People v. R.B.

• Decision Date: 31 July 1992
• Docket Number: No. 1-90-0573,1-90-0573
• Citation: 173 Ill.Dec. 905,597 N.E.2d 879,232 Ill.App.3d 583
• Parties: , 173 Ill.Dec. 905 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. R.B. (Impleaded), Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 879

597 N.E.2d 879

232 Ill.App.3d 583, 173 Ill.Dec. 905

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. R.B. (Impleaded), Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-90-0573.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Sixth Division.

July 31, 1992.

Michael J. Pelletier, Deputy Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Anne E. Meyer, Asst. Appellate Defender, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty. of County of Cook, Chicago, (Renee Goldfarb, James E. Fitzgerald, Asst. State's Attys., Janet Mahoney, Sp. Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice MCNAMARA delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, 15 year-old defendant R.B. was convicted of aggravated battery and armed violence (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, pars. 12-4 and 33A-2), adjudicated a delinquent and sentenced to a four-year probation term pursuant to the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 37, par. 801-1 et seq.) On appeal, defendant raises the following issues: (1) whether an illegal seizure occurred prior to his formal arrest; (2) whether defendant's statement was involuntary; (3) whether the youth officer was a material witness who should have been produced or whose absence should have been explained; and (4) whether defendant was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Co-defendants, defendant's brother Camerino, Bassem Abdallah, Miguel Hernandez, Tony Hernandez and Rudy Hernandez, were tried separately, and are not involved in this appeal. (This court affirmed the conviction of co-defendant, Bassem Abdallah, by Rule 23 Order No. 1-90-0792.)

Prior to trial, defendant moved to quash arrest and suppress evidence. At the suppression hearing, the State presented the testimony of the following witnesses: Officers Robert Schaefer, John Bloore, Steven Casto, Richard Vallandigham, William Drish and assistant State's Attorney Michelle Katz. Their testimony established as follows:

On February 25, 1989, at about 11:00 a.m. while investigating the homicide of Gonzolo Hernandez and battery of Jose Arellano, Officers Schaefer, Bloore and Casto went to defendant's home in Chicago. The police had been to the home one week before to question defendant's brother Camerino about the attack. Defendant answered the door and admitted the officers. The officers informed defendant that they were investigating the same case, and asked defendant if he would accompany them to the Area 1 police station. Schaefer testified that defendant agreed, and that Schaefer escorted him to the back of the apartment to get a jacket. The officers asked whether defendant's parents were home, and were told that they were not. When the officers told defendant's sister, Olga, that she could come to the station, she responded that she could not leave because she was caring for an infant sibling. Bloore told Olga that defendant was going to the station with them, and gave her his business card. The officers escorted defendant outside to the police car where they questioned him for 15 to 30 minutes about the homicide. Defendant denied any knowledge. The officers drove defendant to Area 1 police station for questioning, picking up co-defendant Miguel Hernandez on the way. When they arrived at Area 1 between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m., the officers took defendant to a small room, and began questioning him again about the murder. Schaefer gave defendant a soda and asked whether he was hungry, to which defendant responded negatively. Schaefer then spoke with defendant for 90 minutes about the murder, and told him that the police had information that defendant may have been present. At about 2:15 p.m. defendant admitted his presence at the murder, but denied that he shot the deceased. After defendant made this statement, the officers transported him to the Area 3 police station where the homicide case was assigned, and placed defendant in an interview room. The officers testified that they did not read defendant his rights, nor contact his family or a youth officer before they moved him to Area 3. Bloore, Casto and Schaefer each testified that they did not physically or psychologically coerce defendant, or witness any other officer doing so.

