People v. Serio

• Decision Date: 30 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2-03-0814.,2-03-0814.
• Citation: 830 N.E.2d 749
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Raymond SERIO, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

830 N.E.2d 749

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Raymond SERIO, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-03-0814.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

June 3, 2005.

Rehearing Denied June 30, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

G. Joseph Weller, Deputy Defender, and Jack Hildebrand (Court-appointed), Office of the State Appellate Defender, Elgin, for Raymond Serio.

Michael J. Waller, Lake County State's Attorney, Waukegan, Martin P. Moltz, Deputy Director, Joan M. Kripke, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Elgin, for the People.

Justice BYRNE delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Raymond Serio, was convicted of first-degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1 (West 2002)) and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment. Defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court erroneously (1) denied his motion to suppress his confession because the police allegedly violated his fourth amendment rights by stopping a taxi in which he was riding and detaining him for 14 hours at the police station and (2) failed to dismiss his first notice of appeal and then consider his posttrial motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. Defendant contends that he is entitled to a new hearing in the trial court to prove that the allegedly illegal detention requires suppression of the confession. Defendant further argues that he is entitled to further consideration of his posttrial claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting defendant's confession but that a remand to the trial court for the consideration of his ineffective assistance claim is necessary. Therefore, we remand the cause for proceedings consistent with this disposition.

FACTS

On January 6, 2002, Richard Neubauer's body was discovered in his mother's car, which was parked in Wisconsin at the front gate of the Bristol Renaissance Faire near the Lake County, Illinois, border. Neubauer had suffered three gunshot wounds to the head. On April 4, 2002, the police stopped defendant, transported him to the police station for an interview, and released him later that day. Defendant was arrested two days later and subsequently charged with first-degree murder, based on the theory that he had ordered his friend and codefendant, Ronald Ruhl, to shoot Neubauer.

On April 23, 2002, defendant filed his first of two motions to suppress the incriminating statement he made to the police on April 4. The first motion asserted that defendant neither waived his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), nor made his statement voluntarily.

At the hearing on the first motion to suppress, defendant testified that he and Amanda Barbaro stayed at the Best Western hotel in Antioch on April 3, 2002. Defendant had allegedly ingested Thorazine to treat his symptoms of withdrawal from heroin. At approximately 3:30 a.m. on April 4, 2002, defendant and Barbaro summoned a taxi and left the hotel to purchase heroin because they felt ill. After they drove about one-half mile from the hotel, the taxi was stopped by the police, who directed defendant to exit the taxi and walk backwards toward them. At 3:40 a.m., defendant was taken to the Lake County sheriff's office, where he was searched and placed in an interview room. Defendant asked a deputy why he had been taken to the station, and the deputy responded that someone would talk to defendant about the situation. After sitting in the interview room for three to four hours, defendant knocked on the door to summon a deputy and again asked why he was detained. The deputy replied that he did not know. Defendant was later taken to a different interview room where Lake County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Jonites and Detective Scott Stanek of the Kenosha County sheriff's department informed defendant that two people had identified him as Neubauer's killer. Defendant stated that he wished to speak to an attorney, and the detectives left the room.

Defendant further testified that he heard Barbaro vomiting and calling him from an adjacent interview room. Barbaro said that she was sick and wished to leave, and defendant wanted to help her. The detectives moved Barbaro, and defendant told them that he wished to see her. The detectives then told defendant, "[w]ell, if you help us, we can help you." Another officer entered the interview room and showed defendant a pair of his blood-splattered boots that had been seized. Deputy Jonites told defendant that he could receive the death penalty, and defendant became scared and confused. Defendant agreed to make a statement, and at that point, defendant had been at the station for 12 hours. As a result of the conversation, defendant believed that, in exchange for his statement, the detectives would allow him to leave that evening and the State would not seek the death penalty if defendant were ultimately charged.

