People v. Moore

• Decision Date: 18 February 2016
• Docket Number: No. 1–13–3814.,1–13–3814.
• Citation: 49 N.E.3d 938
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Donnie MOORE, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

49 N.E.3d 938

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.Donnie MOORE, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 1–13–3814.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District.

Feb. 18, 2016.

Jonathan Minkus, of Skokie, for appellant.

Anita M. Alvarez, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Peter Fischer, and Matthew Connors, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

Justice COBBSdelivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, defendantDonnie Moore was convicted of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9–1(a)(1)(West 2012)) and attempted first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/8–4(a), 9–1(a)(1)(West 2012)).The trial court sentenced defendant to 50 years for the first degree murder conviction, with an additional 25 years for the discharge of a firearm, and then 30 years for the attempted murder conviction, with an additional 20 years for the firearm enhancement, for a total of 125 years in prison.Defendant appeals the judgment and sentence of the trial court and contends that: (1)the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss after the State failed to preserve identification evidence was a mistake as a matter of law; (2)the trial court's refusal to bar testimony based on evidence that the State failed to preserve was an abuse of discretion; (3)the trial court's admission of evidence from codefendant Eddie Fenton's confession was an abuse of discretion; (4)the trial court's refusal to allow testimony of a witness's coercion was an abuse of discretion; and (5) no reasonable trier of fact could find that the evidence presented at trial could prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 A grand jury indicted defendant and codefendant Eddie Fenton¹ with one count of second degree murder, five counts of first degree murder and five counts of attempted first degree murder for the death of Jonathan Bowman and for the gunshot wound suffered by Patrick Collier, also known as Patrick Bullock.Defendant's and codefendant's cases were tried separately.

¶ 4 Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion for sanctions alleging that the State committed discovery violations when it failed to preserve certain photo arrays.Specifically, defendant alleged that the photo array shown to Rhonda Scott in 2006, from which she identified defendant, and the photo array shown to Charles Richardson in 2007, from which he did not identify defendant, were lost or destroyed and therefore testimony involving these arrays should be barred.Defendant further argued that because the photo arrays were missing, he was denied the opportunity to confront the witnesses against him and due process was violated.The court denied the motion.In so ruling, the court stated that the missing evidence “does not warrant a dismissal of the indictment.By the same token, it does not warrant a jury instruction that allows the State to infer that [defendant's] photo was in the array.* * * But the Defense is entitled to the standard instruction relating to lost evidence in the care and custody of the police department allowing a negative inference to be drawn from the missing evidence and the opportunity for the Defense to argue that any reasonable inference that can be drawn from the missing evidence.So I'm not really imposing a sanction.”

¶ 5 The following facts were adduced at trial.On January 8, 2006, defendant and some of his friends threw a party at a house owned by codefendant's sister, Kewana, located at 7325 South Morgan Street in Chicago, Illinois.Kewana had recently moved to the neighborhood and the party's hosts were primarily from a different, but nearby, neighborhood.Defendant, codefendant, Anthony Butler, and Nathaniel Whiteside purchased liquor and hired a DJ for the party.Guests were searched for guns and charged a fee to enter, however, only local people were actually searched.The party was crowded, with people shoulder to shoulder, making it difficult to move.There were people standing in front of the house and down the block, some of whom were outside because they did not want to be searched or pay to get in.

¶ 6 Butler identified defendant in court.He testified that at some point, a fight broke out in front of the house.He saw his friend on the ground and Butler assumed that his friend had been hit by an individual, who was later identified as Bowman, walking away.Butler ran out of the house and punched Bowman in the face, knocking him to the ground.Then three to four people began jumping on Bowman, who was curled into a ball.Codefendant ran out of the house, parted the crowd, and fired six or seven shots into Bowman.Butler then ran to the corner of Morgan Street and 74th Street to check on the women he came to the party with.He heard more gun shots as he ran away.About 5 to 10 minutes later, Butler saw defendant in the alley at the corner waving a golf club at local people who were trying to “make a move” on defendant.Soon after, the police arrived and broke up the fight.

