People v. Morris

• Decision Date: 11 December 2013
• Docket Number: Docket No. 1–11–0413.
• Citation: 1 N.E.3d 1033,377 Ill.Dec. 146,2013 IL App (1st) 110413
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Antonio MORRIS, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

2013 IL App (1st) 110413

1 N.E.3d 1033

377 Ill.Dec. 146

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Antonio MORRIS, Defendant–Appellant.

Docket No. 1–11–0413.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

First District, Fifth Division.

Nov. 15, 2013.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 11, 2013.

Michael J. Pelletier, Alan D. Goldberg, and Byron M. Reina, all of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

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

OPINION

Justice PALMER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, defendant Antonio Morris was found guilty of first degree murder based on a theory of accountability. Defendant was sentenced to a term of 30 years' imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred when it ruled that the State could use portions of defendant's suppressed videotaped statement to impeach two medical experts that defendant intended to call on his behalf; (2) he was denied a fair trial when the court prevented him from eliciting evidence that a prior statement of one of the participants in the crime, who testified at defendant's trial, was given in exchange for a plea to a lesser offense and a reduced sentence; (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel; and (4) the court failed to properly admonish the potential jurors pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 431(b) (eff. May 1, 2007). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

¶ 2 Defendant and three other men were arrested and charged with first degree murder arising out of the fatal beating of the victim, Phillip Thomas, in a vacant parking lot on the evening of May 8, 2006. Two of those men, Johnny Graves and Laronne Wallace, pled guilty to lesser offenses and testified at defendant's trial.¹ Defendant and the other man, codefendant Marcel Simpson, were tried together before a single jury.

¶ 3 Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to suppress a videotaped statement he gave to police following his arrest. In that statement, defendant told police that he threw a metal pole at the decedent's back and hit him with it in the ribs. The trial court granted the motion and suppressed defendant's statement. The court noted that its ruling was based on a “technical violation of the Miranda warnings” and that there was no allegation that defendant's statement was coerced.

¶ 4 Prior to trial, defendant also filed a motion in limine asking the trial court to prohibit the State from introducing evidence of defendant's videotaped confession to police during trial. Defendant stated that he would not be testifying at trial but that he intended to introduce “evidence from treating medical personnel at the Cook County jail that he was not able to physically commit the crime as alleged due to a medical condition, specifically his Hills–Sachs deformity as diagnosed by Cermak physicians.” Defendant claimed that the testimony of these experts would be based on their own opinions and not on based on statements that defendant made in his confession. Defendant asked the court to preclude the State from introducing any details of his confession, including his statement that he threw a pipe at the victim.

¶ 5 Defendant submitted three documents to the trial court as an offer of proof in support of his motion in limine. The first was a medical intake form from the Cook County jail signed by a paramedic on May 16, 2006. In the document, there is a mark by the section for “Assistive Devices (prostesis, cane, etc.)” with the “etc.” circled and the word “Brace” written in. In the remarks section it states “Hx. R. shoulder injury 4/06 Rx. Pain Pills and Brace.” The next document was a Cook County radiology report regarding two X-rays taken of defendant's right shoulder on June 8, 2006. The document is signed by a “reading radiologist” named Oscar Jara. The report lists “Reason for Exam: Chronic Dislocation.” The “Findings” section states that “[t]wo views of the right shoulder reveal[ ] no evidence of fracture or dislocation. There is flattening of the lateral aspect of the humeral head suggestive of Hill–Sachs deformity from previous dislocations.” The final document was a definition of “Hill–Sachs deformity” taken from the Internet website biology-online.org, which defines “Hill–Sachs deformity” as “indentation or groove on posterolateral aspect of humeral head, probably due to compression of humeral head on posterior lip of glenoid, suggests repeated or chronic anterior shoulder dislocation, may occur after one episode of dislocation associated with: Bankhart lesion of glenoid.” Biology Online, http:// www. biology- online. org/ dictionary/ Hill- sachs_ deformity (last visited Nov, 13, 2103).

