People v. Stewart

• Decision Date: 30 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 56332,56332
• Parties: , 85 Ill.Dec. 241 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Raymond Lee STEWART, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 840

473 N.E.2d 840

105 Ill.2d 22, 85 Ill.Dec. 241

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Raymond Lee STEWART, Appellant.

No. 56332.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 30, 1984.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 1, 1985.

G. Joseph Weller, Deputy Defender, Kyle Wesendorf, Asst. State Appellate Defender, Elgin, Joel Teibloom, Asst. Public Defender, Chicago, for appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Mark L. Rotert, Kenneth A. Fedinets, David E. Bindi, Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, for appellee.

RYAN, Chief Justice:

Raymond Lee Stewart was charged in a two-count indictment in the circuit court of Winnebago County with the murders of Willie Fredd and Albert Pearson (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 38, par. 9-1(a)(1)). A jury found defendant guilty on both counts. Following a separate sentencing hearing before the same jury, the defendant was sentenced to death. The sentence was stayed (87 Ill.2d R. 609(a)), pending direct appeal to this court (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, sec. 4(b); 87 Ill.2d R. 603). For the reasons set forth below, we affirm defendant's conviction and sentence.

As shown by affidavits filed for the purpose of procuring search warrants, several murders and armed robberies were committed within a few days in the cities of Rockford, Illinois, and Beloit, Wisconsin. On January 27, 1981, Willie Fredd and Albert Pearson were shot and killed during the course of an armed robbery of Fredd's Groceries in Rockford. These are the murders involved in this case. On January 28, 1981, a Clark gasoline station in Rockford was robbed and a 17-year-old named Kaiser was slain with four gunshot wounds to his chest and one to his head. On January 29, 1981, the E-Z Go gas station in Rockford was robbed and two victims were murdered by multiple gunshot wounds. On February 2, 1981, the Radio Shack at Beloit Plaza in Beloit, Wisconsin, was robbed and two men were murdered. One victim had five gunshot wounds to his body and the other four.

The defendant was convicted of the murder of Kaiser in the circuit court of Winnebago County and was sentenced to death. This court affirmed his conviction and sentence in People v. Stewart (1984), 104 Ill.2d 463, 85 Ill.Dec. 422, 473 N.E.2d 1227 (Stewart I ). The defendant was convicted in the circuit court of Rock County, Wisconsin, of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery for the Radio Shack robbery and killings in Beloit, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count of murder and an indeterminate term not to exceed 20 years on the armed-robbery count.

On January 27, 1981, at approximately 1 p.m., Willie Fredd and Albert Pearson were shot to death in Fredd's Groceries in Rockford, Illinois. There were no eyewitnesses to the shootings. At trial, Belinda Jarrett testified that she left Fredd's Groceries shortly before one o'clock on the day of the murders. As she crossed the street in front of the store, she observed an older maroon-colored automobile with a black top, yellow license plates, and a broken front grill speeding toward her. Although she could not identify the driver, she stated that she saw the car turn and drive toward a parking lot located behind the store.

Additional evidence established that on January 22, 1981, defendant had returned to Illinois after visiting his cousin, Florence Crosby, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Upon his return, defendant registered at the Westward Motel under the name of Alan Spaulding. The motel was located approximately two blocks from Fredd's Groceries. When defendant checked out of the motel on January 30, 1981, Delores Perdue, the motel manager, observed him drive off in a maroon-colored automobile. Katherine Waldvogel, a maid at the motel, was also present when defendant checked out and stated that she saw defendant enter and drive away in a maroon and black automobile with Wisconsin license plates. Subsequently, while cleaning defendant's room, Waldvogel and another maid found a laundry receipt with the name "Stewart" written at the top and a T-shirt containing the initials "R.S." These matters will be discussed in more detail later.

The evidence confirmed that defendant was the owner of a 1970 black-over-maroon Mercury with yellow Wisconsin license plates. It also showed that on February 4 1981, defendant executed a 24-hour rental contract for a U-Haul trailer which he attached to his Mercury. Two days later, as a result of mechanical problems, defendant had the Mercury and U-Haul towed to his brother-in-law's home in Sycamore, Illinois. There he removed the trailer from the Mercury and hitched it to a red and white Buick Electra 225 which also belonged to Stewart. He then drove to Crosby's home in Greensboro, North Carolina.

