People v. Perez

• Decision Date: 28 January 2020
• Docket Number: No. 2-18-0073,2-18-0073
• Citation: People v. Perez, 2020 IL App (2d) 180073-U, No. 2-18-0073 (Ill. App. Jan 28, 2020)
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANTHONY M. PEREZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

2020 IL App (2d) 180073-U

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANTHONY M. PEREZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-18-0073

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT

January 28, 2020

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Boone County.

No. 13-CF-270

Honorable C. Robert Tobin III, Judge, Presiding.

JUSTICE ZENOFFdelivered the judgment of the court.

Presiding Justice Birkett and Justice Hudson concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶ 1Held: Defendant's convictions of first-degree murder and other offenses were affirmed where: (1) the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions, (2)the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that defendant's proposed expert was unqualified to testify, (3) any error in admitting hearsay evidence was harmless, and (4)defendant forfeited his challenges to certain other evidence by presenting only a conclusory argument that the admission of such evidence constituted plain error.

¶ 2 Following a trial in the circuit court of Boone County, a jury found defendant, Anthony M. Perez, guilty of three counts of first-degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1)(West 2012)), two counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm (720 ILCS 5/24- 1.2(a)(2)(West 2012)), unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member (720 ILCS 5/24-1.8(a)(1)(West 2012)), and mob action (720 ILCS 5/25-1(a)(1)(West 2012)).The jury further found that defendant personally discharged a firearm.The court sentenced defendant to an aggregate of 95 years in prison.Defendant appeals.For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

¶ 3 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 4Giovanni Galicia, Jesus Casas, and Fermin Estrada were all members of the Sureño 13 street gang.Around midnight on November 29, 2013, they arrived together at Estrada's girlfriend's apartment in Belvidere after a trip to McDonald's.Galicia was in the driver's seat of his Chevrolet Impala, Casas sat in the front passenger's seat, and Estrada sat in the back behind Casas.A Lincoln Navigator arrived on the scene.Two armed men exited the Navigator.One of them approached the driver's side of the Impala, and the other approached the passenger's side.After a brief exchange of words, the man on the driver's side opened fire repeatedly on the vehicle, killing Galicia.Neither Casas nor Estrada was injured.The suspects returned to the Navigator and left the scene.

¶ 5 Shortly after the shooting, a police officer saw a Navigator driving in the direction where a police dispatch indicated that the perpetrators were expected to be traveling.When the officer began following the Navigator, the driver of the Navigator led him on a high-speed chase through Boone and Winnebago Counties.The Navigator eventually came to a stop in Rockford after sustaining damage during the pursuit.The occupants fled on foot.Police officers arrested Ricardo Garcia, Ricardo Figueroa, and Cheyanne Patton in a field to the west of the Navigator.Officers found the murder weapon and other incriminating evidence inside of the Navigator, as well as a second gun lying in the street nearby.Patton was initially uncooperative with and even belligerent toward the police.Hours after the shooting, however, she told the police that defendant was afourth occupant of the Navigator who escaped from the scene.Defendant turned himself in sometime later in the day on November 30, 2013.

¶ 6The State's theory at trial was that the shooting was precipitated by a gang rivalry between the Sureño 13s and the Latin Kings.According to the State, Garcia was the driver of the Navigator, and Patton, Figueroa, and defendant were occupants.The State presented evidence that Figueroa was the person who approached the passenger's side of the Impala, whereas defendant was the person who approached the driver's side of the Impala and fired his weapon.Patton was a key witness for the State at trial.She portrayed herself as an unwitting participant in the events that took place on the night of the shooting.Due to the nature of the claims that defendant raises on appeal, we now summarize the evidence in greater detail.

¶ 7 A. The Victims' Accounts

¶ 8 Neither Casas nor Estrada ever identified defendant as one of the perpetrators.

¶ 9 Casas did not get a good look at either of the men who approached the Impala.He could say only that the person who approached the passenger's side was bigger than the person who approached the driver's side.According to Casas, the man on the passenger's side tapped on the window with a revolver but did not say anything.Casas observed the man on the passenger's side only from the neck down, as it was very dark outside and the man tried to hide his face.The man on the driver's side wore a black ski mask that covered his entire face other than his eyes and mouth.Before the shooting, Casas heard the man on the driver's side say to the occupants of the Impala, "What's your mother fuckers' bang?"Casas understood this as asking which gang they claimed.

