People v. Myers
| Decision Date | 23 September 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 39778,39778 |
| Citation | 220 N.E.2d 297,35 Ill.2d 311 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. John Edwin MYERS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Marvin Goldenhersh, East St. Louis, and Richard Degen, Belleville, for appellant.
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and John M. Karns, Jr., State's Atty., Belleville (Fred G. Leach, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John F. O'Connell, Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for appellee.
A jury in the circuit court of St. Clair County found John Edwin Myers guilty of the murder of Carole Ballard and fixed the penalty at death. The court sentenced him to death and he appeals directly to this court.
Mrs. George Ballard testified that about 6 o'clock P.M. on August 30, 1961, her husband George and their ten-year-old daughter, Carole, went fishing at Emge Lake on Route 460 in St. Clair County. She expected them home about 7 o'clock so that her husband could take some medicine, but they did not return. About 8 o'clock she and her son walked to the lake which is approximately a mile from their home, and found her husband's automobile. She could not locate her husband and daughter. She called the Belleville police and about 11 o'clock that evening they reported that they had found her husband dead.
Harold Harrison and Harry Greenfield, deputy sheriffs of St. Clair County testified that they found the body of Ballard. He was lying on his left side, his hands were tied behind his back with a white plastic clothesline. He had been shot in the back of the head.
Robert Borutta and Norman Simonin, Illinois State Police officers, testified that about 3:30 A.M. on August 31 they found the body of Carole Ballard. Her hands had been tied behind her back and a cloth tied across her mouth. She had been shot in the forehead. Clifford C. Kane, a physician and the St. Clair County coroner, testified that Carole Ballard died as a result of a gunshot wound in the head.
H. P. Graham testified that in the evening of August 30, 1961, a man, whom he identified as the defendant, and a girl came to his house. Defendant had a gun and demanded food. He robbed him of money and took his car and Margaret Wernicke, a member of the Graham household, as a hostage.
Defendant's confession which was admitted into evidence, after a preliminary hearing on its voluntariness, is long and detailed. In it he tells of his acquaintance with Donna Marie Stone, who was 13 years old at the time of the crime. He said that she had stolen a Bearcat Ruger .22 pistol from her uncle LeRoy Sparks. He said that he was with her in August, 1961, while she was visiting her grandparents in Edwardsville. He was unemployed and was going to leave for St. Louis to look for work. She insisted on going with him and they started walking to St. Louis. They walked until evening and slept that night in a box car. The next day they walked until they got to the outskirts of Belleville where they spent the night at Emge Lake. After telling what they did that day he said, He then told in detail of going to Graham's farm house, stealing his car and taking Margaret (Wernicke) as a hostage.
Defendant first argues that his confession should not have been admitted into evidence. The record shows that he and Donna Marie Stone were apprehended about 2:00 o'clock A.M. on September 2, 1961, in Midland, Texas. About 6:00 o'clock that evening he made a confession to the Texas authorities and shortly after noon on the next day he made a confession to the Illinois authorities who had gone to Texas to question him. He filed a motion to suppress the use of either confession in evidence. After a hearing on the motion, it was overruled as to the confession given to the Illinois authorities and that confession was admitted. He argues that the confession given to the Texas authorities was coerced and, therefore, the subsequent confession given to the Illinois authorities should be held to be involuntary.
During the hearing on his motion to suppress, defendant testified that after he had been taken into custody, his outergarments were taken from him and he wore only a thin pair of pants and a shirt. He said that except for short periods of questioning by the police, he was kept in the drunk tank from 2:00 o'clock A.M. until 6:00 o'clock P.M. where the temperature was 45 degrees. He stated that he was never advised of his constitutional rights and on three different occasions he requested counsel, which requests were denied. He said that while he was being questioned, Donna Marie Stone was brought where he could see her crying and that parts of the statement taken from her were read to him, but that he was not allowed to see the statement. He also said that he did not have anything to eat and did not sleep from 2:00 o'clock A.M. until he confessed at 6:00 o'clock P.M. The next afternoon he said the Illinois authorities appeared and identified themselves. He stated that they did not advise him of his right to remain silent or his right to counsel but he admitted they advised him that any statement he made might be used against him. He then gave them a statement.
On cross-examination, defendant stated that he was never threatened, beaten or promised leniency by the Texas authorities. He said he knew he had a right to remain silent and refused to answer questions by the Texas authorities the first two times he was questioned. When he was asked if it was not a fact that he signed both confessions, he replied, 'I got tired of being questioned and I signed the statements.'
The confession given to the Texas authorities was not introduced into evidence nor did these authorities testify at the hearing on the motion to suppress. Robert Miskell, deputy sheriff of St. Clair County, Julius Luber, a member of the crime section of the Illinois State Police, and Maurice Joseph, chief deputy sheriff of St. Clair County, testified that they questioned defendant at the court house in Midland, Texas, shortly after noon on September 3, 1961. Their testimony indicates that the room where they questioned defendant was clean, light and ventilated. Defendant was clean and was dressed in denim slacks and a T-shirt. They said that they identified themselves and stated their purpose for being there. Defendant appeared to them to be calm, co-operative and not afraid. They testified that he did not complain of being cold, not fed, not allowed to sleep or any other mistreatment by the Texas authorities, but on the contrary had said he was not mistreated by the Texas authorities. The Illinois authorities knew of the prior confession, but they had not seen it. They said they advised defendant of his right to counsel which he refused. The officers said there was no interrogation and that defendant just began giving the statement in narrative and that it was taken in longhand. While the statement was being typed, they said defendant was taken to his cell for lunch. Thereafter the statement was given to him to read but he declined to do so without giving any reason for refusing. Deputy Miskell testified that 'He (the defendant) said 'You read it to me', or words to that effect.' It was then read to him, one page at a time, and he signed each page.
Defendant relies heavily on Leyra v. Denno, 347 U.S. 556, 74 S.Ct. 716, 98 L.Ed. 948, where defendant, in a series of confessions, admitted murdering his parents. In that case Leyra was questioned by the police from sometime after 3 P.M. until 11 P.M. on Tuesday, from 10 A.M. until midnight on Wednesday and from 9 A.M. Thursday until about 8:30 A.M. on Friday when he was taken to his parents funeral. After the funeral he was allowed an hour and a half sleep. When the interrogation resumed, a microphone was placed in the room and Leyra, who was suffering from a severe sinus attack, was introduced to a Doctor Helfand, ostensibly for the purpose of treating his sinus trouble. Doctor Helfand, however, was a State employed psychiatrist skilled in hypnosis. For an hour and a half the techniques of a highly trained psychiatrist were used to break the will of Leyra who was already physically and emotionally exhausted. The doctor also made threats and promises of leniency, and Leyra, in a dazed condition, finally began to accept the psychiatrist's suggestions that he murdered his parents. The police then came into the room and took a confession. In holding the subsequent...
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