People v. Stremmel

• Decision Date: 21 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 2-91-1017,2-91-1017
• Citation: 630 N.E.2d 1301,258 Ill.App.3d 93,197 Ill.Dec. 177
• Parties: , 197 Ill.Dec. 177 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert E. STREMMEL II, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1301

630 N.E.2d 1301

258 Ill.App.3d 93, 197 Ill.Dec. 177

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert E. STREMMEL II, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-91-1017.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

Second District.

March 21, 1994.

Rehearing Denied April 20, 1994.

Albert A. Altamore, Vella, Sparkman & Altamore, P.C., Rockford,G. Joseph Weller, Deputy Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Elgin, Ingrid L. Moller, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Elgin, for Robert E. Stremmel, II.

Paul A. Logli, Winnebago County State's Atty., Rockford, William L. Browers, Deputy Director, Marshall M. Stevens, State's Attys. Appellate Prosecutors, Elgin, for People.

Justice McLAREN delivered the opinion of the court:

A jury in the circuit court of Winnebago County convicted defendant, Robert E. Stremmel II, of first degree murder. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 9-1(a)(1) (now 720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 1992)).) Defendant was sentenced to 100 years' imprisonment. Defendant appeals his conviction and sentence.

On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred in admitting DNA testing evidence and associated statistical evidence; (2) the State failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; (3) the trial court erred in declining to excuse a prospective juror for cause; (4) the trial court erred in allowing the State to impeach three of its own witnesses; (5) the trial court erred when it allowed certain photographs to go to the jury room; and (6) the trial court erred in sentencing him. Because we reverse and remand for a new trial, we will not address the last issue regarding an excessive sentence.

The following evidence was adduced at trial. On April 4, 1990, David Burns was found dead in his home in Rockford. Burns' body was lying in a pool of blood in the living room of his single-family house. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was a brutal beating with a blunt instrument which inflicted multiple head injuries, brain damage and injuries to other parts of Burns' body. The murder weapon was not found. The forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified that some of the wounds could have been caused by the rounded end of a tire iron or a hammer. In addition, a number of the wounds were consistent with a heavy blunt instrument with a pointed end such as the end of a tire iron designed to remove hub caps.

There are no known eyewitnesses to the murder. There were no signs of forced entry to the house. There were no signs of a struggle. There was no evidence of a robbery or burglary. The body showed evidence of defensive wounds such as contusions on the arms and hands.

In the room where the body was found, there were large amounts of blood on the floor and blood was spattered on all the walls and the ceiling. There was also blood in the adjoining rooms. The State presented expert testimony that the perpetrator could have had only a little blood on himself despite the large amount of blood spattered at the scene of the crime.

On a wood floor area near the entry to an adjoining bedroom, crime scene investigators found a number of bloody partial shoeprints. It was ultimately determined that a size 11 to 12 Converse leather basketball shoe made the prints. The shoes recovered from Burns' body were size 9 and were not Converse. Defendant's shoe size was 11 1/2 or 12.

Investigators recovered a total of 20 latent fingerprints from various items at the crime scene such as beer cans and a potato chip bag. Fifteen of these prints were identified to the victim. Three of the prints were palm prints which were unacceptable for print matching. Of the remaining two fingerprints, one was excluded from identification with defendant and the other was inconclusive.

Burns and defendant knew each other from their occasional attendance at the same Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting which met daily in Rockford at various times. There is no evidence that Burns and defendant knew each other socially. When they both attended the same meeting, Burns and defendant sometimes greeted each other. Burns and defendant sat next to each other during an AA meeting on at least one occasion.

On the evening of April 3, 1990, defendant left his family residence in Stillman Valley after telling his father that he intended to Even if they arrived at the tavern together, Burns and defendant spent little, if any, time together in the tavern. Several witnesses testified that Burns sat at the end of the bar drinking beer while defendant circulated around the bar playing pool, talking to people, and drinking vodka and orange juice.

