People v. Peters

• Decision Date: 06 March 2018
• Docket Number: No. 2–15–0650,2–15–0650
• Citation: 2018 IL App (2d) 150650,99 N.E.3d 489
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Scott PETERS, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

2018 IL App (2d) 150650

99 N.E.3d 489

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

v.Scott PETERS, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 2–15–0650

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

Opinion filed March 6, 2018

Rehearing denied March 26, 2018

Michael J. Pelletier, Thomas A. Lilien, and Sherry R. Silvern, of State Appellate Defender’s Office, of Elgin, for appellant.

Patrick D. Kenneally, State’s Attorney, of Woodstock (Patrick Delfino, Lawrence M. Bauer, and Sally A. Swiss, of State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE SCHOSTOK delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, the defendant, Scott Peters, was convicted of the attempted murder ( 720 ILCS 5/9–1(a)(1), (b)(1), 8–4(a) (West 2014) ) of three deputy sheriffs and was sentenced to a total of 135 years' imprisonment. On appeal, the defendant argues that (1) he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of trying to kill one of the deputies, (2) the trial court did not conduct a proper hearing on his motion under People v. Krankel , 102 Ill. 2d 181, 187–89, 80 Ill.Dec. 62, 464 N.E.2d 1045 (1984), (3) the trial court did not properly question the jury pursuant to People v. Zehr , 103 Ill. 2d 472, 83 Ill.Dec. 128, 469 N.E.2d 1062 (1984), (4) he was denied his constitutional right to be present at all critical stages of the trial, (5) he was deprived of a fair trial by the State's prejudicial closing arguments, and (6) he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. We affirm.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Early in the morning of October 16, 2014, McHenry County Sheriff's Deputies Dwight Maness, Khalia Satkiewicz, and Eric Luna went to the defendant's residence in Holiday Hills to conduct a well-being check on the defendant's wife. The deputies arrived in separate vehicles and parked on Hyde Park Avenue, about 300 feet from the residence, which had a fence on the east side.

¶ 4 Deputies Maness and Satkiewicz went through a driveway entrance to the front door of the residence, while Deputy Luna went around to the east side and rear of the house. There was a minivan and a pickup truck in the driveway. The house had glass block windows. Deputy Luna saw lights on and movement inside but could not see people. Deputies Maness and Satkiewicz noticed surveillance cameras on the garage and near the front door. The cameras moved when the deputies moved.

¶ 5 Deputies Maness and Satkiewicz knocked loudly on the front door but did not receive any answer. From his position, Deputy Luna could hear them knocking and what they were saying. They knocked again and still did not receive an answer, but Deputy Satkiewicz noticed a blind in the window move. After the deputies knocked a third time, the defendant asked, "Who is it?" The deputies announced that they were McHenry County Sheriff's deputies, and the defendant replied, "What do you want?" When the deputies told the defendant that they were there to check on his wife, he told them that there was no problem and that they needed to leave. The deputies explained that they could not leave until they spoke with his wife. The defendant again told them that they needed to leave and that they could not come into the house. The deputies responded that they would not leave until they spoke with his wife. That statement was met with silence for about 10 to 15 seconds. The defendant then told the deputies, "Come on in."

¶ 6 Deputy Maness asked the defendant if he was going to open the door. The defendant again told the deputies to "come on in." Deputy Maness was concerned that he was walking into an ambush, so he again told the defendant that he needed to come outside. In response, the defendant then said, "We're going to do this, let's do this. Airborne." When Deputy Maness heard "Airborne," he started to take cover and pushed Deputy Satkiewicz out of the way as shooting erupted from inside the house through the door. Deputy Luna heard rapid gunfire and ran to the front of the garage, taking cover between the minivan and the garage door.

¶ 7 Deputy Maness was shot in the lower part of his back. He went around a vehicle and passed Deputy Luna, who was at that vehicle. Deputy Luna, who could see a silhouette of what looked like a man with a rifle to the west side of the garage, told Deputy Maness to take cover, saw Deputy Satkiewicz with a rip in her pants, and then started shooting. Deputy Maness called command to report that shots had been fired. He also requested two ambulances because Deputy Satkiewicz told him that she had been hit. Deputy Luna saw a muzzle flash from the rifle that the defendant pointed down the driveway toward Deputy Satkiewicz. From behind the van, Deputy Luna fired eight shots at the defendant.

