People v. Romero
| Decision Date | 24 May 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 1–14–3132,1–14–3132 |
| Citation | 105 N.E.3d 1048,2018 IL App (1st) 143132 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Ramon ROMERO, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Michael J. Pelletier, Patricia Mysza, and Yasaman Hannah Navai, of State Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.
Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Jon Walters, and Lori M. Rosen, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
¶ 1 Following a bench trial, defendant Ramon Romero was found guilty of attempted first degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, and aggravated battery. The circuit court of Cook County then sentenced defendant to concurrent terms of imprisonment of 45, 30, 8, and 3 years, respectively. Prior to trial, the court held two fitness hearings. Following the second fitness hearing, the court found defendant fit to stand trial without medication. Defendant's chief defense at trial was that he was mentally unfit and suffered a psychotic episode at the time of the offense. The court rejected defendant's insanity defense and found that he had the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time of the offense. 720 ILCS 5/6–2(a) (West 2014).
¶ 2 On appeal, defendant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction but contends that the court erred in rejecting his insanity defense where the defense expert was more qualified than the State expert and considered defendant's entire mental health history. Defendant also contends that the trial court judge improperly assumed the role of the prosecutor in questioning defendant's expert witness and was biased against defendant, denying defendant the right to a fair trial. Defendant further contends that the court erred in preventing his wife from testifying to statements he made prior to his two psychotic episodes. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
¶ 4 Defendant was charged with attempted first degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and aggravated battery in connection with an incident that took place on September 11, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to trial, the court held two hearings to determine if defendant was fit to stand trial.
¶ 7 At defendant's first fitness hearing on June 21, 2013, Susan Buratto testified that she was a fellow in forensic psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the court found that she was qualified as an expert in that field. Buratto testified she and Dr. Stephen Dinwiddie, the training director for forensic psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, interviewed defendant in November 2012. The trial court noted that this report was "stale" but permitted Buratto to testify regarding the interview.
¶ 8 Buratto testified that she and Dr. Dinwiddie diagnosed defendant with bipolar disorder
based on his medical records and the information defendant provided about his symptoms. Buratto noted that defendant was on medication at the time of the interview and that it would be in his best interest to continue taking the medication. Buratto testified that she believed that defendant would be able to understand the nature of the proceedings without medication but, due to the waxing and waning nature of bipolar disorder, he would be less able to make good decisions and may not be able to assist his counsel with his defense unless he were on medication. Accordingly, she testified that defendant would be fit to stand trial with medication.
¶ 9 The parties also stipulated to a report from Dr. Nishad Nadkarni who was employed by forensic clinical services at the circuit court of Cook County. The court noted that Dr. Nadkarni evaluated defendant on May 29, 2013, so his report was not stale. Dr. Nadkarni noted that defendant was currently prescribed Depakote
, a mood stabilizer; Risperdal, an antipsychotic mood stabilizer; and Klonopin, an antianxiety medication. Dr. Nadkarni concluded, however, that defendant did not require psychotropic medication in order to maintain his fitness and function and found him fit to stand trial without medication. The trial court found that defendant was fit to stand trial with medication.
¶ 10 On April 7, 2014, defense counsel informed the court that defendant had been hospitalized for three weeks and had been taken off his antipsychotic medication. Defense counsel indicated that she was concerned about defendant's ability to assist her during the trial and noted that defendant was having difficulty remaining quiet. The court granted defense counsel's requests for a second fitness hearing.
¶ 12 At the second fitness hearing on May 21, 2014, Dr. Nadkarni testified that he was employed by forensic clinical services at the circuit court and the court found that he was qualified as an expert in the field of forensic psychiatry. Dr. Nadkarni testified that in evaluating defendant for his fitness to stand trial, he met with him on May 29, 2013, and May 12, 2014. Dr. Nadkarni also reviewed the records of two other employees from forensic clinical services who had interviewed defendant, Dr. Susan Messina and Dr. Dawna Gutzman. Dr. Messina met with defendant on December 10, 2010, but offered no opinion regarding his fitness because he was uncooperative during his interview. Dr. Messina also met with defendant on April 12, 2011, and January 31, 2012, and on both occasions found defendant to be legally fit and sane. Dr. Gutzman met with defendant on April 25, 2011, and noted that defendant was uncooperative and met with him again on June 27, 2011, and found defendant to be legally fit and sane.
¶ 13 Dr. Nadkarni also reviewed nearly 650 pages of defendant's medical records that he received shortly before the hearing. Dr. Nadkarni noted that these records covered 2010, 2011, and 2012 through 2014 and that some of them were duplicates of records he had already reviewed prior to testifying. Dr. Nadkarni also reviewed notes from Dr. Melvin Hess from 2009 and reviewed a report that was sent to defense counsel from Dr. Dinwiddie on February 21, 2013.
¶ 14 Dr. Nadkarni testified that he conducted a mental status examination of defendant on May 12, 2014. Dr. Nadkarni diagnosed defendant with antisocial personality disorder
with narcissistic features and also diagnosed him with cannabis-, cocaine-, and alcohol-use disorder. Dr. Nadkarni testified that his review of defendant's medical records did not change his diagnosis and that defendant did not show a bona fide major mental illness. Dr. Nadkarni determined that defendant was fit to stand trial, that he would understand the trial proceedings, and that he did not require medication to maintain his fitness. On cross-examination, Dr. Nadkarni stated that defendant's medical records showed that defendant's behavior was consistent whether or not he was taking medication and his behavior was not indicative of a bona fide major mental illness. The court found that defendant was fit to stand trial without medication.
¶ 17 At trial, Abraham Cardenis testified that he was the Spanish pastor for the Faith Baptist Church in Kankakee, Illinois, and knew defendant because he had attended church on a couple occasions. Cardenis testified that defendant called him on September 11, 2010, and told him that he needed help and needed him to pick him up at Midway Airport. Cardenis drove his blue Mazda Tribute with his brother-in-law to Chicago to pick up defendant. Before getting into the vehicle, defendant smashed his phone on the ground. Cardenis drove around for about an hour looking for the entrance to the Dan Ryan Expressway, but after they were on the expressway, defendant changed his mind about where he wanted to go. Cardenis told defendant that he was not a taxi driver and he would drive him to Kankakee. Cardenis pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, and defendant pulled out a gun. Defendant forced Cardenis and his brother-in-law out of the vehicle and drove away in Cardenis's vehicle. Cardenis called the police.
¶ 18 Fallon Jackson testified that on September 11, 2010, she lived at 75th Street and South Shore Drive in Chicago. Around 6 p.m. that night, she was sitting in her living room when she heard her "play brother" Tyler arguing with someone in the parking garage. She went down to the parking garage and saw Tyler speaking with defendant, who told her that he needed gas for his vehicle. Jackson saw defendant standing near a blue vehicle that was damaged and leaking fluid. Jackson went back inside her apartment and called police. When she came back outside, she saw defendant walking around the outside of the building.
¶ 19 Chicago police officer Aaron Davis testified that he was on patrol with his partner, Tiawansa Davis, on September 11, 2010, when they received a call about a disturbance in the area of 75th Street and South Shore Drive. When they arrived on the scene, the officers saw Jackson and defendant, who was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt with a green design on it. Jackson testified that she tried to speak with the officers but defendant kept interrupting them. Defendant pulled an orange bible out of his pocket and told Officer Tiawansa Davis to read it. Defendant approached Officer Aaron Davis, who told defendant to not "walk up" on him. Officer Aaron Davis told defendant to leave the area, but he refused to do so. Officer Aaron Davis told defendant that, if he did not leave the area, he would be arrested.
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