People v. Spencer
| Decision Date | 22 March 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 37202,37202 |
| Citation | 189 N.E.2d 270,27 Ill.2d 320 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. William SPENCER, Plaintiff in Error. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Donald J. Novotny, Berwyn, for plaintiff in error.
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Daniel P. Ward, State's Atty., Chicago , for defendant in error.
Defendant, William Spencer, was found guilty of murder after a bench trial in the criminal court of Cook County and sentenced to life imprisonment. He prosecutes this writ of error contending that the introduction into evidence of a coerced confession denied him due process of law, and that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The dismal picture emerging from the evidence shows that on the night of April 1, 1959, defendant was employed as a room clerk in the Casa Blanca Hotel, located at 3139 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. During the early morning hours of that date the decedent, John Scott, entered the hotel in the company of one Louise Davis and registered as Mr. and Mrs. John Brown. Defendant collected the rental of $1.75 and assigned them to Room 3 which was on the main floor at ground level, and could be seen down a hallway from the clerk's desk. Scott and the Davis woman had been brought together a short time before by a procurer-cab driver named John Rose and, a short time later, Rose appeared in the hotel and was directed to Room 3 by defendant. When Rose knocked at the door Louise Davis came out in the hall and gave him $3, which he described as 'my part of her fee,' and then Rose left the hotel.
In his confession defendant related that Louise Davis left the hotel about a half-hour later while the decedent remained in the room. On seeing this, defendant donned a pair of coveralls in an attempt to disguise himself, obtained a gun he had hidden on the premises and admitted himself to Room 3 by slipping the lock with a knife. He said he found the decedent fully dressed; that he pulled his gun and demanded decedent's money; that the latter cursed him and started for the door; and that he fired two shots, after which the decedent sat down on the edge of the bed and started groaning. Concluding his confession, defendant related that he ran from the hotel and concealed the gun in a garbage can on adjoining premises, returned to the hotel office and took off his coveralls, and then telephoned the police that there was a suspicious character in the lobby.
Police officers who responded to the call found the decedent in Room 3 sitting on the bed, bleeding and groaning, and summoned an ambulance to remove him to a hospital. Another officer sought to question him at the hospital but, after being asked what had happened and replying that he 'didn't know,' the decedent lapsed into unconsciousness. A medical witness testified that the victim had died of a hemorrhage resulting from a bullet which entered the body through the upper pole of the right kidney, passed through the liver, and left the body through the left side of the abdomen.
At the trial defendant repudiated his confession and testified that, following the departure of Louise Davis, he was sitting at the hotel desk listening to a radio when he heard a shot fired. He said he did not investigate but immediately took a coin from the cash drawer, telephoned the police, and reported that there had been a shooting. Further, he testified that he had heard a second shot while he was at the telephone and that, within a few seconds, he saw Oscar Crockett, who was occupying Room 7, come out into the hall from his room. After completing his call he went with Crockett to Room 3 where he kicked in the door, found the decedent sitting on the bed and bleeding, and then returned to the lobby to wait for the police.
Crockett testified that he had heard two shots and that he had gone out into the hall 6 to 10 seconds later at which time he saw defendant in the hotel office using the telephone. In addition, he said that defendant was dressed in khaki trousers when he saw him. Other evidence for the defense established that the window in Room 3 was partially open, and that a person standing on the ground outside could see the upper portion of a person in the room. In this regard, officers who investigated at the hotel immediately after the shooting found what appeared to be an old window frame leaning against the building under the window of Room 3, but, according to their further testimony, a dresser sitting in front of the window blocked any view into the room. A witness for the defense, who went to the premises in June, 1959, testified that the dresser did not fully cover the window; that a bullet hole was found in the door frame 49 inches above the floor; and that the bullet had entered the door on an upward angle.
Defendant filed a motion to suppress his confession from evidence and a preliminary hearing was held by the court on the issue of its voluntary or involuntary character. Facts developed at this hearing show that defendant accompanied the police voluntarily to the station after the initial investigation was completed around the hotel and that he...
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People v. Caldwell
...150 N.E. 347.) We have said that 'a confession may be challenged either by preliminary hearing on a motion to suppress (People v. Spencer, 27 Ill.2d 320, 189 N.E.2d 270) or by appropriate objection thereto at the trial (People v. Wagoner, 8 Ill.2d 188, 133 N.E.2d 24), and failure to pursue ......
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People v. Hester
...N.E.2d 16; People v. Hartgraves, 31 Ill.2d 375, 202 N.E.2d 33; People v. DiGerlando, 30 Ill.2d 544, 198 N.E.2d 503; People v. Spencer, 27 Ill.2d 320, 325--326, 189 N.E.2d 270; People v. Goard, 11 Ill.2d 495, 499, 144 N.E.2d 603; People v. McFarland, 386 Ill. 122, 130, 53 N.E.2d 884), and we......
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People v. Cook, Gen. No. 50446
...v. Hartgraves, 31 Ill.2d 375, 202 N.E.2d 33; People v. DiGerlando, 30 Ill.2d 544, 198 N.E.2d 503).' See also People v. Spencer, 27 Ill.2d 320, 325--326, 189 N.E.2d 270; and People v. Sims, 21 Ill.2d 425, 433, 173 N.E.2d 494. Under the circumstances here present, we believe the circuit court......
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People v. Palmer
...of due process, this confession, if made as testified to by the officers, was voluntary and, therefore, admissible. People v. Spencer, 27 Ill.2d 320, 189 N.E.2d 270; People v. Stacey, 25 Ill.2d 258, 263, 184 N.E.2d 866; People v. Jackson, 23 Ill.2d 274, 178 N.E.2d 299; People v. Miller, 13 ......