People v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 23 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. 82374.,82374.
• Citation: 241 Ill.Dec. 552,187 Ill.2d 500,719 N.E.2d 681
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Samuel MORGAN, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

719 N.E.2d 681

187 Ill.2d 500

241 Ill.Dec. 552

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Samuel MORGAN, Appellant.

No. 82374.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September 23, 1999.

Michael K. Fridkin, Matthew J. O'Hara, J. Samuel Tenenbaum, Ann M. Spillane, Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd., Martin S. Carlson, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for Appellant.

James E. Ryan, Attorney General, Springfield, Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, Arleen C. Anderson, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Samuel Morgan, was charged with two counts of murder and with aggravated kidnaping and rape. Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant was found guilty of all charges. Defendant waived his right to a jury for the sentencing phase of the proceedings, and the circuit court found defendant eligible for the death penalty on the basis that he was convicted of murdering two individuals. Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(3). The court then determined that no factors in mitigation were presented to preclude imposition of the death penalty and sentenced defendant to death for the murders. The circuit court also imposed concurrent extended prison terms (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 1005-8-2(a)) of 60 years for the rape and 30 years for the aggravated kidnaping. On direct appeal, this court affirmed defendant's convictions on all charges, and affirmed his sentence of death. This court also vacated the extended-term sentences imposed for rape and aggravated kidnaping and, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 615, reduced defendant's sentence for rape to 30 years and his aggravated kidnaping sentence to 15 years. People v. Morgan, 112 Ill.2d 111, 97 Ill.Dec. 430, 492 N.E.2d 1303 (1986). The United States Supreme Court subsequently denied defendant's petition for writ of certiorari. Morgan v. Illinois, 479 U.S. 1101, 107 S.Ct. 1329, 94 L.Ed.2d 180 (1987).

Defendant thereafter filed a petition pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 1994)), challenging his convictions and death sentence. The circuit court dismissed all claims presented in defendant's post-conviction petition without an evidentiary hearing, with one exception. The court granted an evidentiary hearing on defendant's allegation that his trial counsel, Lawrence Levin, was ineffective because he failed to investigate and present certain mitigation evidence at sentencing. Following the evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied defendant relief on this claim as well. This appeal followed.

BACKGROUND

This court previously detailed the evidence presented at defendant's trial in our opinion on direct appeal. See People v. Morgan, 112 Ill.2d 111, 97 Ill.Dec. 430, 492 N.E.2d 1303 (1986). Therefore, we reiterate only those facts which are germane to the issues raised in this appeal. We set forth in some detail the facts relating to defendant's sentencing hearing and the evidence presented in the post-conviction proceedings.

Defendant was charged with the murders of William Motley and Kenneth Merkson, and the aggravated kidnaping and rape of Phyllis Gregson. On the afternoon of January 27, 1982, defendant visited his longtime friend, Elijah Prater, at Prater's apartment at 1627 West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago. Accompanying defendant to Prater's apartment were Motley and Merkson, two friends of defendant. The evidence presented at trial showed that, after the trio arrived at Prater's apartment, all four men used various drugs and alcohol. Another friend of Prater, Phyllis Gregson, arrived at Prater's apartment sometime after 8 p.m.

The four men and Gregson spent the night at Prater's apartment. At approximately 11:30 a.m. on January 28, Motley, Gregson and defendant were in the apartment's front room. The evidence showed that Motley was sitting on a couch, talking on the telephone, and looking through a small, black telephone book. As he was making phone calls, Motley had a .357 Magnum handgun tucked under his leg. Defendant was sitting on a chair with a shotgun across his lap. Prater and Merkson were in the kitchen.

At that point, defendant instructed Gregson to remove her clothing and dance for him. Gregson refused, and Motley, who was still sitting on the couch, made an unknown comment to defendant. Defendant, who was between six and seven feet away from Motley, aimed the shotgun at him and fired. Motley landed on the floor with a fatal shotgun wound to the chest. Defendant then removed the handgun from Motley's body and placed the gun in his own waistband.

