People v. Watkins
| Decision Date | 29 September 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 42759,42759 |
| Citation | 46 Ill.2d 273,263 N.E.2d 115 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Lee Rhodes WATKINS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Gerald M. Werksman, and Jay I. Messinger, Chicago (Elliot M. Samuels, Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.
William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Atty., Chicago (James B. Zagel, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Robert A. Novelle, and Roger Matelski, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.
Defendant was indicted in the circuit court of Cook County for attempted murder of Daniel Gaffney. He was represented by private counsel, waived trial by jury and was tried by the court which found him guilty of attempted murder and aggravated battery and sentenced him to a five-year term of probation, a condition of which was that the first year thereof be served at the Cook County jail. Defendant appeals to this court saying that his rights under the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Federal constitution and section 2 of article II of the Illinois constitution S.H.A., were violated, since the pretrial identification procedure was so unnecessarily suggestive as to deprive the defendant of due process of law. He further contends that the evidence was not sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence.
The evidence shows that on the 20th day of April, 1969, at approximately 7:10 P.M. Patrolman Daniel Gaffney had occasion to be travelling northbound in a marked squad car in the vicinity of 1135 South Washtenaw Avenue, when he observed three men standing in an alley. He directed his spotlight on the suspicious group, alighted from his vehicle, and walked toward them, the spotlight remaining lit and pointed in the direction of the men. He asked the individuals what they were doing in the alley. He testified that one of the men, later identified as the defendant, produced a police sergeant's badge. A brief conversation ensued, after which the patrolman requested more specific identification. He further testified that the defendant then handed him the wallet which contained the badge and Gaffney then requested the defendant's CTA pass. Gaffney further said that defendant then reached into his left side and produced a blue steel revolver and stuck it into Gaffney's chest. A struggle ensued, and Gaffney was wounded in his left shoulder. He fell to the ground and the assailants fled. He returned to his vehicle and called for assistance. A fellow officer responded to the call and drove the victim to a hospital for emergency treatment.
Approximately ten minutes after the shooting, Sergeant Robert Healy arrived at the scene of the incident. He was given a wallet which was found at the scene by another policeman. The wallet contained a Chicago Police Sergeant's badge and an Illinois driver's license and other papers bearing defendant's name. Sergeant Healy inventoried the badge and gave the wallet and its contents to Detective Elwood Egan for a follow up investigation. Sergeant Healy identified the wallet at the trial. Officer Gaffney also identified the wallet as the same one which was shown to him by the defendant. Detective Egan identified the wallet as the one which was given to him by Sergeant Healy. The detective further testified that at the time of his arrest, the defendant admitted that the wallet and contents were his, but stated that he had lost the wallet Two weeks prior to the date of the shooting. Detective Egan asked the defendant whether he filed a police report with respect to the lost articles, and the defendant responded affirmatively, but an examination of police records by Detective Egan failed to reveal the existence of a report. The parties stipulated that the badge contained in the wallet was returned to its owner, namely Officer Frank Hitzeman, who lost it on March 9, 1969. The wallet and its contents were admitted into evidence over the objection of the defendant's counsel.
Within four or five hours after his arrival at the hospital, Officer Gaffney was given the opportunity to view six to eight photographs of different individuals, and from this group he identified the defendant as his assailant. Early the following morning, the defendant was brought to the hospital, where Officer Gaffney identified him as the individual who shot him. At the trial, Officer Gaffney identified the defendant as his assailant. He indicated that the lighting in the alley was adequate to view the defendant and that he also had the benefit of the squad car spotlight which was pointed directly at the defendant and his accomplices.
The defendant testified in his own behalf that he was visiting friends at the time of the incident and that he lost his wallet containing his driver's license in August or September of 1968, Some six months before the incident. He further stated that he appeared in traffic court on April 18, 1969, and was forced to pay a fine for failure to produce a driver's license. A copy of the transcript of the proceedings in the traffic court for that date was admitted in evidence.
When Officer Gaffney was first taken to the hospital after the shooting, he was asked by Officer Gallela to describe his assailant. He described him as a male Negro, 6 2 tall, weighing 180 lbs. with a natural hairstyle. Defendant is a male Negro, 5 11 tall, weighing 145 ibs. with processed hair and mustache and a faint goatee.
Defendant further testified that for the period from about 4:00 P.M. until 10:30 P.M. on the day in question he and 8 friends were at the home of Felix and Willie Strong at 5055 West Gladys Street, Chicago, and that he did not leave the party. He stated that he arrived home about midnight and then first learned that the police were looking for him, whereupon he immediately went to the Upstairs Lounge on Fifteenth Street, where the owner of the tavern called the police. Upon the arrival of the police, he was placed under arrest. Defendant identified a second wallet in court as being the one he had in his possession on April 20, 1969, and among other things, this wallet contained a receipt for a traffic fine dated February 18 and a check stub from work dated April 19, 1969. The defendant further stated that someone was apparently using his driver's license because a ticket was issued to him on October 18, 1968, for which he was not responsible. He asserted his innocence of all the charges brought against him.
Several witnesses, all friends of the defendant, testified that they were present in Strong's home on the date in question and that he was there at the time of the alleged crime.
The defendant contends that the pretrial identification was so wanting in fairness as to deprive him of due process of law and that all testimony relating thereto should have been stricken. In support of this argument he points out that a wallet containing the defendant's name was brought to the complaining withess shortly after the shooting while he was still in the hospital and that shortly thereafter the witness viewed photographs, one of which was of the defendant, and that finally the defendant, while in custody, was brought to the hospital for a one-to-one confrontation, all of these events occurring within a span of some 7 hours. He cites the case of Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247, in support of this argument. In the Simmons case it was pointed out that a witness may have obtained only a brief glimpse of a criminal or may have seen him under poor...
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