People v. Sanders
| Decision Date | 10 December 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-2829,80-2829 |
| Citation | 66 Ill.Dec. 761,443 N.E.2d 687,111 Ill.App.3d 1 |
| Parties | , 66 Ill.Dec. 761 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert SANDERS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, section 9-1, par. (a)(1)) and armed robbery (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, section 18-2, par. (a)) and was sentenced to prison terms of 50 and 30 years, to run concurrently. On appeal, he contends that: (1) the trial court's admission of his wife's testimony violated the husband-wife privilege; (2) the trial court failed to clarify questions from the jury and failed to provide the jury with a requested transcript of his wife's testimony; (3) the trial court failed to instruct the jury on lesser-included offenses and failed to give a proper instruction on circumstantial evidence; (4) the trial evidence was insufficient to support a verdict of guilty of murder; (5) statements made during the State's closing argument constituted reversible error; and (6) an investigation by the State's Attorney's office of the public defenders who were assigned to defendant's case, which resulted in a replacement of defense counsel, violated defendant's right to effective assistance of counsel and due process. We reverse and remand. The pertinent evidence follows.
Robert Sanders resided at the Boulevard Hotel, room 39, 2801 West Warren Street, Chicago. On October 13, 1978, at some time prior to 2 a.m., he and Milton Walker ("Greek") knocked on 67-year-old Curtis Lovelace's apartment door in the same building, room 37. Lovelace shared his apartment with a woman friend, Louise Drake. Ms. Drake was not in the apartment at the time. Lovelace apparently recognized Sanders and Walker and he invited the two men in. A few moments later, Sanders struck Lovelace on the head with a brick. Lovelace fell to the floor unconscious. The two assailants bound Lovelace's ankles and arms with a necktie, rummaged through his dresser drawers, searched his pockets and scavenged his apartment.
Lovelace's body was taken to Cook County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed scalp lacerations, caused by a blunt instrument, as well as abrasions and contusions on his head and shoulders. None of the blunt trauma injuries were sufficient to cause Lovelace's death, however. Instead, Lovelace died by ligature strangulation. Robert J. Stein, Chief Medical Examiner of Cook County and an expert in the field of forensic pathology, testified that Lovelace's strangulation could have occurred 5 to 10 minutes after the blows were inflicted. A tie found on Lovelace could have been used to strangle him.
During their investigation of the murder scene, the police were given a pair of men's slacks by George Robinson, who resided at the Boulevard Hotel with his wife. Robinson said he had found the slacks behind the hotel. The police found a coat and a white cloth with blood on them below Lovelace's hotel room window. Photographs and blood samples were taken for evidence along with a brick with bloodstains on it and glass fragments. The only items that were processed for fingerprints were glass fragments, a glass bottle and a glass jar.
The next evening, Saturday, October 14, 1978, police responded to a radio call to investigate a fight at 2145 Lake Street, apartment 702. There they spoke with Beverly Sanders, defendant's wife. (Defendant visited and spent the night with Beverly about three times a week.) Beverly gave them a pillowcase containing men's clothing, a wedding band and a watch. She told the police that she had gotten the items from her husband, Robert Sanders, and that Robert had told her about robbing Curtis Lovelace. She went with the officers to look for her husband, whom they found and arrested one block from the Boulevard Hotel.
At the preliminary hearing, defendant objected to Beverly Sanders' testimony as to what he had told her about his involvement in the murder. Defendant argued that the presence of family members, in this case, three of the four children of Robert Milton Walker ("Greek") was arrested on October 25, 1978, twelve days after the murder. A police officer testified before a grand jury that Walker's arrest report had charged him with murder but that the report had later been altered in writing by someone to change the offense to armed robbery. The police found Walker asleep in a Volkswagen van behind a drugstore on a vacant lot. Walker testified at trial that he had been drinking since 7 a.m. that morning and had consumed 15 pints of wine by the time he was arrested--at approximately 11 p.m. Walker also testified that he had been addicted to narcotics for 30 years. After his arrest, he was held in custody in a police station lockup cell.
