People v. Washington

• Decision Date: 15 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 1-90-3121,1-90-3121
• Citation: 194 Ill.Dec. 854,257 Ill.App.3d 26,628 N.E.2d 351
• Parties: , 194 Ill.Dec. 854, 62 USLW 2387 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Artra WASHINGTON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 351

628 N.E.2d 351

257 Ill.App.3d 26, 194 Ill.Dec. 854,

62 USLW 2387

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Artra WASHINGTON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-90-3121.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, First Division.

Nov. 15, 1993.

Rita A. Fry, First Asst. Public Defender of Cook County, Chicago, for defendant-appellant (Lisa S. Ottenfeld, Asst. Public Defender, of counsel).

Jack O'Malley, Cook County State's Atty., Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee (Renee Goldfarb, Veronica X. Calderon, and Catherine A. Hufford, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel).

Justice BUCKLEY delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant Artra Washington was found guilty of first-degree murder. The trial judge sentenced defendant to 60 years in the Illinois State Penitentiary. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) that the trial judge erred in finding that the defense failed to make a prima facie showing of purposeful discrimination in the State's exercise of its peremptory challenges against black males; (2) that the trial judge usurped the jury's function as trier of fact and deprived defendant of his defense by refusing to give the defendant's involuntary manslaughter instruction; (3) that the prosecutor committed numerous acts of egregious misconduct calculated to inflame the passions of the jury; and (4) that the Illinois second-degree murder statute violates due process because it relieves the prosecution from the requirement of proving every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

During jury selection, after the first panel of 14 veniremembers was questioned, the State used four of its peremptory challenges. The State exercised two of those challenges against black men. The defense objected and moved for a mistrial on the ground that the State was purposely excluding black males from the jury through a discriminatory use of its peremptory challenges. The court listened to arguments from counsel and ruled that defendant failed to make a prima facie showing of purposeful racial discrimination. The judge stated:

"At this point I don't believe the defense has made a prima facie case. It does not appear to me that the State is excluding blacks, which is the decision in Batson--and I don't see any purposeful action on behalf of the jury commissioner in sending down a venire which indicates only three female [sic] Blacks.

There are quite a few blacks on the venire, and I believe that there is no violation of the defendant's constitutional right at this point in time, and both motions are denied."

Ultimately, the chosen jury consisted of six white males, one white female, and five black females. One white female and one black female were chosen as alternate jurors.

The following facts were adduced at trial. Mrs. Frankie Lewis testified that, on July 13, 1988, she was at home baby-sitting her grandchildren Keith, Patrick, Robert, and Terrance while her daughter, Andrea Lewis, was at school. Frankie's son Anthony was also there and Terrance was helping him paint the house. At some point in the day, another of Frankie's daughters, Denise, came home. Denise lived with Frankie. Frankie stated that, at approximately 11 p.m., she received a telephone call from her granddaughter, Eugena Heard. Eugena was the wife of defendant. After speaking with Eugena, Denise and Andrea went to pick up Eugena and two of her children. They drove them to Patricia Heard's home. Patricia is Eugena's mother and Denise and Andrea's sister. Denise then returned home.

Frankie testified that, on July 14, 1988, at approximately 2:30 a.m., she was awakened by defendant's "knocking on the door and screaming." She told him that his wife and children were not in the house and he left. At approximately 4 a.m., defendant returned. According to Frankie, he was screaming for his wife and children and banging on the bedroom windows and the front door. She testified that, when he saw her through the window, he called her an "old grey haired bitch." Frankie said she then grabbed a pool stick and went outside. Her son Anthony was right behind her and when she went to swing the stick at defendant she hit her son in the head. Anthony took the stick from his mother and chased the defendant. According to Frankie, Anthony caught defendant and then pushed him away telling him to leave. Frankie testified that she saw defendant reach under the seat of his car and she warned Anthony. Anthony then broke the front windshield of the car with the pool stick. Defendant then began to leave, but was stopped by the police who had been called by Denise.

Frankie told officer Kanshal Proctor that defendant's wife and children were not in her house. Proctor then told defendant to go home. Frankie testified that defendant said he would be back and Proctor told him that if he did come back he would be arrested.

