People v. Sutherland
| Decision Date | 04 December 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 70126,70126 |
| Citation | 182 Ill.Dec. 577,155 Ill.2d 1,610 N.E.2d 1 |
| Parties | , 182 Ill.Dec. 577 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Cecil SUTHERLAND, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, Springfield, and Charles W. Hoffman, Asst. App. Defender, Chicago, both of the Office of the State App. Defender, for appellant.
Roland W. Burris, Atty. Gen., Springfield , for the People.
The defendant, Cecil Sutherland, was indicted in Jefferson County for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and three counts of murder. After a change of venue from Jefferson County to Richland County, a jury convicted him of all charges. The same jury found him eligible for the death penalty based on the felony murder aggravating factor, and he subsequently was sentenced to death. Defendant took a direct appeal to this court. Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 9-1(i); 134 Ill.2d R. 603.
At 9 a.m. on July 2, 1987, an oil field worker discovered the nude body of 10-year-old Amy Schultz of Kell, Illinois, approximately 100 feet from an oil lease access road in rural Jefferson County. Amy's body was lying on its stomach covered with dirt. There were shoeprints on her back and several hairs were found stuck in her rectal area. In addition, a large open wound on the right side of Amy's neck exposed her spinal cord area. A pool of blood around Amy's head indicated that the murderer had killed her where she lay.
Amy Schultz's clothes--her shirt, shorts, underpants, shoes and socks--were found strewn along the oil lease road. Within 17 feet from the body, automobile tire impressions were found. Near the tire impressions, a shoeprint impression similar in design to the shoeprint on the body was found. Plaster casts of the tire and shoeprint impressions were made.
Dr. Steven Neurenberger performed an autopsy on July 3, 1987. He noted a 14.5 centimeter wound that ran from the middle of the throat to behind the right ear lobe which cut through the neck muscles, severed Dr. Neurenberger's examination for internal injuries uncovered three hemorrhages inside the skull, a fractured rib, and a torn liver. There was also evidence of tearing of the rectal mucosa. Finally, he found that Amy's vocal cords were hemorrhaged and her esophagus was bruised.
[182 Ill.Dec. 580] the carotid artery and jugular vein, and cut into the cartilage between the neck and vertebrae. Amy's right eye was hemorrhaged and there was a small abrasion near her left eyebrow. Her ear was torn off the skin at the base of the ear and both her lips were lacerated from being compressed against the underlying teeth. There were also linear abrasions to the outer lips of the vagina which indicated that force had been applied to the back, pressing the vagina against the ground.
From the foregoing, Dr. Neurenberger deduced that the offender strangled Amy to unconsciousness or death, anally penetrated her, slit her throat, and stepped on her body to force exsanguination. Based on the gastric contents of her stomach, Dr. Neurenberger placed the time of death between 9:30 and 11 p.m. on July 1, 1987.
Illinois State Police forensic scientist David Brundage examined the plaster casts of the tire print impressions made at the scene of the crime. He concluded, and testified at trial, that the tire impressions left at the scene were consistent in all class characteristics with only two models of tires manufactured in North America, the Cooper "Falls Persuader," and the Cooper "Dean Polaris."
Several months after the discovery of Amy's body, the police at Glacier National Park in Montana called Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Michael Anthis regarding Cecil Sutherland's abandoned car, a 1977 Plymouth Fury. At the time of Amy's murder, Sutherland had been living in Dix, Illinois, in Jefferson County, on the county line between Dix and Kell. Deputy Anthis determined that the car in question had a Cooper "Falls Persuader" tire on the right front wheel. Deputy Anthis and David Brundage then travelled to Montana where they made an ink impression of the right front wheel of Sutherland's car.
After comparing the plaster casts of the tire impression at the scene with the inked impression of the tire from Sutherland's car, Brundage concluded that the tire impression at the scene corresponded with Sutherland's tire and could have been made by that tire. Brundage, however, could not positively exclude all other tires due to the lack of comparative individual characteristics, such as nicks, cuts, or gouges.
