People v. Sykes

• Decision Date: 30 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 1-01-2942.,1-01-2942.
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Patrick SYKES, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

793 N.E.2d 816

341 Ill. App.3d 950

276 Ill.Dec. 57

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Patrick SYKES, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-01-2942.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

June 30, 2003.

Robert L. Byman; Matthew G. Borgula; Sherry H. Messner, Jenner & Block, Chicago, for Appellant.

Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney of Cook County, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, Peter Fischer, of counsel), for Appellee.

Presiding Justice SOUTH delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal arises from defendant's convictions of four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, attempted first degree murder and aggravated kidnaping for his alleged assault on Girl X after a jury trial. He was sentenced to a total of 120 years' imprisonment: 60-year terms on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault with concurrent 60-year terms for the other two counts, concurrent to a 30-year term for attempted murder.

On the morning of January 9, 1997, as she walked from a friend's apartment on the second floor to her grandmother's apartment on the sixth floor of the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, a little girl who would become known as "Girl X" was raped, strangled, had gang signs scrawled on her body, roach spray was sprayed down her throat, and she was left unconscious in a stairwell. At 10:25 a.m., Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) maintenance worker Tarie Miller found Girl X lying facedown with a rag partially around her neck and face on the landing of the seventh-floor stairwell. Miller went to apartments 709 and 710 to see if anyone could identify the little girl. Sharon Thompson and Mary Johnson responded and recognized the girl. They took Girl X to Johnson's apartment and laid her on the couch. At that time Girl X was unresponsive and foaming at the mouth, and her eyes were rolled back into her head. Her pants were unfastened, her underclothes were down around her ankles, her T-shirt was tied around her neck, and there was blood on her shirt. Girl X was not wearing any shoes, and there were what appeared to be gang signs written on her stomach in blue or black marker. Miller, Thompson and Johnson immediately called 911.

Paramedics responded within minutes to the call and were taken to apartment 710 by Miller. When they arrived there they saw Girl X lying on the couch, breathing erratically and foaming at the mouth. She was unresponsive, cold and rigid. They also saw red marks on her neck. At that time she was transported to Children's Memorial Hospital.

When she arrived in the emergency room at 11:17 a.m., Girl X was comatose, barely breathing and unresponsive to pain or other stimuli. Doctors noted linear red marks on her neck and red dots called Patricia, which were indicative of strangulation. When they cut off Girl X's clothing, they saw marks on her abdomen and clotted blood obscuring her hymen. Girl X also had several fresh puncture wounds, abrasions and lacerations on her back consistent with injury from sharp objects. Because Girl X was having trouble breathing and had blood in her mouth, the doctors suctioned out her mouth and intubated her. She showed signs of severe brain injury, and CT scans were ordered for her head and abdomen. Doctors also collected a sexual assault evidence kit. Expert examination of the contents of the kit revealed no semen on any swabs or the victim's clothes and no debris in the fingernail scrapings. Some hairs and hair fragments were recovered from Girl X's clothing. She was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU).

Girl X was examined by Dr. Emalee Flaherty, an expert in child sexual abuse. The examination revealed a lot of bleeding in the genital area with a fresh laceration to the power foresheath, lacerations and trauma to the anal area, and a laceration completely through the hymen. Dr. Flaherty concluded that Girl X had been sexually abused with dramatic injuries and that there had been both vaginal and anal penetration consistent with having been penetrated by a penis.

While in the pediatric ICU, Girl X was hooked up to a nasal gastric drainage tube to empty the contents of her stomach and to prevent them from going into her lungs. Early on January 10, nurse noticed a strange odor coming from the discharge tube and immediately notified the doctor. The doctor inspected the tube and smelled gasoline or something similar. The police were notified, and the doctor was asked to collect a specimen of the discharge in a glass container, which was subsequently turned over to the police.

The police investigation of the crime began immediately, with a canvass of the residents of the building. Detective Vernon Bradley was assigned the odd-numbered floors of the building, and between 12 and 12:30 p.m. he spoke to defendant, who lived in apartment 504 at the time. Defendant said that he had returned home at about noon and had not seen or heard anything unusual. Detective Bradley noted that defendant did not appear agitated or nervous and did nothing to arouse his suspicion.