Defendant thereafter went into the kitchen and told Prater and Merkson to come into the front room and clean up Motley's body. Merkson removed money, marijuana, and the black telephone book from Motley and gave them to defendant. Defendant looked at the names in the book, asked if anyone knew the listed individuals, and then placed the book in his pocket. Defendant said that he wanted to get Motley's body out of the apartment and told Prater and Merkson to pull the drawer out of a bedroom dresser to determine if the body would fit inside. Although Motley's body was bent and tied with a rope, the dresser drawer would not accommodate the body. Prater and Merkson then stuffed Motley's tied body into a laundry bag and wrapped it inside a mattress. Defendant then instructed Gregson to clean Motley's blood from the floor, which she did.

At approximately 11:45 a.m., defendant sent Prater to a liquor store to buy something to drink, told Prater to put gas in Prater's car, and instructed him to park the car at the rear of the apartment building. Prater ran the errands and returned to the apartment approximately 15 minutes later. Upon Prater's return, Gregson was washing dishes in the kitchen, and defendant was sitting in the dining room with the shotgun in his lap and the handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants. Merkson was walking around the apartment making jokes. Prater gave defendant the liquor he purchased and the men took a few drinks. Merkson continued to make jokes until defendant told him to stop joking and to remove Motley's body from the apartment. Merkson and Prater then moved Motley's body, wrapped inside the mattress, to the center of the room. When Merkson made another remark, defendant chased Merkson into the front room, where they started to argue. After hitting Merkson in the head with the butt of the handgun, defendant again instructed Merkson and Prater to remove the body from the apartment. Merkson made another remark to defendant and defendant told Merkson to get down on his knees and face the floor. Prater testified that he saw defendant point the handgun at Merkson's head from a distance of four to five feet. Prater then turned to face the wall. Prater heard a shot and turned back to see Merkson's body on the floor and defendant, holding the handgun, standing beside it. Gregson also testified that as she emerged from the kitchen she saw the handgun in defendant's hand as he stood near Merkson's body. Defendant ordered Gregson to clean up Merkson's blood, and instructed Prater to get the body out of the apartment. As Prater began to tie up Merkson's body with his belt, defendant came up behind Prater and began shooting at him. Prater testified that he felt a bullet pass by his head. Prater then ran through the kitchen and out the back door of the apartment.

Defendant, who was now alone with Gregson in the apartment, ordered her into the bathroom. Gregson complied, and locked the bathroom door behind her. After the passage of between 5 and 10 minutes, defendant ordered her out of the bathroom. When she emerged, she saw defendant was still in possession of the handgun, although she did not observe the shotgun. Defendant took Gregson by the arm and they left the apartment together at approximately 1:30 p.m.

In the meantime, Prater's downstairs neighbor, Frank Blume, had called the police. Blume, who had heard several loud shattering sounds coming from Prater's apartment during the morning, testified that the last loud blast, which occurred at about 1:15 p.m., caused a hole in the ceiling in Blume's front hallway. The police arrived shortly after 1:30 p.m., and, upon entering Prater's apartment, discovered the bodies of Motley and Merkson. From the apartment the police recovered a loaded shotgun, a fingerprint from a dresser drawer later identified as defendant's, and a bullet from the floor. The police also recovered a bullet from Blume's apartment.

Gregson testified that after leaving Prater's apartment, defendant, who was still armed with the handgun, ordered her into his car and drove her to the South Shore Motel, where he checked in under the alias of Joseph Thurston. Defendant, who had Gregson by the arm, then led her to a motel room, where he began to undress her. Although Gregson told defendant that she did not want to have sex with him, defendant completed removing her clothes, pushed her onto the bed, and had sexual intercourse with her. Thereafter, defendant, who was still armed with the handgun, escorted Gregson by the arm to his car. A motel employee testified that he observed defendant pointing a gun to Gregson's head. Defendant, upon seeing the employee, aimed the gun at him and began chasing him. As the employee ran towards the motel lobby, defendant ceased the chase, again took Gregson by the arm, and pushed her headfirst into his car. Soon thereafter, defendant stopped the car and told Gregson to get out. After warning her not to tell anyone what had happened, defendant drove off at a rapid rate of speed. Defendant was arrested the next day, January 29, 1982. Later that same day, Prater contacted the police and informed them that defendant was responsible for the deaths of Merkson and Motley. Prater's statements to the police were subsequently confirmed by Gregson.

At trial, expert...