People v. St. Pierre

• Decision Date: 30 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 59446,59446
• Citation: 118 Ill.Dec. 606,522 N.E.2d 61,122 Ill.2d 95
• Parties: , 118 Ill.Dec. 606 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert ST. PIERRE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 61

522 N.E.2d 61

122 Ill.2d 95, 118 Ill.Dec. 606

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert ST. PIERRE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 59446.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

March 30, 1988.

Daniel D. Yuhas, Deputy Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Springfield, Allen H. Andrews, Asst. Defender, for defendant-appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Roma Jones-Stewart, Sol. Gen., Terence M. Madsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago (Richard M. Daley, State's Atty., County of Cook, Thomas V. Gainer, Jr., Kevin Sweeney, James E. Fitzgerald, Asst. State's Attys., Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice WARD delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, the defendant, Robert St. Pierre, Jackie Gibons and Barry Wilson were found guilty of the murders of Benjamin and Sybil Gibons (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, pars. 9-1(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3)), of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 8-2(a)), of two counts of armed robbery (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 18-2) and of two counts of concealing a homicidal death (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 9-3.1). After the State announced its decision to seek the death penalty, the defendant's sentencing hearing was severed from that of his codefendants, who waived a jury hearing for sentencing. The jury found that there existed one or more of the aggravating factors set out in section 9-1(b) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 38, par. 9-1(b)), and that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude a sentence of death. The trial court then sentenced the defendant to death and to two consecutive 60-year extended prison terms on the armed robbery convictions; two concurrent 7-year terms on the conspiracy convictions; and two concurrent 5-year terms on the convictions for concealment of a homicidal death. The defendant's sentence of death was stayed (107 Ill.2d R. 609(a)) pending direct appeal to this court (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 107 Ill.2d R. 603).

Detective Greg McLaughlin of the Skokie police department testified at the trial that on July 27, 1982, he was summoned to the residence of Benjamin and Sybil Gibons at 9151 N. Karlov, Skokie, in the course of a burglary investigation. He spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Gibons and their daughter Jackie, who told McLaughlin that earlier that day Barry Wilson had telephoned her at work and said that in attempting to enter her home, he had broken a window. He asked her to clean up the broken glass before her parents discovered it. At the end of their discussion, McLaughlin made arrangements for Mr. Gibons to sign a complaint against Wilson the next day at the Skokie police station. When he failed to appear, McLaughlin placed a call to the Gibonses' residence on July 29, at approximately 7 p.m. Jackie answered and told McLaughlin that her father was not home, but that she would have her father call him when he returned. Not having heard from Mr. Gibons, McLaughlin called the Gibonses' residence again on July 31 and talked to Jackie. She said that her mother and father were out to dinner and that she would inform her father of his call.

At approximately 2:45 p.m. on August 2, Detective McLaughlin went to the Gibonses' residence after a call from Mrs. Gibons' sister, Harriet Metrick. Metrick had called the police after the Gibonses' employers informed her that they had not been to work in several days. Inside the residence, McLaughlin observed bloodstains in several rooms of the house and cleaning fluids and bloodsoaked rags and towels scattered about. In the kitchen he found a bloody pair of gloves and Benjamin Gibons' wallet. Holes had been cut in the living-room carpet, and in the master bedroom a large hole was discovered in the closet wall which led to the garage. McLaughlin also found a belt in the master bedroom which bore the defendant's name and what was shown to be his prison identification number. (The defendant had been released from prison about three weeks prior to the crimes considered here.) In the basement were more bloody towels and sheets, as well as a pair of blood-soaked gloves. An inspection of the garage revealed garbage bags containing bloodstained sections of carpeting and towels, a hammer covered with masonry dust and a bloodstained newspaper, dated July 29, 1982.

On August 3, Jackie Gibons, who was then 20 years of age, contacted the police and volunteered to give a statement detailing the events leading to her parents' death. In the presence of Detective McLaughlin and Assistant State's Attorney Al Tomaso, she stated that on July 29, 1982, the defendant, Robert St. Pierre, bludgeoned her parents to death at their home under an agreement and plan made by the defendant, Barry Wilson and her. Jackie also stated that Wilson was in Los Angeles, California, with the Gibonses' automobile, and that he was probably with a man named Craig Rawlins. At trial, Gibons' statement was read to the jury with a limiting instruction that the statement was not to be considered against the defendant or Wilson. See Bruton v. United States (1968), 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476.

