People v. Pitsonbarger

• Decision Date: 30 November 1990
• Docket Number: No. 67879,67879
• Parties: , 154 Ill.Dec. 562 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Jimmy Ray PITSONBARGER, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 783

568 N.E.2d 783

142 Ill.2d 353, 154 Ill.Dec. 562

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Jimmy Ray PITSONBARGER, Appellant.

No. 67879.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 30, 1990.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing April 1, 1991.

Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and Peter L. Rotskoff, Asst. Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Springfield (Robert J. Ruiz, Sol. Gen., and Terence M. Madsen and Thomas L. Ciecko, Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

Justice WARD delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Jimmy Ray Pitsonbarger, was convicted following a bench trial in the circuit court of Peoria County of two counts of knowingly causing the deaths of Claude and Alta Brown and of four counts of felony murder based on the felonies of burglary and home invasion with respect to each victim. The State moved for a death penalty hearing, which was held before a jury. The jury concluded that the defendant was eligible for the death penalty, finding that he was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)) and that aggravating factors set out in section 9-1(b)(3) (the defendant killed two or more persons) and 9-1(b)(6) (the murders were committed in the course of a felony) were present. The jury considered the mitigating and aggravating evidence and concluded that no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty existed. The circuit court sentenced the defendant to death. The sentence was stayed (107 Ill.2d R. 609(a)), pending direct appeal to this court (Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 107 Ill.2d R. 603).

The defendant raises numerous issues on appeal regarding the trial and the sentencing hearing. These issues include: (1) whether the defendant was properly found guilty of felony murder based on the offense of burglary; (2) whether four of the six counts of murder must be vacated because there were only two homicides; (3) whether prospective jurors were improperly excused for cause; (4) whether the death penalty was excessive in light of the significant mitigating factors presented by the defendant at the sentencing hearing; (5) whether the defendant was denied a fair sentencing hearing because irrelevant and prejudicial evidence was admitted to evoke sympathy for the victims; (6) whether the defendant should have been returned to Nevada pursuant to an interstate agreement on detainers; (7) whether the prosecutor's closing argument contained prejudicial comments; (8) whether the defendant's tendered instructions concerning the applicability of "mercy" and "compassion" were properly refused; (9) whether the defendant's tendered instruction on statutory and nonstatutory mitigating factors was properly refused; (10) whether the introduction of evidence of unadjudicated criminal conduct during the second stage of the death penalty sentencing hearing denied the defendant a fair sentencing hearing; (11) whether the Illinois death penalty statute violates due process by not requiring the State to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there are no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty; (12) whether the Illinois death penalty statute is unconstitutional because it places the burden on the defendant to prove that death should not be imposed; (13) whether the jury was properly instructed on the burden of proof; and (14) whether our death penalty statute is unconstitutional as arbitrary.

In the guilt phase of the trial, the State introduced testimony of several neighbors of the victims, the victims' daughter and various police officers and technicians. A statement by the defendant was also introduced in which the defendant admitted entering both the Brown residence and a neighboring residence, the residence of Mary McDowell. In the statement, he admitted taking money from both homes, taking weapons from the McDowell home, killing Claude and Alta Brown and taking Claude Brown's truck.

Mary McDowell, a neighbor of Claude and Alta Brown, testified that upon returning to her home on August 27, 1987, she found that her home had been broken into and that money, a double-barrel 16-gauge shotgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a .22-caliber revolver and ammunition were missing. McDowell testified that after attempting to contact Claude Brown, she contacted a neighbor, Leon Woolsey, who testified at trial that he entered the victims' home and found the bodies of Claude and Alta Brown. Coroner Philip Immesoet testified that Claude and Alta Brown died from multiple gunshot wounds. Crime laboratory technicians testified that fingerprints matching the defendant's were found at the McDowell residence, that a shoe print matching the defendant's shoe was found at the Brown residence and that the blood type of stained materials taken from the Brown home was comparable in type to the defendant's blood type (and not comparable to that of Claude or Alta Brown).

