People v. Purnell

• Decision Date: 27 July 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-2513,82-2513
• Parties: , 82 Ill.Dec. 87 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. George PURNELL, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1160

467 N.E.2d 1160

126 Ill.App.3d 608, 82 Ill.Dec. 87

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. George PURNELL, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 82-2513.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fifth Division.

July 27, 1984.

[82 Ill.Dec. 89] Ackerman & Egan, Ltd., Chicago, for defendant-appellant; Allan A. Ackerman, Chicago, of counsel

Richard M. Daley, State's Atty., Cook County, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee; Michael E. Shabat, Garritt E. Howard, Asst. State's Attys., Chicago, of counsel.

LORENZ, Justice:

Following a bench trial, defendant was convicted of murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 9-1(a)(1)), and sentenced to an extended term of 60 years imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the State produced insufficient evidence to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) his waiver of the right to a jury trial was ineffective by virtue of a constitutionally inadequate admonition; and (3) his trial counsel failed to perform at the accepted standard of competency. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In its case-in-chief, the State's witnesses provided the following testimony. At 2:00 a.m. on August 27, 1981, the victim, Michael Lavin, arrived at 200 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, to run computer tapes and cards at the offices of Computer Research, Inc., located on the fifth floor of the building. He had been employed by Programmers Investment Corporation, a computer research subcontractor, for approximately two years and had used Computer Research's facilities at least three times per week. As the victim entered the building, William Banik and Bill Young, employees of Computer Research, were leaving. The defendant, George Purnell, seated at the security desk in the lobby of the building and dressed in full uniform, saw Banik and Young leave the building and the victim enter. Defendant was employed by the CPP Security Service and had been assigned to the 200 North Building as a security guard for the past few weeks.

At approximately 2:30 a.m., defendant arrived at the service window of the fifth floor computer room wishing to speak with Robert Canan, lead operator for Computer Banik and Young returned to the building at 3:30 a.m. and had a conversation with defendant in which defendant accused Banik, Young or the victim (who was not present at this time) of taking his briefcase. Banik and Young told defendant they knew nothing about the stolen briefcase; they also observed defendant as dressed in full uniform at this time.

[82 Ill.Dec. 90] Research. Canan testified that the defendant, dressed in his full uniform, told him that his briefcase was missing and that he thought either Banik, Young or the victim has stolen it, as they had all been in its general vicinity one-half hour earlier when they had passed through the lobby. Defendant determined that it was during this time that the briefcase disappeared. Canan stated that he knew nothing about the incident and defendant left the fifth floor.

Defendant returned to the fifth floor at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. and told Canan that he wanted to speak with the victim. The three met in the area adjacent to the fifth floor elevators, outside the offices, and defendant accused the victim of taking his briefcase. The victim denied any connection with defendant's briefcase, but produced a driver's license as identification at defendant's request. Defendant copied some information from the license into his notebook, and the victim then returned to the computer room. Defendant then told Canan that he knew "one of them took it" (referring to Banik, Young or the victim), and if he didn't get any satisfaction he would get it out on the street. Canan testified that defendant still had his uniform shirt on during this conversation.

At approximately 5:00 a.m., Banik and Young left their office to purchase some donuts. Defendant informed them that he would not permit them to leave the building as he ran to lock the front lobby door. However, defendant's supervisor, with him in the lobby, ordered defendant to allow the two men to leave and he unlocked the door. Banik and Young returned to the building at 6:00 a.m., at which time they observed defendant dressed in full uniform.

Shortly after Banik returned, he observed the victim "hanging" tapes in the computer room. At approximately 6:30 a.m., Robert Canan viewed the victim on the TV monitor and saw him go through the fifth floor doors and enter the fifth floor elevator. He looked in fine physical condition. At 6:45 a.m., the freight elevator operator at the building for 12 years walked through the lobby on his way to report to his shift; he saw no guard at the security desk and no one in the lobby. At 6:48 a.m., John Zadelak, a student at Control Data Institute, located on the second floor of the building, came into the lobby and signed the log-in sheet. He observed defendant in the lobby dressed in a white T-shirt. He overheard defendant talking in a loud voice to another man saying, "Someone stole my briefcase and if I lose my job because of it someone will pay."

