People v. Watson

• Decision Date: 20 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. 2-98-1125.,2-98-1125.
• Citation: 735 N.E.2d 75,248 Ill.Dec. 755,315 Ill. App.3d 866
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Svondo WATSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

735 N.E.2d 75

315 Ill. App.3d 866

248 Ill.Dec. 755

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Svondo WATSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-98-1125.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

July 20, 2000.

As Modified Upon Denial of Rehearing August 22, 2000.

Eric Gibson, Robert Rattler, Law Office of Eric Gibson, Oak Park, for Svondo T. Watson.

Joseph E. Birkett, Du Page County State's Attorney, Wheaton, Martin P. Moltz, Deputy Director, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Elgin, for the People.

MODIFIED UPON DENIAL OF REHEARING

Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the court:

After a jury trial, the defendant, Svondo Watson, was convicted on July 29, 1998, of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery. The trial court sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of 60 years for the murder conviction, 30 years for the attempted murder conviction, and 30 years for the aggravated battery conviction. The 30-year sentences were to run concurrently with each other but consecutive to the 60-year sentence. The defendant appeals his convictions, contending that the trial court erred in failing to suppress his confessions to the crimes. Specifically, the defendant contends (1) that his confessions were the tainted fruit of evidence that was illegally seized earlier in the day, and (2) that the police denied him access to his attorney in violation of his constitutional rights.

The record reveals that the defendant was initially convicted in this case on June 9, 1996. However, on appeal this court reversed the defendant's convictions and remanded the cause for a new trial, finding that the defendant's trial counsel was ineffective in failing to file a motion to suppress evidence of bullets that were found in a safe in a bedroom closet in the first-floor apartment located at 1628 North Linder, Chicago, Illinois. See People v. Watson, No. 2-95-0809, 282 Ill.App.3d 1116, 236 Ill.Dec. 456, 707 N.E.2d 301 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23 (1996)). The building searched was a two-flat building that contained separate apartments on the second floor and first floor, with an additional basement apartment. The search warrant executed by police permitted the officers to search the entire brick, two-story premises at 1628 North Linder in Chicago. However, the complaint requested a search warrant for "the house" that the defendant "was found at in Chicago." The complaint, written in narrative form by Detective Carl Alagna, also stated that the defendant's brother, Changa Harris, told police that if the defendant was going to use a gun it would have been a .380-caliber gun that belonged to the defendant's cousin. According to the complaint, Harris also told police that the defendant's cousin lived at the same house with Harris and the defendant.

This court found that it was apparent from the officers' testimony that at the time they requested the issuance of the warrant they knew or reasonably should have known that the premises consisted of separate living quarters. Additionally, the officers knew that the defendant occupied only the second-floor apartment. Thus, probable cause existed to search on the second-floor apartment, not the first-floor apartment where the incriminating evidence was found.

On remand for a new trial, the defendant filed motions to quash his arrest, to suppress evidence seized pursuant to the execution of the search warrant, and to suppress statements the defendant made to the police following his arrest. At the hearing on the defendant's motions, the State presented evidence indicating that Leo McDaniel was fatally shot while sleeping in his apartment during the early morning hours of June 7, 1997. McDaniel's girlfriend, Keisha Twitty, was present during the shooting and later identified the defendant as the shooter to the police. The defendant had stayed at the apartment the previous couple of nights and was expected to return that night. He had a key to the apartment and was the only other person besides McDaniel and Twitty with a key to the apartment. Twitty specifically remembered locking the door before she went to bed that night, and there was no forced entry. The police found a receipt with the defendant's address in McDaniel's apartment. When the police went to the location mentioned on the receipt, they found a vehicle matching the description of the type of vehicle driven by the defendant. Upon arriving at the defendant's apartment, the defendant told police that "Svondo Watson was not there" and that "Watson had been in jail for the past two weeks." The trial court granted the defendant's motion to suppress items seized during the search but denied the motion to suppress the defendant's arrest.