[66 Ill.Dec. 764] and Beverly Sanders, did not destroy the confidential nature of a marital communication between husband and wife. In rebuttal, the State argued that defendant sought to enlarge a "narrow privilege to include a family privilege" and that there was no family privilege when a husband and wife are not alone or when they know that other people will hear [111 Ill.App.3d 4] their conversation. The court sustained defendant's objection and found no probable cause. Later that day, defendant appeared before a grand jury, which refused to return an indictment against him.
The following morning, Walker appeared before a grand jury. He later testified at a pre-trial hearing that a State's Attorney spoke to him after his arrest and told him that if he (Walker) appeared before the grand jury, "it would go easier" with him. Walker said that the State's Attorney treated him like a child by telling him exactly what to say when asked a question before the grand jury. Walker also said he was made to feel that he would not be charged with a crime if he testified. Walker confessed to having been involved in the murder and the grand jury returned an indictment against him for armed robbery, aggravated battery and armed violence. An indictment was also returned charging Sanders with murder and armed robbery.
During pre-trial discovery, defendant filed a motion in limine in a second attempt to prevent Beverly Sanders from testifying as to any conversations she had with her husband. The motion, based on the husband-wife privilege (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 155-1), was not ruled on.
Two weeks later, the prosecution informed defendant's attorneys that based on their alleged bribing of witnesses, they were under investigation and that charges may be filed against them for obstruction of justice. Because of this investigation and the possibility that defendant's attorneys would have to refute the allegations made against them under oath during trial, they withdrew from the case. A bar association attorney was substituted, who participated in the jury selection and thereafter represented defendant.
Defendant's trial began September 25, 1980. The State called Roy Gibson, a handyman at the Boulevard Hotel, as its first witness. Gibson explained that at approximately 4 a.m. on October 14, 1978, he saw Louise Drake enter the lobby of the hotel and go to her (Lovelace's) room. Ms. Drake immediately returned to the lobby and told Gibson that she believed Curtis Lovelace was dead. Gibson went up to the room, noticed that the door was ajar and walked in. Lovelace was lying face down and had on nothing but undershorts. His feet were tied together with a necktie. The police were then notified. Gibson further testified that he noticed a trail of blood on the carpeting that led from Lovelace's apartment to the washroom, about 40 feet away. In the washroom, blood was on the bathtub and on the window sill. The bathroom window was open. Gibson said he asked the police to shine a flashlight on the ground, directly below the bathroom window. There he saw a bloody trench coat. The police took the coat as evidence.
On cross-examination, Gibson testified that he was in the hotel lobby from 9 p.m. on October 13 until 4 a.m. October 14 and that he did not see defendant enter the hotel during that period. He said that the hotel had only one front entrance and that everyone, including the hotel residents, had to be buzzed in by the front desk. The On redirect examination Gibson testified that when Ms. Drake came from her room upstairs she was excited and in a hurry.
[66 Ill.Dec. 765] hotel residents' keys would not unlock the front door. Gibson testified further that there were bricks in the yard outside the hotel.
Next to testify for the prosecution was Dora Husband, desk clerk at the Boulevard Hotel. Dora testified that on Friday, October 13, she saw Robert Sanders come into the lobby and make a telephone call. He was with a boy about 9 or 10 years old who he said was his son. Dora testified further that on Saturday, October 14 between 8:30 and 9 a.m., George Robinson came into the hotel office carrying a pair of pants he had gotten from the alley. Dora recognized the pants as those belonging to Curtis Lovelace.
On cross-examination, Dora stated that she did not see Curtis Lovelace on Friday, October 13. She recognized a sweater she was shown by defendant as one that Curtis Lovelace had worn.
On redirect examination, Dora testified that Robert Sanders was registered in Room 39 and Curtis Lovelace in Room 37.
The prosecution next called George Robinson and then Isaac Orr, who was a part-time desk clerk at the Boulevard Hotel. They were questioned extensively by the prosecution and by defendant.
After George Robinson identified Robert Sanders in the courtroom, he testified that on the night of the murder he observed Sanders throwing clothes...
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