On cross-examination, defendant admitted that he had been previously convicted of burglary, deceptive practices, and unlawful use of weapons. Defendant had begun snorting heroin approximately one week after Neubauer's death. Defendant ingested Thorazine on April 4, 2002, to "numb" himself and curb his heroin addiction. He obtained the Thorazine from his mother, and no doctor had prescribed it for him. Defendant estimated that he ingested 10 to 12 Thorazine pills from 7:30 p.m. on April 3 until 3:30 a.m. on April 4, when the police stopped his taxi. Although defendant equivocated, he generally asserted that the Thorazine made him feel drowsy and slurred his speech. Defendant conceded that he understood and initialed each of the Miranda warnings he received before making his statement. The officers' mention of the death penalty "definitely played a factor" in defendant agreeing to provide a statement, and he believed that he only would be asked to testify as a witness. However, defendant conceded that, at the conclusion of his videotaped statement, he said that the police had not made any threats or promises.

Deputy Jonites testified that, as part of his investigation of Neubauer's death, he met with defendant at the Lake County sheriff's office on April 4, 2002. Defendant was placed in an interview room, but Jonites opined that defendant was not in custody at that time. While awaiting the interview, defendant requested and received restroom breaks and cigarettes. Barbaro, Denise Schubat, and codefendant Ruhl were each placed in interview rooms adjacent to defendant's room. Jonites and Stanek began interviewing defendant at 1 p.m. Jonites advised defendant of his rights under Miranda before asking any questions.

The trial court reviewed the videotape and transcript of defendant's interview. At the beginning of the interview, the detectives informed defendant that only the prosecutor would decide whether defendant would be charged with a particular offense, and defendant consented to the recording. Defendant stated that in November 2001, he worked at his mother's bar with Schubat, who was in a volatile relationship with Neubauer, the deceased. Neubauer and Schubat had a young daughter and the couple was attempting to reconcile. However, in November 2001, defendant and Schubat began a romantic relationship. Three weeks later, Schubat told defendant that Neubauer would always be a part of her life unless "he was gone, if he was dead." Defendant initially ignored the topic, but after a few discussions, defendant told Schubat, "yeah, I could probably do like something. * * * I'll even set it up. Don't worry about it, I'll end it. I'll take care of it for ya'." Defendant told Schubat that Ruhl would kill Neubauer, but Schubat was concerned that Ruhl was "not man enough" to follow through with the murder.

On the night of the shooting, defendant and Ruhl were speaking on their mobile phones. Defendant and Schubat were inside the bar and Ruhl was outside in the parking lot, where Neubauer was in his car waiting for Schubat. Defendant told the detectives that "I was being an idiot and I was telling [Ruhl] to go ahead and * * * do it. Just do it. Get it over with. Do it." Schubat overheard both sides of the conversation because defendant and Ruhl were using the direct connect feature of their Nextel phones.

Ruhl asked defendant whether he really wanted Neubauer killed, and defendant responded, "I don't wanna' hear nuttin'. All I wanna' hear is [sic] gunshots." Defendant did not believe that Ruhl would actually kill Neubauer, and defendant was shocked when he heard a gunshot outside. Defendant then looked out the window and saw Ruhl standing next to the driver's side window of Neubauer's car. At first glance, Neubauer appeared dead, but defendant saw his jaw quivering. Schubat drove home in her car, and defendant boarded up a broken window in the bar. Ruhl went to Neubauer's car, rolled Neubauer's body into the passenger seat, and drove the car to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. Defendant followed Ruhl in his own car. Defendant was worried that Ruhl would kill him or someone else in his family if he did not cooperate.

Ruhl drove Neubauer's car into a fence, exited the car, and shot Neubauer's body several more times while it was still in the passenger seat. Ruhl then entered defendant's car, defendant saw Ruhl's gun for the first time, and the two drove away. Ruhl, who was wearing latex gloves, removed his sweater and T-shirt and wrapped the gun in the shirt. Ruhl put his sweater back on and told defendant to stop the car so he could place the gun under the hood.

Defendant and Ruhl drove to Zion and Waukegan to purchase cocaine, but they could not find anyone from whom to purchase drugs. Defendant and Ruhl bought beer instead, and they were stopped by a member of the Waukegan police department gang unit at approximately 4 a.m. The officer searched defendant, Ruhl, and the car but found only an open bottle of tequila in the trunk. The officer poured the...