Similarly, Mark Thomas, the manager of mold operations at the Cooper Tire Company, concluded that due to the "mal" wear similarity, Sutherland's tire could have made the impression found at the crime scene. Thomas compared the blueprints of Cooper tires with the plaster casts of the tire impressions and concluded that the "probability" was "pretty great" that a size P2175/B15 tire--the same size as Sutherland's Falls Persuader tire--had made the impression. He conceded, however, that there was a significant number of such tires on the road.
Forensic scientist Kenneth Knight compared the two pubic hairs recovered from Amy Schulz's rectal area with Sutherland's pubic hair as well as with pubic hairs from members of Amy's family and those from 24 suspected offenders in the case. Knight concluded that the pubic hairs found on Amy did not originate from her family or the 24 suspects, but "could have originated" from Sutherland.
Knight also examined the approximately 34 dog hairs found on Amy's clothing. He concluded that the hairs were consistent with and could have originated from Sutherland's black labrador, Babe. He further found that the dog hairs on Amy's clothes were dissimilar from her family's three dogs, her grandparents' dog, and three neighbors' dogs.
Tina Sutherland, Sutherland's sister-in-law, testified that Sutherland often carried Babe in his car and that it was impossible to be in defendant's car without getting covered with dog hair. Numerous dog Knight also examined Amy's clothing for the presence of foreign fibers. He found a total of 29 gold fibers in Amy's socks, shoes, underwear, shorts, and shirt. Knight concluded that all but one of the gold fibers found on Amy's clothes "could have originated" from defendant's auto carpet, but could not state that the fibers originated from Sutherland's auto carpet to the exclusion of all other auto carpets. He determined that the one remaining gold fiber found on Amy's clothes could have originated from the upholstery of Sutherland's car.
[182 Ill.Dec. 581] hairs found in Sutherland's car were found to be consistent with the hairs from Babe.
Knight also compared 12 cotton and 4 polyester fibers found on the front passenger side floor of defendant's car with cotton and polyester fibers from Amy's shirt. He found that the fibers from the car displayed the same size, shape, and color of the fibers from the shirt and concluded that they could have originated from the shirt. Furthermore, he also compared three polyester fibers found on the front passenger seat and floor of defendant's car with the fibers from Amy's shorts. Knight found these fibers consistent in diameter, color, shape, and optical properties and opined that the fibers from the car could have originated from the shorts.
The forensic expert for the defense, Richard Bisbing, agreed with the State's expert's conclusions on all the comparison evidence except as to the cotton fibers found in defendant's car. Bisbing did not agree that the cotton fibers were consistent, as he noticed some differences in size and color.
Amy Schulz had last been seen alive at approximately 9:10 in the evening of July 1, 1987. She was walking alone on Jefferson Street near 4th Street in the town of Kell, Illinois, in Marion County.
Tina Sutherland, defendant's sister-in-law, testified that on the evening of July 1, 1987, defendant was visiting his brother and her at their home in Texico, Illinois, in Jefferson County. Defendant often visited as he was living with his mother in Dix, Illinois, only five minutes away. Tina Sutherland testified that on the night of Amy's murder, defendant left her home at approximately 8 to 8:30.
Defendant's mother, Joan Sutherland, testified that he telephoned her at 10:57 p.m. from Harper's gas station in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Mrs. Sutherland testified that defendant called because his car had broken down and needed a ride to obtain a part for the car. The attendant at the gas station testified that defendant had been at the station approximately 20 to 30 minutes before he made the telephone call.
Tina Sutherland testified that from her house to Kell was a six- to seven-minute drive. Deputy Sheriff Anthis testified that the distance from Kell to the crime site was 12.1 miles and took 14 minutes to drive. He also testified that the distance from where the body was found to Harper's gas station in Mt. Vernon was 20.4 miles and took 22 minutes to drive.
The jury found defendant guilty of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and three counts of murder. The trial court denied post-trial motions and the case proceeded to a capital sentencing hearing. The jury found defendant eligible for the death penalty under the felony murder aggravating factor, and subsequently returned a verdict of death.
On appeal, defendant raises three categories of issues for review: (1) whether any trial errors require reversal of defendant's conviction; (2) whether any errors at sentencing require vacation of defendant's death sentence; and (3) whether the death penalty is constitutional. We find no merit to defendant's alleged errors and affirm ...
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