggled with him for control of the gun. Dignan described defendant's behavior as loud and combative, and that defendant appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. Dignan was unaware defendant lost a tooth during the scuffle. After he disarmed defendant, Dignan turned him over and handcuffed him, saying "You are under arrest for shooting Ronald Lee." Defendant then said "Okay, okay, I did it." Dignan denied striking defendant with his own revolver when struggling with defendant.

Forensic pathologist Barry Lifschultz averred the autopsy he performed on August 30, 1985 revealed four gunshot wounds to Lee's body, namely: a wound in his right chest; another at the right back of his neck, where the bullet entered and passed through the back of Lee's mouth; a third where the bullet "perforated the skin of" his right ear, went through the rear of the oral cavity and exited on the left side of Lee's face; and a final wound on the right side of Lee's face or neck, with an exit hole at the back of his neck. Lifschultz maintained that there was no damage to Lee's voice box or tongue, and that none of the wounds described made it physically impossible for him to speak.

Deotrise Vance, defendant's second cousin, testified that she lived in defendant's apartment in August 1985 and was told by him that he intended to kill Lee because defendant was "tired of Jackie being upset with" Lee. Jackie Moody was defendant's cousin, the former girlfriend of Lee and the mother of Lee's child. Defendant told Vance he planned to "lure [Lee] down there" with cocaine. On August 28, 1985, Vance was with defendant in his apartment and noticed he had a handgun and saw a clear plastic bag of white powder in a suitcase in defendant's closet. She also heard defendant make a telephone call from the apartment to Thelma Lee, Lee's mother, telling Thelma that he wanted to get in touch with Lee and that he had information "someone was out to get" Lee. Defendant wanted to use Vance's car to drive to Lee's home, but Vance refused.

Vance next spoke to defendant by telephone several days after his arrest and eventually admitted to her that he killed Lee. He threatened Vance that he would kill her if she told anyone that he murdered Lee and continued to call Vance collect, several times a day, until December 1985, when she moved from the apartment. He continually threatened Vance and warned her he could have her killed even though he was in jail. She changed her telephone number once. Vance never discussed defendant's plans to murder Lee with anyone prior to the incident. She met with defendant's attorney in September 1985; paid him $150 for his services; told him she believed defendant killed Lee; did not tell him about defendant's threats; and did not inform him that she intended to testify for the State at trial. She spoke with two other defense attorneys in February 1987 and told them she would testify on the State's behalf.

Thelma Lee testified that the victim, her son, was living in her home on August 28, 1985, when defendant called there approximately five times, identifying himself by name. Defendant made one of the calls between 7 and 8 p.m., and informed Thelma someone had a "hit out on" Ronnie. Thelma told Lee defendant had been calling for him. A few minutes after 11 p.m. on August 28, Lee was at home with Woods and a third person; Lee left soon after with Woods. She next saw Lee at the hospital on August 29.

Thomas Bachelder, an evidence technician with the Chicago police department, testified that he performed an atomic absorption gun residue test on defendant on August 29, which consisted of wiping both sides of defendant's hands with chemically treated cotton swabs, sealing the swabs in vials and delivering them to the crime lab's microanalysis section. Bachelder stated that obtaining a positive residue test thirty hours after a person fired a handgun was improbable. The maximum amount of time after discharge of a gun the residue test could be expected to prove positive would be four to five hours.

In 1985 Jean Goliak was employed as a "criminalist" in the police department's crime lab. She analyzed the swabs from the gun residue test and testified that the residue on defendant's hands indicated he discharged a firearm, was in close proximity of a firearm when it was discharged, or handled a firearm that had been discharged. The highest concentration of residue was on the back of defendant's right hand. Goliak contended that if a person fires a gun, the highest concentration of residue falls on the back of their firing hand; if they handle a gun only, the highest concentration is on the palm of the hand.

Defendant's first attorney averred he met with Vance on September 16, 1985 and that she never told him she believed defendant killed Lee, but informed him she didn't think defendant was capable of such an act and believed defendant innocent.

Jackie Moody testified she was at the home of her sister, Debra Moody, on August 28, sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight, when defendant came to the residence and asked her, "Where's Dee Dee [Vance]?" Jackie noticed defendant had a gun in his hand. She admitted failing to give the authorities this information until a week before the trial, but said she had never had an opportunity to meet with them until just before trial.

Defendant, on his own behalf, insisted he never told Vance he intended to kill Lee, and never threatened her. He was self-employed as a tailor and about August 23, 1985, Woods came to his apartment to look at some suits. Woods told defendant there was "bad blood" between Woods and Lee and that Woods "was going to kill him about some things," including the fact Lee "shot up" the house of Woods' neighbor and shot the neighbor's dog. Woods also said he and Lee had entered into a "cocaine deal" together and Lee "took the money and hadn't gave [sic] him any cocaine * * *."

Defendant again saw Woods at 10 p.m. on August 27, as defendant was walking down the street carrying a garment bag. Woods and another man drove up to him, stopped him, and asked to...