¶ 6 The State responded by asking the court to deny defendant's motion and to allow it to play portions of defendant's videotaped statement to impeach defendant's proposed medical experts. The State pointed out that in his confession, defendant admitted to throwing a pipe at the victim and to hitting the victim in the back and rib cage with the pipe. The State argued that allowing it to introduce evidence of defendant's confession would further the State's “truth seeking function.”

¶ 7 When arguing the motion before the trial court, defense counsel stated that the experts examined defendant and diagnosed him with Hill–Sachs deformity. Counsel argued that the testimony would be that defendant would “at least have a diminished capability for performing that (throwing or hitting the victim with a pole).” In response, the State argued that defendant wanted to call witnesses who would testify to things that defendant had told them about his physical condition and that it should be allowed to impeach those experts with portions of defendant's statement to rebut what amounted to “perjury by proxy.” Defense counsel responded that although defendant made statements that he had a history of shoulder problems that were recently exacerbated, the doctors would testify to information they learned from “a physical observation of [defendant]” and that defendant did not “have a conversation with” the radiologist who read defendant's X-ray. The trial court agreed with the State and ruled that if defendant called the medical experts, the State would be allowed to confront them with portions of defendant's videotaped statement.²

¶ 8 The following evidence was presented at trial.

¶ 9 Jesse Rucker, who was 74 years old at the time of trial, lived next to the vacant lot where the victim's body was found. On the day of the incident, Rucker was at home working on his second-floor deck when he heard a loud noise coming from a nearby alley. He saw two or three men chasing another man from the alley and across a nearby vacant lot. The group of men were being followed by a beige Chevy and a Ford Bronco. The men did not have anything in their hands at this time and they were shouting “vulgar names” at the victim. The Chevy followed the men through the vacant lot while the Ford drove south to the “T” in the alley and then drove west to Waller Street. Rucker lost sight of the incident when he walked to the bedroom window at the front of his house to get a better view. When Rucker reached the bedroom window, he saw six men beating the victim and he also saw the Chevy and the Bronco, which were now empty. The victim was lying on the ground and could not protect himself because “they were beating him too bad.” All six men took turns using weapons to beat the victim, and Rucker explained that one of the weapons looked like a bat and the other looked like a tire iron or crowbar. Rucker did not see the men kicking or hitting the victim and he did not see anyone throw a pole or a bat at him. Rucker moved to his front porch and saw that the men were still beating the victim. The victim tried to crawl under a car but men pulled him out and continued to beat him. The beating lasted approximately 10 minutes and the men then “jumped” into the two cars with the bat and the tire iron and drove from the scene.

¶ 10 Rucker spoke to the police that day and during the course of the investigation he was shown various photographs by the police. He could not describe for police the attackers' hairstyles or facial hair, but he did say that one of the attackers was much heavier than the others—approximately 300 pounds—and that another attacker had scars. On May 10, Detective David Gillespie showed Rucker three photo arrays which included photographs of Dwayne Thompson and Vonzell Franklin. Rucker identified a photograph of Powell as someone who chased and beat the victim. Approximately one week later, on May 14, Rucker viewed a lineup at the police station. He identified defendant as one of the men who beat the victim and as the person who he was “almost sure” was driving the Chevy. Rucker also identified Simpson as one of the men chasing the victim and Wallace as a passenger in the Chevy.

¶ 11 On cross-examination, Rucker testified that he gave a handwritten statement approximately one week after the incident but claimed that he did not remember telling police that he saw the attackers stomp on the victim's head. When shown his handwritten statement, Rucker denied having signed it and claimed that his signature on the statement looked “ altered.” Rucker further testified that he was 100% sure of the lineup identifications he made on May 14, and he did not recall telling a defense investigator that was 90% sure of those identifications.

¶ 12 Johnny Graves testified that he was originally charged with first degree murder in connection with his role in the victim's death. Graves later pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and entered into an agreement with the State's Attorney's office by which, in exchange for his truthful testimony, he would be sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment with day-for-day good-time credit after defendant's trial...