The .22-caliber revolver taken from the McDowell home was recovered in Reno, Nevada, in a hotel room occupied by the defendant. Expert testimony revealed that bullets recovered from the bodies and from the Brown home matched those fired from the .22-caliber revolver recovered from the defendant's hotel room. Claude Brown's truck, in which several personal items belonging to the defendant were found, was recovered in Columbia, Missouri. Reviewing the defendant's statement and the State's evidence, the trial judge found the defendant "guilty of the offense of first degree murder in the manner and form as set forth in each of the six counts of the indictment."

The death penalty hearing was conducted before a jury. During the eligibility for the death penalty stage, various witnesses, including neighbors and police officers and technicians, gave again their trial testimony and the videotape of the defendant's confession was shown to the jury. The jury concluded that the defendant was eligible for the death penalty, finding that he was over 18 years of age at the time the offense was committed (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)) and that five statutory aggravating factors existed, one statutory aggravating factor based on multiple murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(3)), two statutory aggravating factors based on the finding that each of the murders occurred during a burglary (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(6)(c)) and two statutory aggravating factors based on the finding that each of the murders occurred during the course of a home invasion (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)(6)(c)).

The State, at the second stage of the sentencing hearing, as evidence in aggravation, introduced the testimony of 15 witnesses. The first witness, a Peoria police officer, Stephan Eakle, testified to an incident in which he found the defendant near a pool where several teenage girls were skinny dipping. Eakle testified that when he asked the defendant for identification, the defendant swung at him and fled. Rhonda Mahnesmith and Officer John Krider also testified as to an unrelated incident in which the defendant was identified as a "Peeping Tom." Six jail guards and police officers testified to various acts of confrontational conduct on the part of the defendant after he was taken into custody.

Testimony also established that after killing the Browns, Pitsonbarger drove to Columbia, Missouri. Detective Susan Wooderson, a Columbia police officer, testified that she interviewed the defendant after he was arrested in Nevada and that in her interview with the defendant he admitted killing a man in Columbia, Missouri. After leaving Missouri, the defendant drove to Nevada. John Isaac, a Verdi, Nevada, gas station attendant, testified that the defendant robbed him at gunpoint on August 31, 1987. After leaving the gas station, the defendant drove to Reno, Nevada, secured a hotel room and called a prostitute, Mary Lou Quayle. Quayle testified that on the evening of August 31, 1987, the defendant forced vaginal and oral sex upon her at gunpoint, attempted to strangle her with a towel and finally shot her in the head. Shortly after this incident, the defendant surrendered to Nevada police. In connection with the gas station robbery and the incident with the prostitute in Nevada, the defendant was charged with and convicted of sexual assault, attempted murder, armed robbery and several lesser offenses, for which he was given four life sentences without parole and additional terms of years on the lesser charges.

In mitigation, the defense offered the testimony of six witnesses. Theordore Matthews, a clinical psychologist, testified that the defendant had a turbulent childhood, that he had a drug and alcohol problem and that he was suffering from a mental disorder characterized by suicidal tendencies, impulsiveness and a chronic feeling of emptiness and emotional instability. Matthews testified that the defendant's emotional disorder, combined with his heavy drinking on the day of the offense, caused him to suffer from a toxic psychosis, a psychotic condition directly following toxicity produced by alcohol ingestion. Matthews stated that he believed that the defendant was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the crimes and that he had no direct control over his behavior.

Psychiatrist Mortimer Beck also testified that the defendant was suffering from a long-standing personality disorder and that he was under the influence of an extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the offense. Beck stated that the defendant's mental disease was the result of his turbulent childhood and heredity, not purely the defendant's voluntary behavior.

Probation officer John Simpson testified to the findings contained in his presentence investigation report. He testified that the defendant had a turbulent childhood, that his f...