[197 Ill.Dec. 180] attend an 8 p.m. AA meeting in Rockford. Defendant drove himself in a brown 1970 Chevy pickup truck. Later that night, Burns and defendant spent several hours drinking in the Kishwaukee Tap, a tavern in Rockford. Burns and defendant were drinking in the tavern from some time after 9 p.m. until approximately 2 a.m. There is evidence that they arrived at the tavern together. Lisa Faber, one of the two bartenders on duty at the Kishwaukee Tap that night, at first testified that she could not remember whether Burns came into the bar with anyone else. After being shown a police report, however, Faber remembered that she had previously told the police that Burns had arrived at the bar with a big muscular guy whom she identified as defendant.

Sometime after midnight, one of the tavern regulars, Sam Carter, joined Burns at the bar and the two talked for about an hour. Burns told Carter that he was not driving and was with a man in the bar, a big muscular guy, who was moving around inside the bar. Carter was unable to identify defendant at the trial. Burns also told Carter that he was having problems with his wife because of his drinking. Carter wrote down and gave Burns the phone number of his mother who, Carter explained, might be able to help Burns with his drinking problem. Police were able to trace Burns' activities on the night he was murdered to the Kishwaukee Tap after they found the name "Sam" (Carter's first name) and a phone number on a bar napkin in Burns' wallet which was recovered as evidence at the scene of the crime.

The other bartender on duty at the Kishwaukee Tap on the night in question, Bob Cooney, readily identified defendant as being in the bar that night. Cooney was unsure when defendant arrived, but after once noticing defendant in the bar, Cooney closely watched defendant for two to three hours until the bar closed at 2 a.m. Cooney watched defendant closely because defendant was "acting kind of strangely" in that, although not a regular patron, defendant roamed all over the bar talking to regulars. At one point, defendant grabbed one of the regulars in a headlock and Cooney quickly approached defendant and the other patron, separated them, and calmed them down. The patron who was in the headlock was not hurt in any way, and defendant took the headlock off as soon as Cooney approached.

One of the patrons in the Kishwaukee Tap on the night in question, Mark McNamara, also remembered defendant quite well. McNamara recalled that defendant took offense when a drunken patron by the name of Chuck, who was walking around the bar calling everyone an "asshole," called defendant an asshole. McNamara testified that when Chuck called defendant an asshole, defendant became very upset and approached Chuck, but McNamara got between them and told defendant to settle down. McNamara kept talking to defendant for a while. When defendant stated that he wanted to play pool, McNamara recalled that defendant again got "really mad" because the regulars would not allow him to play pool. After a while, the regulars relented and told defendant that he could play pool. McNamara and defendant walked over to a booth and kept talking until defendant was actually allowed to play. At the trial, McNamara testified that defendant was wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, but could not at first remember the type of tennis shoes. After having his memory refreshed, McNamara remembered telling the police that defendant wore low cut Converse tennis shoes and that he knew they were Converse because they had a star on the side.

Burns was last seen alive when he left the Kishwaukee Tap alone about 1:50 a.m. on April 4, 1990. About 10 minutes later, defendant also left the tavern alone. Bartender Cooney specifically remembered defendant leaving because Cooney saw defendant carry a drink outside and Cooney had to go after defendant and retrieve the drink. Cooney recalled that defendant was walking alone heading for the back of the building at that Defendant was next seen at 5 a.m. the same morning asleep in the backseat of one of his family's cars at the family residence. The 1970 Chevy pickup which defendant had driven to the meeting was parked nearby. Defendant's father found defendant asleep in the car at 5 a.m. when defendant's father left the family house to go to work. Because defendant's father knew that defendant had been drinking and that defendant was subject to epileptic seizures, defendant's father closely examined defendant for signs of harm. Defendant's father testified that he found no evidence of harm to defendant and no blood on defendant at that time.

[197 Ill.Dec. 181] time. In addition, defendant returned alone to the locked tavern a few minutes later and knocked on the door to inquire whether he had left a pack of cigarettes inside the tavern.

The police first interviewed defendant on April 21, 1990. During the interview, defendant stated that he knew who Burns was, but had never been with Burns socially. Defendant also stated that his mother usually drove him to the AA meetings and on the few occasions when he drove himself he drove one of four family vehicles. Defendant did not mention the 1970 Chevy pickup truck as one of the vehicles he might drive alone to AA meetings. Defendant denied being in a bar on April 3 and 4, 1990, and...