People v. Parker

• Decision Date: 17 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 1-98-0385.,1-98-0385.
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jimmie PARKER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

740 N.E.2d 485

317 Ill. App.3d 845

251 Ill.Dec. 404

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jimmie PARKER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-98-0385.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Sixth Division.

November 17, 2000.

Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago (Ann C. McCallister, of counsel), for Appellant.

State's Attorney of Cook County, Chicago (James E. Fitzgerald, Veronica X. Calderon, of counsel), for Appellee.

Justice SHEILA M. O'BRIEN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Jimmie Parker,¹ was found guilty of the first degree murder of Chicago police officer Daniel Doffyn, the attempted murder of Chicago police officer Milan Bubalo, the attempted murder of Victor Young and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. Defendant was sentenced to natural life imprisonment for first degree murder, 80 years for one attempted murder and 30 years for the other attempted murder to run consecutively to the 80 years, concurrent terms of 25 years and 7 years for possession of cocaine and heroin, respectively, with the 25 years to run consecutively to the 80 years.

On appeal, defendant contends the circuit court erred in: (1) admitting a mannequin wearing the shirt of the victim into evidence and allowing the jury to use the mannequin in the jury room, and (2) allowing improper closing argument by the State. Defendant further contends the evidence was insufficient for the jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murder of Officer Doffyn and the attempted murder of Officer Bubalo under an accountability theory, to find him guilty of the murder of Officer Doffyn under a felony-murder theory, or to find him guilty of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

This case involves two shootings at different times and different locations: the shooting of Victor Young (the first shooting), and later the same day, the simultaneous shooting of Officers Doffyn and Bubalo (the second shooting).

At trial, Victor Young testified that, from 1990 until 1991 or 1992, he sold drugs for Murray Blue at a particular corner where Blue controlled drug sales. Young testified that defendant also sold drugs for Blue at that corner in March 1995. Young stopped selling drugs for Blue when Young joined a rival street gang.

Young testified that on March 8, 1995, at approximately 2:30 p.m., he and some friends were walking when he heard Blue yell at him from the first-floor window of an apartment on Maypole Street. Blue accused Young of talking to the police about Blue. Young denied it. Young turned to walk away and Blue called after him. When Young turned back toward Blue, he saw Blue holding a TEC-9. Young started to run and Blue fired at him 14 to 15 times. Several bullets hit Young in the hip or buttocks and he fell to the ground.

Young also testified that, from the ground, he looked behind him and saw Blue, Clyde Cowley and defendant run out of the apartment building. Blue shot at Young again. Defendant then shot at Young with a sawed-off shotgun, but missed. Defendant tried to shoot Young again, but the shotgun jammed. Blue then said, "Let's get out of here. It's getting too hot."

Young saw Blue, Cowley and defendant run through a vacant lot. A few minutes later, Young saw a black Lincoln Continental automobile drive north at 40 miles per hour. Young was taken to the hospital where, after speaking with officers, he identified Blue and defendant as the people who fired at him.

The Lincoln Continental contained Blue, Cowley and defendant, who were fleeing to another apartment.

Chicago police officer Jackson testified that, on the same day at approximately 3:30 p.m., she was at the 15th District police station when she heard a report of a burglary in progress at an apartment across the street from the police station on Lorel Street. She and several police officers responded to the call.

Officer Jackson also testified that, as she approached the building, she saw Officers Bubalo and Doffyn walking to the front of the building. She entered a gangway at the south side of the building, leading toward its rear. As she reached the far end of the gangway, she was approached by two black males. One carried a TEC-9 with his hands extended in front of him. The other male appeared to be unarmed. Jackson keyed in her radio that she had an emergency, pointed her gun at the men, and yelled at them to get on the ground.

The man with no gun, later identified as defendant, raised his hands in the air, but did not immediately go to the ground. The other man, later identified as codefendant Murray Blue, turned and started to run. Then, defendant went to the ground and, as he did so, gunfire erupted. Jackson remained behind the wall of the gangway, with her gun trained on defendant, until other officers arrived.

