People v. Sneed

• Decision Date: 04 August 1995
• Docket Number: No. 1-92-1625,1-92-1625
• Citation: 274 Ill.App.3d 287,210 Ill.Dec. 887,653 N.E.2d 1349
• Parties: , 210 Ill.Dec. 887 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Silas SNEED, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1349

653 N.E.2d 1349

274 Ill.App.3d 287, 210 Ill.Dec. 887

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Silas SNEED, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-92-1625.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Fifth Division.

Aug. 4, 1995.

Rita A. Fry, Public Defender of Cook County (Frederick Weil, of counsel), for appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty. of Cook County (Rene Goldfarb, Peter Fischer and Sang Won Shim, of counsel), for appellee.

Justice McNULTY delivered the opinion of the court:

After a jury trial defendant Silas Sneed was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Defendant appeals and we affirm.

At trial, Easter Tiney testified that she lived with her family at 1520 West Hastings and that she last saw her son Charlie alive at approximately 3 p.m. on January 6, 1991. Charlie's brother Elijah woke Easter up two hours later and told her that Charlie was lying on the stairs and that he had been shot. Easter ran down to the ninth floor of the building where she saw her son, wearing a white T-shirt and gray jeans, lying face down on the stairs. Easter identified defendant and his cousin Tony Sneed in court, stating that she knew them because they came to her house practically every day.

Lanette Tiney, Charlie's sister, next testified that at approximately 6 p.m. on January 6, 1991, she was in her bedroom with her brother Charlie and his girlfriend, Dontay. Tina Crawford and Tawana Oliver came to the apartment, asked if Charlie was there, and then spoke with Charlie for a few minutes in his room. About 10 minutes after Tina and Tawana left the apartment, Tony arrived at the apartment. Lanette testified that she did not see a gun in Tony's hand. Charlie and Tony left the apartment together. Approximately 15 minutes later Tommy and Elijah, Charlie's brothers, came to the apartment looking for Charlie. Tommy and Elijah left the apartment but returned soon thereafter and stated that a man told them that a boy in a white T-shirt was lying on the stairs.

Tawana Oliver testified that she and Tina Crawford visited with Charlie at 1520 West Hastings on January 6, 1991, and then went to the lobby, where she saw defendant, Tony and Dwayne Appleton. Tony had a black revolver which he put to Tawana's head and asked if she had seen Charlie. When Tawana said that she had not, the defendant, Tony and Dwayne went up the stairway. Tawana and Tina then went to defendant's house, where they saw defendant out of breath.

Tawana testified that she told Paul Rossi, who said he worked for defendant's attorney, that she did not see defendant in the 1520 West Hastings building but she did see Tony and Dwayne. Tawana testified that she spoke with Rossi twice. The first time, she signed a statement stating that she had seen "Tony Silas, Dwayne Appleton and about ten other boys." The second time Tawana saw Rossi, she signed a statement saying that she "did not see Silas Sneed with Tony, Dwayne or the other guys." Tawana testified that she meant that she did not see defendant with Tony and Dwayne at defendant's apartment subsequent to seeing them in the 1520 West Hastings building. After learning about Charlie's death, Tawana did not go to the police and tell them that she had seen Tony with a gun.

Catina Crawford (Tina) next testified that defendant was the father of her two children. Tina testified that at approximately 6 p.m. on January 6, 1991, she went with Tawana to Charlie's apartment and, while leaving the apartment, she bumped into a boy named Arthur McFarland. Tina testified that she told a man at the police station that Arthur had a gun. Tina stated that she did not see Tony in the 1520 West Hastings building and that she only told the police that she had seen Tony because the police threatened to slap her or take away her children. Tina testified that on January 8, 1991, she had a conversation with Dwayne and defendant while playing cards and she asked Dwayne if he killed Charlie. According to Tina, Dwayne said, "Yeah, we killed Charlie." Defendant did not respond.

Officer Joel Hernandez testified that on January 9, 1991, he and his partner located defendant and Dwayne Appleton at defendant's grandmother's house. Officer Hernandez asked defendant and Dwayne to come to Area 4, and defendant said that he would be glad to come to the station since Charlie was a friend of theirs and they would like to help.

Detective Rybicki stated that when he questioned defendant at the station, defendant told him that he saw Tony and Charlie fighting, and that Tony shot Charlie on the fourteenth floor of the 1520 West Hastings building. Defendant claimed that he did not know that Tony had a gun until they arrived on the tenth floor of the building.