Upon defendant's arrival at Area 3 between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m., Vallandigham read defendant his rights, then he and Schaefer questioned defendant further. Vallandigham testified that they still considered defendant a witness, not a suspect. Throughout this questioning, the officers did not handcuff or arrest defendant, and he was free to go, although they did not communicate this to him. Between 3:15 and 3:30 p.m. defendant admitted that he participated in the attack which resulted in the deceased's death. The police informed defendant that he was under arrest and handcuffed him to the wall, and Vallandigham left to get defendant a soda. When Vallandigham saw defendant's 16 year-old brother, Camerino, who had come to the station to look for defendant, Vallandigham took Camerino to the third floor for questioning, and subsequently arrested him in connection with this offense. At 3:30 p.m., Officer Bloore telephoned defendant's home and told Olga that they had moved defendant from the Area 1 to the Area 3 police station. The parents were not at home at this time. Vallandigham contacted Youth Officer Patricia Kos between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. Detectives Drish and Conley questioned defendant for 15 to 20 minutes at about 6:00 p.m. in the presence of Youth Officer Kos. Assistant State's Attorney Michelle Katz interviewed defendant for 20 to 30 minutes at about 9:30 p.m. in the presence of Drish, Kos, and assistant State's Attorney Laura Lambur after she informed defendant of his rights and told him that he could be tried as an adult. When she spoke with defendant again at about 11:00 p.m. defendant indicated that he would give a court-reported statement. Katz testified that she also asked defendant whether he wanted to use the bathroom, or whether he was hungry or thirsty, to which defendant responded in the negative. Defendant gave his written statement at about 12:30 a.m. on February 26, 1989, in the presence of Katz, Lambur, Drish and Kos. At about 2:00 a.m. defendant read the statement, made several corrections, then signed it.

Defendant testified at the hearing and presented the testimony of his mother, father, sister, brother and Miguel Hernandez.

Defendant testified in his own behalf that he was 15 years-old on February 26, 1989. The officers came to his home at about 10:00 a.m. and entered the home without permission. They told him that they were taking him to the station for questioning. When defendant walked to a back bedroom to get his shoes and sweatshirt, one of the officers followed him. The officers told his sister Olga that they were taking him for questioning. One officer put his arm on defendant's shoulder then escorted him to the police car outside in which Miguel Hernandez was waiting. Defendant went voluntarily, but felt that he "didn't have no choice." According to defendant, the police handcuffed him to the wall when they arrived at the station, then handcuffed him to a chair during the questioning. Defendant testified that one of the officers struck him, causing his nose to bleed. Defendant asked to speak to his parents, but the officers did not allow him to call home. After about two hours, the officers took him to the Area 3 police station. Defendant rode in the police car with his hands cuffed behind his back. At the station, he was handcuffed to a pole on the wall and questioned for two hours. He denied involvement in the incident, but the officers refused to accept his answers to their questions, and told him to tell the truth. The police then told him that co-defendant Miguel Hernandez signed a statement indicating that defendant killed the deceased. At about 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. the officers told him that he was not going home. The officers told him the facts about the homicide, and told him what to tell the assistant State's Attorney. At about 11:00 p.m. he asked for something to eat, but was refused. When he spoke with assistant State's Attorney Michelle Katz at about 11:30 p.m. he gave her the answers that the police told him to give. Defendant first saw the youth officer when he gave his written statement. Defendant testified that at about midnight the officers told him that he could call his parents after he made a statement. He did not talk to or see any family members while at either police station. He stated that he asked for something to eat, but that the officers would not give him anything to eat or allow him to make a telephone call until he signed a statement.

Defendant's sister, Olga, testified that on the morning of February 25, 1989, two officers knocked on the door of the family home, and entered without invitation. They asked her whether her brother Camerino was home, and she told them that he was not. The officers then said, "Well let's take him," indicating defendant. One of the officers told defendant to get his jacket and shoes, "grabbed him from the shoulder," then walked to a back bedroom with defendant and waited while he got his jacket and shoes. The officers told Olga that they were taking defendant outside to their car to ask him some questions, and exited the house with a "tight grip" on defendant's shoulder. They entered the police car, then drove away. The police did not tell Olga where they were taking defendant, or give her a phone number or address. In the late afternoon, Olga and Camerino went to two police stations, looking for defendant. Camerino went into the second police station alone, while Olga waited in the car. When Camerino did not return after one-half hour, Olga entered the station and was told that the police were questioning both defendant and Camerino, and that Camerino would be home about 8:00 p.m. Olga then returned home.

Miguel Hernandez testified that the police picked him up at his...