Officer Bubalo testified that he and Officer Doffyn were in the parking lot of the police station when they learned of the suspected burglary across the street. They went to investigate the reported burglary and saw broken glass on the ground from a window next to the entrance of the building. Bubalo testified that he went inside the building followed by Doffyn. Bubalo knocked on the front door of the apartment with the broken window. Bubalo heard the sound of several feet running to the back of the apartment and the sound of breaking glass.

Officer Bubalo further testified that Doffyn ran down the steps from the first-floor landing and out the building. Bubalo followed Doffyn as Doffyn ran from the front of the building to the rear, through a gangway on the north side of the building. When Bubalo entered the gangway, Doffyn was already rounding the far corner of the gangway, into the backyard of the building. According to Bubalo, Doffyn never drew a weapon.

When Bubalo reached the backyard, he saw Doffyn struggling with a black male. Doffyn had the man, whom Bubalo identified in court as codefendant Clyde Cowley, in a "bear hug" and Cowley was trying to break free. Then, Bubalo heard several gunshots fired in quick succession. Doffyn and Cowley fell to the ground, with Doffyn lying face down on top of Cowley.

Bubalo testified that he felt the shot in his left hip just as Officer Doffyn and Cowley dropped. As he fell to the ground, Bubalo saw Blue running toward him, from "around the corner." Blue fired at Bubalo and Bubalo returned five shots; one struck Blue in the back of the head. This shot caused Blue to fall face forward to the ground.

Then, Bubalo radioed for help, disarmed Blue, and crawled to the aid of Doffyn and Cowley. Bubalo underwent surgery the next day for a total replacement of his left hip.

Paramedic Schultz answered a "shooting call" at 750 North Lorel in Chicago. There, he found Officer Doffyn in critical condition with a bullet wound to the head. The wound ultimately proved fatal. Codefendants Murray Blue and Clyde Cowley, and Officer Bubalo had also suffered gunshot wounds, but survived their injuries.

Police officers searched the first-floor apartment with the broken front window. They discovered that the window of the rear door to the apartment had also been broken. Not knowing whether there were other offenders inside, they entered and searched the apartment. No one was inside. In the living room, they found several bags of marijuana on a table and a jacket with .38-caliber bullets in its pocket. In the bedroom, they found plastic bags containing rock cocaine and folded tin packets containing heroin. Also in the bedroom were $5,385 in cash, a scale and a razor blade. An open box of nine-millimeter cartridges lay on the bed. They did not see any mail, receipts, bills or other papers connecting defendant to the apartment.

During trial, the State displayed Officer Doffyn's uniform on a life-size, headless mannequin, which was sent to the jury room during deliberations. Defense counsel did not object to the mannequin being sent to the jury room but had filed a pretrial motion in limine to bar its display throughout trial. That motion was denied, but the circuit court directed the State to "keep it off to the side" in court.

Defendant gave a written statement consistent with the State's proof as to the shooting of Young (the first shooting). The written statement also stated that defendant put the shotguns under the bed in the bedroom and retrieved some beer from the kitchen after they arrived at the apartment and that defendant told Blue and Cowley that police had arrived. The statement also stated that when police knocked on the door, defendant wanted to grab a gun but did not have enough time and, further, that when Blue said "they were all in this" defendant knew that Blue meant they were not going to get caught and would shoot it out. Cowley and Blue grabbed weapons and all three jumped out the window together.

Defendant testified at trial inter alia that when police began to arrive at the apartment, he wanted to escape because he thought Cowley and Blue would have a shoot out with police. He did not want to get caught, and lowered himself out of the window while Blue and Cowley were still in the apartment. He then ran into the alley but turned around to head to the car. He escaped from the apartment, unarmed and ahead of his codefendants. Further, defendant testified he was stopped by a police officer before the second shooting involving Officers Doffyn and Bubalo.

Following denial of a posttrial motion and sentencing, defendant appealed.

First, and most importantly, the supreme court addressed similar issues of a codefendant in People v. Blue, 189 Ill.2d 99, 244 Ill.Dec. 32, 724 N.E.2d 920 (2000). In Blue, the supreme court found that (1) the prejudicial effect of admitting the mannequin bearing the shirt of Doffyn and allowing it into the jury room outweighed the probative value of the uniform as corroborative evidence of the...