According to Frankie, at approximately 5:30 a.m., defendant returned and broke the windshield on her car. Anthony, Denise, Patrick, and Keith went outside into the front yard, while Frankie and Terrance stayed in the front doorway. Frankie testified that defendant yelled, "this is what I think about you, all of you Lewis son-of-a-bitches" and he pulled a shotgun out of his car. Frankie stated that, when defendant fired the weapon the first time, everyone hit the ground and began crawling back to the house. She said that the bullet went right past her. She did not realize the bullet had hit Terrance in the arm until she heard him say, "momma, I'm hit. I bleed." Frankie testified that she and Denise had helped Terrance to the bathroom to wash the blood off his arm when another shot rang out. This bullet also went through the front door, ricochetted, and hit Terrance in the chest. According to Frankie, he spun around and collapsed on the bathroom floor. She said that Terrance mumbled "help me, help me" just before he died. Frankie also testified that she was a foster mother and that, in addition to Denise, Anthony, Keith, Patrick, and Terrance, there were four other foster children asleep in the house.

John Glaubke, a Cook County sheriff's investigator, testified that, on July 14, 1988, at approximately 6 a.m. he was called to investigate a homicide at 1405 East 15th Place in Ford Heights. Glaubke stated that he took photographs and measurements of the crime scene. He recovered a rifle deer slug from the living room wall and another slug on the floor in the hallway. He stated that Proctor gave him a "live" .20 gauge shotgun shell and a spent casing which Proctor had found on the scene.

Dr. Nancy Jones, a deputy medical examiner, testified that she performed the post mortem examination on Terrance. She stated that Terrance had a "through-and-through" gunshot wound to the chest. According to Jones, the bullet hit Terrance in the left side of his chest and exited the right side. Jones stated that her examination also revealed a "graze wound" on Terrance's right forearm. In her opinion, "Terrance Lewis died as a result of a shotgun wound to the chest."

Anthony and Denise Lewis testified that they were at their mother's house at the time of the incident. Their testimony was consistent with Frankie's testimony.

Kanshal Proctor, a Ford Heights police officer, testified that, at approximately 4 a.m., he and his partner responded to a call of a disturbance at 1405 East 15th Place. When they arrived, they noticed defendant driving away from the location and so they stopped him. The windshield of his car was broken. Proctor stated that he had a conversation with Frankie and defendant. He told defendant to go home and not to come back because if he did he would be arrested. Proctor testified that, at approximately 5:30 a.m., they received another call of a disturbance at 1405 East 15th Place, but that this disturbance involved a shooting. According to Proctor, when he and his partner arrived everyone was "upset." He entered the house and observed Terrance lying on his back in the bathroom. He then went out into the street and recovered several shotgun shells from the street. One shell was "full" and the other was "empty."

Detective Warren DeGraff testified that, on July 19, 1988, at approximately 12 p.m., he arrested defendant at a McDonald's restaurant on 162nd street. When defendant first was taken into custody, he gave a false name to the police.

Defendant testified that, on July 14, 1988, he went to Frankie's house looking for his wife and children. Frankie told him they were not there and that she would call the police if he did not leave. According to defendant, he did not believe that his family was not there and so he went around to the bedroom windows and yelled for his wife. He stated that, when he came back around to the front door, Frankie came out with a golf club in her hand. He said that Anthony came out the door behind her, took the club, and chased after him. Anthony grabbed him at his car and told him that his family was not there and that he should "get the hell out of here." He testified that he got in the car, put up his windows, locked his doors, and started his car. According to defendant, as he started his car, Anthony smashed the windshield.

After Proctor arrived and told him to leave, defendant went to his mother's house to get a "rifle" he had hidden in the storage room. He then drove back to Frankie's house. When he arrived, he grabbed a hammer out of his car and broke the windshield on Frankie's car. He stated that he was walking back to his car, when he saw "Anthony come running at me with a club." He stated that he ran to the car and grabbed the rifle. He testified that he shot the gun twice. According to defendant, Anthony was approximately 30 or 40 feet away when he fired the weapon, but that he did not aim it at Anthony. He testified that he fired at the house and did not intend to kill anyone. He stated that as soon as he saw Anthony on the ground, he threw the gun in the car and left. H...