Assistant State's Attorney Joel DeGrazia read to the jury the statement given to him by defendant. In the statement, defendant stated that on January 6, 1991, at about 6 p.m., he was with Tony and Dwayne when Tony stated that he was in trouble with Leon Vortez because he took Leon's jacket. Tony decided to get Charlie's jacket and give it to Leon so that Leon would no longer be mad at him. Tony asked defendant and Dwayne to help in case Charlie got out of hand. Defendant said that while they were in the lobby, Tony showed him the gun he was going to use to rob Charlie of the coat. Defendant, Dwayne and Tony then went upstairs. Tony knocked on the door and Charlie came out. Charlie and Tony began to fight and Tony pulled the black revolver on Charlie. Defendant said that Charlie had no weapons and that Tony shot Charlie four times. Defendant said that they then all ran home. Defendant saw Tina and Tawana when he got home and told them he never left his house that evening.

Paul Rossi, an investigator for the public defender's office, testified that Tawana Oliver told him that Tony had put a gun to her head and asked her if she had seen Charlie. When Tawana told him that she had not, Tony left. Tawana signed a statement saying that she saw "Tony Silas, Dwayne Appleton and about ten other boys" in the lobby of 1520 West Hastings. After Rossi realized that he had mistakenly written that Tawana had seen "Tony Silas" in the lobby, Rossi again saw Tawana and had her sign a statement stating that she had not seen defendant with Tony and Dwayne.

Defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Defendant contends on appeal that the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion to suppress; (2) denying his motion in limine seeking to bar use of a delinquency adjudication as impeachment; (3) allowing an admission by codefendant Dwayne Appleton to be introduced as evidence against him; and (4) finding him guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant also contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement. At defendant's suppression hearing, Officer Joel Hernandez testified that on January 9, 1991, he was working in the area of the 1400 block of 13th Street when he encountered defendant and Dwayne Appleton on the street sometime between 10 and 11 a.m. Officer Hernandez spoke with defendant and Dwayne for about 5 to 10 minutes about Charlie Tiney's murder. Silas' grandmother was present during the entire conversation. At some point during the conversation, Officer Hernandez suggested that they continue the conversation in the officer's unmarked police car because it was cold outside. Silas, his grandmother, and Dwayne entered the police car and had a brief conversation with Officer Hernandez. Silas, his grandmother and Dwayne then exited the police car and entered an apartment building down the street. Officer Hernandez then called Detective Rybicki at the police station and was told to bring Silas and Dwayne to the station. Officer Hernandez went to the apartment building in which he had seen the Silas and Dwayne enter and located the boys at defendant's grandmother's apartment. Officer Hernandez spoke with Silas, Silas' grandmother and Dwayne and asked whether the boys would be willing to come to Area 4 and provide the detectives with information on Charlie's murder. Defendant and Dwayne said "that they would be willing to try to catch the guys that did the shooting." The boys rode with Officer Hernandez to Area 4 in the police car. They arrived at the station just before noon. Officer Hernandez testified that he never saw anybody at the station hit defendant.

Once at the station, defendant was interviewed by Detective Rybicki. Detective Rybicki testified that defendant's stepfather, Richard Vortez, was at the station providing information on Charlie's murder and was informed that defendant was also at the station helping the police with the murder investigation. Vortez stated that was fine with him and left the station. Vortez did not ask to see defendant. Detective Rybicki spoke with defendant and then Dwayne and Tony Sneed. Defendant was left alone in the interview room for several hours. Detective Rybicki told defendant that he could stay and help with the investigation or go home. It was defendant's option. Defendant was given his Miranda warnings, informed that he could be tried as an adult and arrested at 8:30 p.m. Defendant acknowledged that he understood his rights. A youth officer was then contacted, but he did not arrive until a few hours later. Detective Rybicki did not hit defendant nor did he see anyone else hit defendant.

Assistant State's Attorney DeGrazia testified that he gave defendant his Miranda warnings before interviewing him on January 9, 1991. Defendant said that he wished to waive his rights and talk about the case. DeGrazia wrote down a summary of what defendant said. Defendant never told DeGrazia that he had been physically abused by police officers, and DeGrazia did not see anyone abuse defendant. Defendant never said that he wanted to contact...