People v. Powell, 1-12-3146
Decision Date | 15 May 2015 |
Docket Number | No. 1-12-3146,No. 1-14-1741 (cons.),1-12-3146,1-14-1741 (cons.) |
Citation | 2015 IL App (1st) 123146 -U |
Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WALTER POWELL, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
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 Cook County.
Honorable Mary C. Roberts, Judge Presiding.
¶ 1 Held: Judgment entered on defendant's conviction for harassment of a witness affirmed over challenge to sufficiency of the evidence; remand for Krankel inquiry unnecessary.
¶ 2 Following a bench trial, defendant Walter Powell was found guilty of harassment of a witness and sentenced to 30 years in prison. On appeal, defendant contends that this court should reverse his conviction because the State failed to prove the element of "communication" beyond a reasonable doubt. In the alternative, he requests that his case be remanded for an inquiry intohis posttrial claim of ineffective assistance of counsel pursuant to People v. Krankel, 102 Ill. 2d 181 (1984).
¶ 3 The record shows that on August 20, 2011, defendant boarded a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Green Line train at the 63rd and Ashland station, which was operated by Tracy Calloway, a potential witness in a criminal case in which defendant had pleaded guilty. As a result of his conduct on the train, defendant was charged with harassing a witness by communicating directly with her, in that he "went to her place of employment, watched her and made gestures toward her in such a manner as to produce mental anguish or emotional distress."
¶ 4 At trial, Tracy Calloway testified that she worked for the CTA as a rail operator. About 11 a.m. on May 28, 2008, she was at the 63rd and Ashland station, assisting in the cleanup effort of a train which had derailed behind her own train. As she returned to her train, she observed defendant exiting from it wearing a full CTA uniform. He climbed off the train like a CTA worker, using the stirrups and pole beside the door, and she thought he was a CTA employee. When she entered the train, she noticed that the operating keys were missing, and she asked defendant if he had seen the keys or someone else on the train. Defendant denied both, then walked east down the tracks, toward the next station. After he left, Calloway discovered that her cell phone was also missing from her bag, which she had left in the operator's compartment, and informed her supervisor of the missing items.
¶ 5 On June 25, 2008, Calloway met with Chicago police detective Louis Vittori, and identified defendant in a lineup as the man she had observed on the train before her phone and CTA keys were missing. She agreed to prosecute the case involving the theft, but she did not ultimately have to testify as a result of defendant's plea of guilty. The record shows that onOctober 1, 2008, defendant pleaded guilty to the charges stemming from that incident, as well as others filed in a separate burglary case, and was sentenced to six years in prison.
¶ 6 In July 2011, after receiving a call from Detective Vittori, Calloway called Sean Sherman, at the security department of the CTA, to inquire about a letter that defendant had written her from prison. Sherman read that letter to her over the phone.
¶ 7 About noon on August 20, 2011, she had a conversation with a coworker at the 63rd and Ashland Green Line station, where she was working. She then informed her supervisor that someone was looking for her at the station.
¶ 8 Later that afternoon, she was operating a southbound train towards the Roosevelt Road stop when defendant boarded the front car of the train. She was in the locked operator's compartment and through the back window, she observed defendant board the car and sit directly across from her. He then put his head up to the back window, which was about seven inches away from her face, made eye contact with her, and winked at her. Calloway contacted the control center of the CTA, and was instructed to drive the train at 15 miles per hour to the 35th Street station. Defendant kept his head in the window for about 25 minutes, i.e., the duration of that trip, and when she arrived at the station, CTA managers boarded the train, removed defendant, and arrested him. Calloway testified that she was scared, nervous, and angry after that encounter, that she suffered from anxiety attacks, and that she went on "injured on duty" status for three months due to the stress.
¶ 9 Tomika Chatman testified that she and Calloway were coworkers at the CTA, and on August 17, 2011, she was working at the 63rd and Ashland Green Line station. That day, she and coworker Latoya Griffin were in the head car of a train, when defendant walked over the platform, approached them, and asked if they knew Tracy Calloway. When Chatman told himthat she was not there, defendant asked her location in a hostile manner, and she replied that she did not know it. She then asked defendant for his identity, and he told her not to worry about it, and walked away.
¶ 10 Griffin's testimony was substantially similar to that of Chatman. She also testified that when she subsequently observed Calloway at the station, she told her that someone was looking for her, and described defendant to her. Griffin informed the police about the encounter, and indentified defendant in a lineup on August 21, 2011.
¶ 11 Sean Sherman testified that he was a security investigator for the CTA, and responsible for investigating crimes perpetrated on CTA lines. On June 19, 2008, the vice president of security, Dan Hall, forwarded him a voicemail. After listening to the voicemail with him, Sherman and his manager, James Higgins, set up a mock interview with defendant, who they believed had obtained CTA equipment and had been on CTA property illegally. Sherman testified that in the voicemail, defendant stated his name, a contact number, and expressed interest in employment with the CTA. He also stated that he knew train signals and how to couple and uncouple trains, that he had CTA equipment like helmets and vests, and that he had been to the Harrison tower. On June 25, 2008, Sherman and Hall conducted a mock employment interview with defendant in the CTA headquarters building, while Higgins stood outside the room.
¶ 12 During the 30 to 40 minute interview, defendant expressed his fascination with the CTA over the last decade. He explained that he knew hand signals on how to direct trains, and how to uncouple and couple trains, that he had been in some of the tower rooms, that he had friends in the CTA who taught him how to do certain things on the CTA rails, and also that he had CTA equipment like vests, helmets, and keys. Defendant then demonstrated some of the hand signalsused to inform train operators to stop or proceed, and also took out a skeleton key used to open train doors and enter them, and a 6-key, used to open service gates and employee washrooms. At that point, the police were informed, and as defendant was being arrested, he said in a belligerent manner that he would derail a train by putting a Green Line train onto a Red Line train, and "if we thought it was going to be the end of it, they would have to lock him up for the rest of his life." The two sets of keys were turned over to the police and CTA property was recovered from defendant's bedroom after his arrest.
¶ 13 Sherman further testified that in July 2011, he received a letter addressed to Calloway. Defense counsel filed a motion in limine to prevent the contents of the letter from being entered into evidence because defendant's authorship of the letter could not be authenticated, and its contents were more prejudicial than probative. The court, however, allowed the State to enter the letter and its envelope as evidence of intent, over the defense objection, finding that circumstantial evidence indicated that defendant was the author of the letter. The court also stated that it would later determine what weight, if any, should be assigned to it. The envelope was postmarked October 3, 2008, addressed to "CTA worker Tracie Calloway," and defendant is indicated as the return addressee, with his inmate address at the Cook County Department of Corrections.
¶ 14 The letter, which is unsigned and undated, reads as follows:
"Dear Tracie Calloway
You hear me Bitch. I will be back on the green line or any other line bitch. You better hope and pray that i dont never find you.
After reading the letter, Sherman contacted the investigating detective in defendant's 2008 case, then called Calloway and read the letter to her over the phone.
¶ 15 The testimony of James Higgins, chief investigator at the CTA, regarding the encounter with defendant in June 2008 was substantially consistent with that provided by Sherman. He also testified that he heard defendant say on the voicemail that ; however, defendant was not, and has never been a CTA employee, and he was not...
To continue reading
Request your trial