¶ 7 Collier testified that he was in the area on the night of the shooting because he lived nearby.Bowman, Collier, and Collier's cousin had a drink in Collier's car about half a block down from the party.They saw that there was a party going on and decided to go to it.When they arrived, Collier and his cousin were searched and initially charged $5 to get in but the price was eventually lowered to $2.Bowman did not come into the house with them.Collier and his cousin made it halfway through the first level, but about 10 minutes later they decided to leave because it was too crowded.When they made it out the front door, Collier saw five or six guys kicking and beating a guy on the ground in front of the house next door.

At that point, Collier was unable to see the person on the ground.Collier began to walk around the beating and into the street to get to his car.Then he saw two people start shooting into the guy on the ground.He was only able to see the shooter facing him, whom he identified as codefendant.At some point, Collier recognized Bowman as the man on the ground.Codefendant turned around and said something to Collier and then codefendant shot Collier.Codefendant aimed for Collier's face, but Collier put his arm up as a shield and was shot in the forearm.Collier ran to his car about four houses away.Collier's cousin made it to the car and his cousin drove him to St. Bernard Hospital.Subsequently, Collier was transferred to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he had surgery on his arm for the gunshot wound.

¶ 8 Richardson identified defendant in court as one of the shooters who shot Bowman.He testified that he lived two houses down from Kewana's house at 7321 South Morgan Street.On the night of January 8, 2006, Richardson was sitting in a car in front of Bowman's house, which was also on the 7300 block of South Morgan Street, socializing with Bowman and Parnell Williams.They observed a party down the street.Richardson left the car and went into his house to take a shower and Bowman remained outside.After he got into the shower, he heard gunshots.He jumped out of the shower, ran down the stairs, and looked out the window.He saw Bowman trying to get into his car.Richardson also saw people running from the party and two people shooting at Bowman.Richardson yelled at Bowman, telling him to get out of the street.Then, the shooters started shooting at Richardson's house.Richardson ducked down and went back inside.He told his fiancée to take the kids upstairs and put them on the floor.A bullet hit the fence in front of his house.Richardson went back on to the porch and heard defendant say that Bowman was “going to die tonight.”Richardson saw Bowman lying halfway in the street and halfway out of the street.A car then pulled up and Collier jumped out and tried to pull Bowman in but Collier was shot in the arm.Richardson testified that a shooter told Collier to let Bowman go because he was “dying tonight.”Then, the car drove off.A third shooter came down the street shooting.One of the shooters' guns jammed, the shooter popped the clip out, put another one in, and shot two shots into Bowman.The shooters ran away and Richardson went down and dragged Bowman out of the street.The police arrived and then the paramedics arrived and transported Bowman to Christ Hospital.He died from his injuries on January 12, 2006.

¶ 9 Whiteside identified defendant in court.He testified that he planned the party with codefendant and defendant.At some point in the night, a fight broke out in front of the house.Codefendant's two sisters were fighting with someone who lived on the 7300 block of South Morgan Street.Whiteside further testified that codefendant “was shooting when he came out of the gate and then he ran over there and shot.”Bowman then fell to the ground in the street between the cars and then defendant ran past and shot at him three or four times.After hearing the first gunshots, people were scattering from the party.Whiteside shot twice into the air to defend himself and ran to his car.Then, codefendant and defendant ran inside the house.Eventually, the police arrived but Whiteside did not stay to talk to them.

¶ 10Rhonda Scott identified defendant in court.She testified that she was 12 years old on January 8, 2006.She went to the party with her sister and some friends.

She had been at the party for a couple of hours when a fight broke out outside.She heard gunshots and dropped to the ground.When the first gunshots stopped, she left through the front door of the house.She ran towards the gangway to try to find her sister.As she was running, she saw codefendant running out of the gangway and shooting at a person.Eventually, she met up with her sister and a male friend in the street in front of the house.They ran to the car they arrived in and kneeled down beside the car.Scott saw a few people with guns, including Whiteside, whom she knew, reloading his gun.As she knelt...