Detective Bradley was also looking for a pair of boots because Girl X was not wearing her boots when she was found. One boot was found sitting on top of a brown paper bag in the incinerator room on the first floor of the building. The other one was found later in the room in a Dumpster. The boots were subsequently identified as belonging to Girl X, and both the boots and the paper bag were removed and inventoried by evidence technicians. The boots were examined sometime in January 1997, and no blood or other stains were found on them.

Illinois State Police latent fingerprint examiner Kimberly Young received and tested the brown paper bag on January 10, 1997. The bag contained a black plastic bag containing an Eli's chocolate cake box, a Frosted Flakes cereal box, and a macaroni and cheese dinner box. No suitable print impressions were found on any of the paper items. One suitable palm print was found on the plastic bag, which was photographed. That print was subsequently compared to palm print impressions given by defendant and a James Alexander, but no matches were made. There is no automated system available for comparing palm prints.

Also in January of 1997, the paper bag was examined in the Illinois State Police lab for the presence of bloodstains. There were no bloodstains inside the bag, but numerous red-brown stains were found on the outside of the bag, which preliminary testing indicated was blood. A stain on the corner of the bag was determined to be human blood, while a stain in the center of the bag was not human blood. The corner stain was tested for genetic markers, but the test was inconclusive. A sample from the corner stain was preserved even though the quantity of stain was insufficient for DNA analysis.¹

Girl X's clothes were also examined at the crime lab. Her T-shirt was found to be stained with her own blood; James Alexander's blood was not a match. Her clothing was also stained with feces. Evidence technicians photographed the area where Girl X was found and recovered various pieces of evidence, including markers found in the elevator area and five plastic jugs filled with different liquids which were found in the upper shaft of the elevator above the top floor. The markers were examined by the crime lab on January 10, but no fingerprints were found.

Jack Mowicki, a chemist at the crime lab, analyzed the stomach contents recovered from Girl X. He found medium petroleum distillate-type chemicals and a small amount of heavy distillate. Petroleum distillates are derived from crude oil and divided into light, medium and heavy. A petroleum distillate can be identified, but the specific product from which it came cannot be identified. Mowicki also analyzed the contents of the five jugs found in the elevator shaft. Four of the five samples were clearly different in pattern from the stomach contents, while the fifth had medium distillate in the same range as the stomach contents but not the heavy petroleum distillates.

In another canvass of the building on January 10, Detective John Turney interviewed defendant in apartment 504. Defendant said that he left his apartment at 8:10 a.m. and saw James Alexander in the hallway, who asked him where "Eddie" lived. Mary Johnson of apartment 710 also saw Alexander around 10 a.m. when he knocked on her door and asked her in what apartment Eddie Adams lived. She advised Alexander to go to apartment 510 but thought it strange because she thought that he knew Eddie. The police noticed that apartment 205 was vacant but not boarded up.

Detectives William Calabrese and John Brock of Area 3 were assigned as the lead detectives in the case. After speaking with Alexander, they spoke with defendant on January 9 or 10, at which time they asked him if he knew anything about what had happened. Defendant initially said that he was not around but subsequently stated that he saw Alexander in the fifth-floor hallway, and that Alexander had asked him if he knew where Eddie was. Defendant also told the detectives that Alexander asked him if he knew anything about a television set, to which defendant responded that he did not and left the building.

Altogether, as many as 125 police officers worked on the Girl X case. A list of suspects was compiled that eventually contained 37 names, but defendant was not on that list. There was no "number one" suspect at that time because almost every man and some of the women in the building were considered suspects. Possible gang involvement was investigated, but no connection was ever established.

Earl McGee of apartment 505 was on the suspect list. He was interviewed by the police in January, and when interviewed, he was wrapped in a towel, wearing socks and had knives inside both the socks and towel. His apartment also contained pornographic material.

James Alexander, who was also on the suspect list, was known as "raper man" in the building. His apartment, number...