People v. Phillips
| Docket Number | 1-18-1733 |
| Decision Date | 31 March 2022 |
| Citation | 2022 IL App (1st) 181733,205 N.E.3d 922,461 Ill.Dec. 834 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Prentice F. PHILLIPS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
James E. Chadd, Douglas R. Hoff, and Christopher L. Gehrke, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Chicago, for appellant.
Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, John E. Nowak, and Noah Montague, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
¶ 1 Following a jury trial, defendant, Prentice Phillips, was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder (both under a felony murder theory) in connection with the July 1988 death of Margaret Blair, four days after defendant allegedly sexually assaulted her. The court imposed an extended-term sentence of 82 years’ imprisonment on count I, the murder count predicated on the felony of aggravated criminal sexual assault. On appeal, defendant first contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) the alleged assault caused Blair's death four days later and (2) there was contact between defendant and Blair constituting "sexual penetration," an element of the predicate felony of aggravated criminal sexual assault. See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, ¶¶ 12-12(f), 12-14. He otherwise seeks a new trial on several independent grounds, including claims that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to move to exclude the State's expert opinion; the trial court improperly defined "reasonable doubt" during voir dire ; the prosecution elicited irrelevant and prejudicial testimony; the prosecutor made improper statements in closing argument; and the trial court erred in permitting the State to amend count II of the indictment mid-trial. Finally, he contends that his extended-term sentence reflected an improper double enhancement.
¶ 2 As discussed below, we reject defendant's challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his murder conviction. However, we reverse his conviction and remand for a new trial on two independent grounds: (1) the trial court erred in defining reasonable doubt as "significant" doubt and (2) the State elicited irrelevant and prejudicial testimony that the statute of limitations for offenses other than murder had expired.
¶ 4 Defendant was indicted in December 2013 on three counts of first degree murder, all under the felony murder statute. Id. ¶ 9-1(3). Each count alleged that defendant caused Blair's death while committing a forcible felony: count I was based on the predicate felony of aggravated criminal sexual assault, count II was based on the predicate felony of burglary, and count III was premised on the predicate felony of robbery. The State nol-prossed count III before trial, and the case proceeded to the jury solely on counts I and II.
¶ 5 During voir dire , the following exchange occurred between the court and prospective juror Pink Xue, in the presence of other prospective jurors:
¶ 6 Another exchange regarding reasonable doubt occurred between the court and prospective juror Gail Galivan:
¶ 7 Jury trial commenced in December 2017. Vera Nisavic testified that as of July 1988, she lived in a building in the 7200 block of North Sheridan Road. Blair was her downstairs neighbor. Nisavic agreed that Blair was a "small woman" approximately five feet tall. Blair was elderly but lived independently and appeared to be in good health.
¶ 8 Richard Jones testified that he was a Chicago Police officer in 1988. On July 11, 1988, he and his partner, Edward Vanek, went to a basement apartment in response to a call of a sexual assault. Jones noticed the "metal door latch was broken and hanging from the door frame," which appeared to be the result of a "forced entry." Inside the apartment, he saw Blair lying on the kitchen floor, wearing "sleepwear, nightgown, something like that."
¶ 9 Jones approached Blair and noticed "some injuries to her mouth." Blair told him that "someone forced their way into her apartment, kicked the door in and knocked her down and raped her." Blair described the individual as a "young male black." Jones testified that Blair "was in pain, she was lucid, I could understand what she was saying, but she was in discomfort." Jones noticed a "crumpled paper towel lying on the floor right near [Blair's] legs." Jones called for an ambulance, and Blair was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.
¶ 10 Jones identified photographs showing the front door to the apartment, as well as photographs of the kitchen and the paper towel on the floor.
¶ 11 On cross-examination, Jones testified that he arrived at the apartment at 3:11 a.m. He stated that he was "notified of a criminal sexual assault" but he did not know who first called police.
¶ 12 John Serafini testified that he was with the Chicago Police Department as of 1988. Shortly after 3:11 a.m. on July 11, 1988, he was assigned to "protect the crime scene" and ensure that no evidence was disturbed. When he arrived, he saw other officers, as well as Blair on the kitchen floor. He recalled the doorway looked like it had been forced open. While Serafini was at the scene, evidence technicians collected the paper towel from the kitchen floor.
¶ 13 Denise Troche testified that she was assigned to the "Cold Case Unit" of the Chicago Police Department. In 2013, she was tasked with reviewing unsolved cases "to potentially send out for possible DNA testing." She noted that the Chicago Police Department began conducting DNA analysis in the 1990s.
¶ 14 Troche reviewed the case file related to Blair and determined that the case was appropriate for DNA testing due to the "presence of semen on a piece of paper towel." She explained that extracts of forensic evidence from cases in the 1980s were frozen and stored in a secure location. Troche located an "extract" of the paper towel for testing. Troche identified People's Exhibit 7A as the extract of the paper towel and 7B as a blood standard collected from Blair. In June 2013, Troche sent those items to a third party, Cellmark Diagnostics (Cellmark), for analysis. In November 2013, she sent a buccal swab from defendant to Cellmark.
¶ 15 The State's expert witness, Dr. Eimad Zakariya, testified that he was a medical examiner with the Cook County Medical Examiner's office and had performed approximately 1700 autopsies. Without objection, he was found qualified to testify as an expert in the field of forensic pathology.
¶ 16 Dr. Zakariya testified that he had reviewed the case file for Blair, including the autopsy report (People's Exhibit 8) prepared in 1988 by Dr. Barry Lifschultz, who was no longer with the Medical Examiner's Office. Dr. Zakariya referred to the autopsy report during his testimony.
¶ 17 The autopsy report indicated that Blair died on July 15, 1988. Blair was 81 years old, five feet and five inches in height, and weighed 80 pounds. The report described eight external injuries, including two bruises on the right upper lip, a bruise on the upper portion of the right arm, a bruise on the back of the left elbow, abrasions on the back
, a bruise on the front of the left knee, and a bruise on the right ankle. The report states that "[s]pecial examination of the vagina reveals no evidence of injury" and that "[s]pecial examination of the anus reveals no evidence of injury."
¶ 18 With respect to the internal examination of Blair's body, Dr. Zakariya testified that the autopsy report indicated a two inch by two inch bruise of the muscles
of the right anterior chest wall, as well as a fracture of the left tenth rib. Examination of the heart showed generalized calcific atherosclerosis of the three major coronary vessels, which Dr. Zakariya referred to as "hardening of the arteries." The autopsy report stated that the heart weighed 320 grams, which Dr. Zakariya said was "mildly enlarged" for a woman weighing 80 pounds.
¶ 19 Dr. Zakariya explained that hardening of the arteries means the "heart has to work harder" to provide itself and the rest of the body with oxygen. He agreed that "calcification impedes the amount of oxygen the heart is able to obtain."
¶ 20 Dr. Zakariya testified that an enlarged heart is "[s]usceptible to medical events," including "an abnormal rhythm called an arrythmia
." He testified: "There are different kinds of abnormal rhythms, but potentially a heart could just not beat effectively and then stop beating." He thus testified that "the risk of an enlarged heart is not that it's just working harder" but...
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