¶ 8 As Deputy Maness was trying to return to his squad car, he was shot a second time, in the leg. The defendant called out, "I'm a U.S. Army paratrooper, I hope you're ready to die ‘cause I am." Deputy Maness crawled to a ditch and asked Deputy Satkiewicz for a tourniquet

. Police officer Hueramo from the Island Lake Police Department had responded to the scene, and he dragged Deputy Maness about 200 feet to an opening in a fence.

¶ 9 When Deputy Satkiewicz had turned to run from the front door, she could hear shots coming through the door and glass breaking. After being shot in the leg as she neared the fence by the defendant's house, Deputy Satkiewicz fell but then got up to run. As she came to a roadway, she felt a bullet go by her head. She saw Deputy Maness running along the fence and saw him get shot in the leg. By the time she got to Deputy Maness's car, the firing had stopped. Deputy Satkiewicz said that she did not feel getting shot but that pieces of her leg were splattered onto her vest. She heard Deputy Maness calling for her to get a tourniquet

and knew that he needed help. Officer Hueramo came and assisted Deputy Maness.

¶ 10 After the shooting stopped, the police set up a perimeter around the defendant's house. The defendant was arrested later that evening as he was walking toward Crystal Lake near Smith Road and Route 176. The police then questioned him at the McHenry County Government Center. The defendant stated that he believed that the people he shot were intruders. He stopped shooting once he realized that they were police. He fled the scene because he was scared that he would be killed.

¶ 11 On November 6, 2014, the defendant was charged with six counts of attempted murder ( 720 ILCS 5/9–1(a)(1), (b)(1), 8–4(a) (West 2014) ) for shooting at Deputies Maness, Satkiewicz, and Luna. He was also charged with two counts of aggravated battery (id. § 12–3.05(e)(2)(i) ) and five counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm (id. § 24–1.2(a)(3) ).

¶ 12 On April 2, 2015, the State filed an amended indictment. As pertinent to this appeal, the State replaced one count that alleged that the defendant had attempted to murder Deputy Satkiewicz "by shooting and causing severe bodily harm" with two counts that alleged that the defendant had attempted to murder Deputy Satkiewicz "by shooting her in the leg causing severe bodily harm" (count III) and "by shooting her in the chest causing severe bodily harm" (count IV). On April 22, 2015, the State filed a second amended indictment in which count IV was amended to remove the language regarding causation of severe bodily harm.

¶ 13 Between April 27 and April 30, 2015, the trial court conducted a jury trial on the charges against the defendant. At the close of the trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of all charges. The trial court subsequently denied defense counsel's motion for a new trial as well as the defendant's pro se motion for a new trial.

¶ 14 On June 25, 2015, following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the defendant on five counts of attempted murder. The trial court sentenced the defendant to two concurrent terms of 55 years' imprisonment for his attempted murder of Deputy Maness, two concurrent terms of 55 years' imprisonment for his attempted murder of Deputy Satkiewicz, and 25 years' imprisonment for his attempted murder of Deputy Luna. The trial court otherwise ordered the sentences to run consecutively. Thus, the defendant was sentenced to a total of 135 years' imprisonment. The trial court found that it could not enter sentences on any of the other charges under one-act, one-crime principles. Following the trial court's ruling, the defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

¶ 15 II. ANALYSIS

¶ 16 A. Sufficiency of the Evidence as to Deputy Luna

¶ 17 The defendant's first contention is that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the attempted murder of Deputy Luna, because the evidence failed to establish that the defendant either had the specific intent to kill Deputy Luna or knowingly fired a weapon in Deputy Luna's direction. The defendant insists that the evidence showed that shots were fired only in the direction of Deputies Satkiewicz and Maness and that Deputy Luna had been on the side of the house when the shooting began. After the shooting began, Deputy Luna came toward the front of the house and took cover behind vehicles parked in the driveway. As Deputy Luna was not injured and there was no evidence that any shots were fired in his direction, the defendant insists, the evidence failed to establish that he attempted to murder Deputy Luna.

¶ 18 It is not the province of this court to retry the defendant. People v. Collins , 106 Ill. 2d 237, 261, 87 Ill.Dec. 910, 478 N.E.2d 267 (1985). The relevant question is whether, " ‘after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’ " (Emphasis in original.) Id. (quoting Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ). "The sufficiency of the evidence and the relative weight and credibility to be given the testimony of the witnesses are...