On February 21, 1981, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested defendant in the parking lot outside Crosby's apartment as he was about to enter the Buick. The arrest was made pursuant to a Federal arrest warrant which had been issued for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The warrant was issued on February 20, 1981, and was based on information that defendant had fled Illinois after committing an armed robbery in Rockford several weeks before the incident involved in this case.

Shortly after the arrest, Special Agent Leonard Bogaty of the Federal Bureau of Investigation went to Crosby's apartment. Following a brief conversation with Crosby, Bogaty went to a bedroom shared by defendant and Crosby's young son and removed a number of defendant's items, including a large brown suitcase, a Polaroid camera and a camera case.

Later that day, FBI agents obtained a search warrant for defendant's suitcase and Buick. In the suitcase they found a loaded .38-caliber R & G revolver and a camera power pack. Among the items recovered from the Buick were a copy of an airline ticket dated January 22, 1981, in defendant's name; a U-Haul rental contract; a manila envelope containing personal papers; and a tan three-quarter-length man's coat with an unspent .38-caliber Smith & Wesson cartridge in the pocket. A number of witnesses testified at trial that the coat was similar to one that defendant had worn on previous occasions.

The next day, February 22, 1981, Agent Bogaty went to the home of Charlie Benton, defendant's uncle, in Whitsett, North Carolina, approximately five miles from Greensboro. Agent Bogaty observed the U-Haul trailer in the yard and inquired whether Benton had any objection to the FBI removing the trailer. Benton stated that he did not object, and the trailer was taken to the Greensboro police department, where it was searched the following day after agents obtained a search warrant. In the trailer, agents found a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and matching ammunition. Tests performed on the Smith & Wesson revolver determined that it was the weapon used to kill Fredd and Pearson. Tests were also performed on the tan coat recovered from the Buick. They revealed the presence of human blood in five areas, as well as gunshot powder residue on both sleeves.

With respect to the Smith & Wesson revolver and camera equipment found in defendant's possession, Cornelius Jones testified that in December 1980 he was robbed in the parking lot of a lounge in South Beloit by a black man armed with a .32- or .38-caliber snub-nose revolver. When showed the .38-caliber R & G revolver recovered from defendant's suitcase, Jones stated that it looked like the same type of weapon that was pointed at him. Jones identified the Smith & Wesson revolver, Polaroid camera and attachments as the items taken from him during the robbery. He also stated that, because the assailant wore a ski mask, he was unable to identify him; however, following the robbery, he observed a red and white Buick Electra 225 drive out of the parking lot.

The defendant has raised 27 grounds for reversing his conviction and sentence. Many of these are divided into subissues. He first contends that factual misstatements were intentionally inserted in the warrant affidavits to deceive the magistrate, or that they were inserted with reckless disregard for the truth. Thus, he argues that the evidence obtained pursuant to the warrants should have been suppressed under Franks v. Delaware (1978), 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667. As noted earlier, two Federal search warrants were issued; both were supported by affidavits of agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The affidavit of Henry Phillips served as a basis for the warrant to search defendant's Buick and suitcase. The affidavit of Thomas Brerton, which incorporated the Phillips affidavit and supplemented it, supported the warrant authorizing a search of the U-Haul trailer. The focus of defendant's argument is on statements contained in the Phillips affidavit. Phillips had stated that he had personally received information from Illinois law-enforcement officials concerning six homicides committed during the course of four armed robberies. The affidavits, as noted earlier, set out seven homicides. He further advised the magistrate that ballistic evidence furnished by the Illinois Division of Criminal Investigation Laboratory had determined that all the homicides were related. With respect to the Fredd and Pearsons murders, the affidavit provided:

"Armed Robbery # 1

On January 27, 1981, two black males, WILLIE FREDD, and ALBERT PEARSON, were shot and killed during the course of an armed robbery of Fredd's Grocery Store [sic ] at Rockford, Illinois, and that from witnesses who were at the location of the robbery shortly prior to the discovery of the victims it was determined that the perpetrator had been operating a maroon 1970 Mercury with Wisconsin license and that this vehicle was observed behind Fredd's Grocery Store [sic ]. Additional investigation determined that RAYMOND LEE STEWART was staying at the Westwood Motel [sic ] and was registered under an alias however, was identified by motel personnel from his photograph.

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