McLaughlin testified that he then traced Wilson and Rawlins to Rawlins' father's home in Phoenix, Arizona. On August 5, 1982, he and Sergeant O'Keefe, also of the Skokie police department, flew to Phoenix, where Wilson and Rawlins were held in custody and the Gibonses' car was impounded. McLaughlin examined the Gibonses' car, and in the trunk he discovered a shovel, an attache case containing surgical bandages, a can of Lysol and bloodstains under the carpeting. McLaughlin also spoke with Rawlins, who told him that while he and Wilson were in Phoenix, Wilson told him that the defendant had killed the Gibonses with a hammer and that Wilson had dropped the bodies off near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Subsequently, the officers returned to Chicago with Wilson. O'Keefe testified that during the flight, Wilson told him that the defendant had killed the Gibonses, but that he (Wilson) was not present during the murders. Later, Wilson recanted his statement, admitting to being present at the time Mrs. Gibons was murdered. At trial the court instructed the jury that the statements of Wilson were to be considered only against him.

On August 3, 1982, the defendant was arrested and taken to the Skokie police station, where he gave an oral and a written statement to Assistant State's Attorney James Lieberman admitting the acts that led to the death of the victims. According to his statement, on July 27, 1982, Wilson told him that Jackie Gibons wanted her parents murdered and that it would "pay good money" if he would do it. Wilson mentioned a figure of $10,000. After their conversation they went to the Gibonses' residence on Karlov where, in a bizarre action, considering the circumstances, Wilson broke through a window, entered the home and took some bologna and cheese from the refrigerator.

On July 29, Wilson and the defendant met Jackie in an alley where they "planned" the murders. The defendant stated that he wanted to "hear [Jackie] say * * * that she wanted it to go down." The defendant described Jackie's response: "[Y]eah, she wanted it done." The defendant then suggested they use a blackjack but Wilson disagreed and told him to use a hammer. Jackie went back to work, and the defendant and Wilson picked up a 12-pack of beer. After drinking the beer, they went to a bar and had a couple of more drinks before taking a train to Skokie. At a restaurant a couple of blocks from the Gibonses' residence, Wilson gave the defendant a phone number where he could be reached before the defendant left for the Gibonses.

When he arrived, the defendant's statement read, Jackie let him in and introduced the defendant to her father, Benjamin Gibons. After Gibons walked into the kitchen, Jackie gave the defendant a hammer and he followed Gibons into the kitchen. There he confronted Gibons and repeatedly struck him about the head with the hammer until he stopped breathing. He then handed Jackie the phone number he had obtained from Wilson and told her to call him. Wilson arrived five minutes later, and for the next hour they attempted to clean up the spattered blood in the kitchen using rags and towels. They tied the body with tape and rope, wrapped it in plastic and a blanket, and placed it in the master bedroom. The defendant stated that before they moved the body he reached into the pocket of Mr. Gibons' trousers and took out his wallet, which contained many $20 bills. He kept a $20 bill and gave the wallet to Wilson.

Mrs. Gibons phoned her home and told Jackie that she wanted to be picked up at the train station. Jackie left in the family car, and in the meantime, Wilson and the defendant continued drinking. When Jackie and her mother arrived, the defendant was waiting in the hallway. As Mrs. Gibons walked through the front door, defendant struck her a number of times on the head with a hammer. The defendant said that Mrs. Gibons' last words were to Jackie, asking, "[H]ow could you do this to me?" They then tied the body with tape and rope, wrapped it in a blanket and plastic, and placed it in the master bedroom. The defendant stated that due to the amount of blood that had soaked into the living-room carpeting, they cut out the stained section of carpeting and placed it in a trash bag. The defendant, Wilson and Jackie then took the Gibonses' car and went for a "cruise" with Wilson driving. He dropped the defendant and Jackie off at a hotel and left.

The next evening they returned to the Gibonses' residence. The defendant and Wilson broke through the wall in the bedroom closet that led to the garage and the bodies were passed through and placed in the trunk of the car. The defendant stated that at this time he observed that the tip of one of Mrs. Gibons' fingers was missing. He said that either...