¶ 10 Estrada testified that the man who approached the passenger's side of the Impala weighed about 200 pounds.Estrada did not see that man's face.Estrada noticed that the person on thedriver's side was wearing dark clothes, including a hoodie.According to Estrada, that man was skinny, of "dark color," had long, curly hair, and had either a mask or a shirt covering his face.Estrada acknowledged telling police officers, with either 85 percent or 100 percent certainty, that the shooter was Christian Rubalcava.Estrada also told the police that, a couple days before the shooting, Rubalcava chased him in a Navigator that was similar to the one that he saw on the night of the shooting.Estrada had known Rubalcava for eight years.Rubalcava had long, curly hair.

¶ 11Sergeant David Dammon of the Belvidere police department testified that he and another officer interviewed Estrada shortly after the shooting.During that interview, Estrada described the person who approached the driver's side of the Impala as 5'6" and of medium build.Estrada told Dammon that he was unable to identify the shooter's face, but he thought that he noticed medium-length hair that fell past the shoulders.Estrada also indicated to Dammon that he believed that the shooter was wearing a hoodie, had a beanie on his head, and had hair tied up in a ponytail.Estrada told Dammon that he was about 85 percent sure that the person's voice he heard before the shooting was the voice of Rubalcava.According to Dammon, Estrada explained to the officers that he was not pointing the finger at Rubalcava.Dammon never interviewed Rubalcava.

¶ 12 B. The Pursuit, the Arrests, and the Collection of Evidence

¶ 13 Galicia suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

¶ 14 Meanwhile, shortly after the shooting, at 12:29 a.m., Sergeant Daniel Reid of the Boone County sheriff's department received a dispatch that there had been a shooting and that a tan Navigator had left the area.Reid located and began following a Navigator that he believed was the suspect vehicle.The Navigator had tinted windows, so Reid did not have a clear view inside it.At one point, the Navigator pulled into a driveway, and Reid shined his spotlight on the driver's side of the Navigator.He could see movement inside from both a male driver and a back-seatpassenger on the driver's side.The Navigator then backed out of the driveway with its headlights off, accelerating directly at Reid's squad car.Reid reversed his car as fast as he could to avoid a collision.He pursued the Navigator at speeds well in excess of the posted speed limit.When the Navigator came to a stop in Rockford on Perryville Road near the intersection with Spring Creek Road, Reid stopped 30 yards behind it and shined his spotlight on the driver's side.Reid exited his squad car, and both the driver's door of the Navigator and the door behind it opened right away.Reid saw two male subjects, one of whom had a gun, exit the Navigator.Reid fired his weapon, and the two individuals ran westbound into a field.

¶ 15 According to Reid, his attention was focused on the two suspects who were running away, so he was not able to see anything on the passenger's side of the Navigator.After the two males ran into the field, however, Reid noticed a silhouette of somebody with longer hair who was running.Reid testified that this person appeared to be female, but he did not see where she came from or where she went.(Reid acknowledged that he previously gave testimony indicating that he saw a female "[r]ight in the back seat" of the Navigator.)Reid never activated his squad car's recording function during the pursuit, so there is no footage showing how many people fled on foot from the Navigator.

¶ 16 Officer David Mordt of the Boone County sheriff's department arrived at the scene shortly after the Navigator came to a stop.He observed two or three people running across Perryville.He drove down the street and eventually arrested Figueroa in an open field.

¶ 17Sergeant Edward Krieger of the Boone County sheriff's department arrived at the scene shortly after Mordt.Krieger saw three figures running to the west, but he could not ascertain whether they were male or female.He noticed that all of the doors to the Navigator were opened.He then heard somebody yell out for help from directly west of the Navigator.He saw Garcia,who had been shot (presumably by Reid), on the ground.Krieger arrested Garcia and returned to the Navigator.Krieger looked inside the Navigator and saw a black .40 caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine sitting on the driver's seat.Krieger also noticed a revolver lying on the road near the driver's side of the Navigator.

¶ 18 Officer Joshua Hecker of the Loves Park police department arrived after...