The hearing then continued on the questions presented by the defendant's motion to suppress the defendant's statements to police following his arrest. Lombard police detective Carl Alagna testified that he arrested the defendant and Changa Harris around 10 a.m. on June 7, 1994, at the defendant's home and brought them to the Lombard police department. Officer Alagna read the defendant his Miranda warnings, and the defendant told the officer that he understood each of his rights, including his rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present. The defendant then voluntarily spoke with Alagna for about 25 minutes. Officer Sticka was also present during the conversation. At that time, the defendant denied involvement in the shooting but acknowledged his association with the victim. Alagna did not remember whether he mentioned to the defendant that Twitty had positively identified the defendant as the shooter. However, Alagna further testified that he did not believe that he did mention Twitty's identification to the defendant because he would have placed that fact in the police report if he had mentioned it.

Officer Alagna further testified that he again spoke with the defendant around 3:30 p.m. that same day. Officer Dane Cuny was also present for this conversation. Cuny asked the defendant if he still understood his rights, and the defendant responded that he did. According to Alagna, the defendant did not assert any of his Miranda rights while he was present, and Alagna was not advised by anyone that an attorney had called attempting to locate the defendant.

Lombard police lieutenant Dane Cuny testified that he interviewed the defendant at 3:30 p.m. on June 7, 1994, at the Lombard police station. The interview lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. Around 5:30 p.m., Cuny was informed that the defendant wanted to speak with him. When Cuny then went to the interview room, he asked the defendant if he still understood the Miranda warnings that had been read to him earlier that day and if he wanted to talk. The defendant replied that he understood his rights and wanted to tell the truth. When the defendant began describing specifics about where he discarded a weapon, Officer Cuny stopped the interview because Cuny wanted to get a notepad and bring another officer into the interview room. About 5 or 10 minutes later, Cuny returned to the interview room with Officer Rick Montalto. At that point, the defendant denied the previous admissions he had made. However, the defendant did not at any time assert any of his Miranda rights, including his right to remain silent or his right to consult with an attorney. Cuny further noted that he had not told the defendant that he had been positively identified by Twitty.

Lombard police detective Rick Montalto testified that he and Sergeant Richard Spika took the defendant to the polygraph examining facility about two or three miles from the police station. They were at the facility for about 30 minutes when they decided to return to the station without having the polygraph test administered because they had received a report that the defendant's brother, Changa Harris, was providing some information to the police. They returned with the defendant to the police station around 2:30 or 2:45 p.m. Officer Montalto did not have any further contact with the defendant until 5:30 p.m., when Officer Cuny asked Montalto to come to the interview room to witness a statement by the defendant. Montalto noted that the defendant recanted the statement he had apparently made to Officer Cuny. Montalto was in the interview room with the defendant for about five minutes. The defendant was then taken to an interview room in the booking area, which was next to the room his brother was in. Between the two rooms was a small two-way mirror and a speaker. The defendant got on the speaker and made some comments to his brother "about giving him up or something to that effect." When Montalto and the other officers heard the comments, they took Harris to a different room.

Officer Montalto further testified that he brought a McDonald's dinner to the defendant around 6:30 p.m. The next time he had any contact with the defendant was around 8:15 p.m., when he went into the interview room to collect the defendant's garbage from dinner and to ask the defendant if he needed to go to the bathroom. When Montalto asked the defendant if he needed to go to the bathroom, the defendant asked Montalto "what was going on." Montalto told the defendant that the only information he had was that "some of our detectives had gone back to the house on Linder and served a search warrant and had recovered a couple of items, not knowing what they were. And then they were on their way back to the station at this point." The defendant then told Montalto that he wanted to talk to him, and the defendant then made an admission with respect to the shooting in question. The conversation between the defendant and Montalto lasted from 8:15 until 8:45 p.m. About 8:45 p.m. Montalto called Officer Spika into the interview room and the defendant reiterated his incriminating statements in the presence of Spika. That conversation ended about 9 p. m. The defendant then...