Robert Cigler, the building superintendent at the 200 North Michigan Building for 15 years, arrived at work at 6:30 a.m. on August 27, 1981. He did not enter the building through the main lobby; using his key, he entered the building through the Garland Court entrance. (The Michigan Avenue main lobby entrance is the only entrance to the building which remains unlocked at all times. There are only two other entrances to the building, one on Lake Street and the other on Garland Court, both of which require keys and remain locked at all times.) Cigler went directly down some stairs into the building's boiler room.

At 7:00 a.m., Frank Victor, ^* the building's elevator starter, 67 years old, came to see Cigler in the boiler room. Cigler observed no blood on Victor's person or clothing. The two men walked into the west portion of the building and ascended a set of stairs leading to the lobby. On the way there, they passed the building's utility room which is situated one floor above the boiler room and one floor below the lobby. Outside the door to the utility room, Cigler noticed blood which appeared to be smudged, on the floor and on the stairs Following their discovery of the victim, Cigler and Victor immediately proceeded up the stairs leading from the utility room to the lobby and observed a stick propped up against the wall behind the opened door leading to the lobby. Cigler had seen this stick before as it was normally kept in a locker room used by the security guards and elevator starter located immediately opposite the utility room where the victim was found. Cigler testified that he had seen defendant in this locker room before. Upon reaching the lobby at approximately 7:05-7:10 a.m., Cigler and Victor saw defendant seated at his security guard's desk in the lobby; defendant was not wearing his uniform shirt or his badge. They asked defendant if he knew that a young man was lying in the utility room covered with blood. Defendant told them in what Cigler described as a "choppy voice," that he knew "nothing about this" as he hadn't been downstairs. Cigler then asked defendant why he was out of uniform and defendant stated that some people upstairs had stolen his briefcase and shirt when he was making security rounds. Cigler told defendant that he had no business leaving the security desk and going upstairs. Cigler then instructed defendant to call the police; defendant refused to do so until he reported the incident to the CPP Security office. Following his call to CPP Security, defendant dialed the police and handed the phone over to Cigler so that he could report the attack. At this time, Cigler observed defendant's face to be sweaty, despite the fact that the building's air conditioning system was in operation that day. Cigler then returned alone to the utility room to take another look at the victim. Upon his return to the lobby area at approximately 7:15 a.m., he testified that defendant was still present at the security desk, where to his knowledge he stayed until he was taken out by police.

[82 Ill.Dec. 91] leading up to the lobby. Cigler and Victor opened the door to the utility room, turned on the lights and saw the victim lying on the floor, covered with blood, his head "bashed in," and barely breathing. Cigler also observed fresh blood splattered all over the floor and walls of the utility room.

On cross-examination, Cigler testified that there is a door located about 20 feet from the utility room which is equipped with an ADT Alarm System. He explained that with this kind of alarm system, a security guard must insert a key into a box located at the door, give it a turn, pull out the key and allow the box to ring. The designated times for the "pulls" of the system for the morning of August 27, 1981, were 3:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. He testified that at 7:40 a.m. on August 27, 1981, he received a call from the ADT office alerting him that the 7:30 a.m. "pull" had not been made; he then asked Victor to go down to the door and make the "pull." Although he conceded that he did not see Victor do so, he testified that ADT did not call him again.

Police Officers Jaglowski and Pechulis arrived at the scene and observed Cigler and Victor outside of the building; they saw defendant standing by his desk wearing a white T-shirt and dark trousers. On his way down the stairs leading from the lobby to the utility room with Cigler, Officer Jaglowski noticed dark and bloody footprints. He found the victim on the floor of the utility room in a fetal position, gasping for breath. The victim had a 2"'' X 2"" X 1"" hole in the top of his head; one side of his head was covered with blood, as were his neck and two-thirds of his torso. A pool of blood surrounded the victim as he lay on the floor. Jaglowski saw a snow shovel propped up against the north end of the...