People v. Wiley, 71320

• Decision Date: 30 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 71320,71320
• Citation: 651 N.E.2d 189,165 Ill.2d 259,209 Ill.Dec. 261
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: , 209 Ill.Dec. 261 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Howard WILEY, Appellant.

Page 189

651 N.E.2d 189

165 Ill.2d 259, 209 Ill.Dec. 261

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Howard WILEY, Appellant.

No. 71320.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

March 30, 1995.

Rehearing Denied May 30, 1995.

Certiorari Denied Oct. 10, 1995. See 116 S.Ct. 322.

[165 Ill.2d 266] [209 Ill.Dec. 263] Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and Allen H. Andrews, Asst. Defender, of the

[209 Ill.Dec. 264] Office of the State Appellate Defender, Springfield, for appellant

Roland Burris, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., Chicago (Arleen C. Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, and Renee G. Goldfarb and Barbara L. Jones, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.

Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

A jury in the circuit court of Cook County found defendant, Howard Wiley, guilty of murder and armed robbery. The trial court, sitting as finder of fact, determined that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude imposition of a sentence of death and imposed the death penalty. Judgment was stayed pending direct appeal to this court (Ill.Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d Rules 603, 609(a)). Upon review, we found that defendant was entitled to a hearing with respect to his claim that the State had used peremptory challenges in violation of Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69. (See People v. Wiley (1993), 156 Ill.2d 464, 190 Ill.Dec. 736, 622 N.E.2d 766.) As a result, we remanded the cause to the circuit court with directions to conduct further proceedings under Batson.

The trial court held a Batson hearing as instructed by this court. Based upon the evidence presented at the hearing, the trial court concluded that the State had not violated the principles enunciated in Batson. The cause has now returned to this court for review of the trial court's Batson findings, as well as the additional issues raised by defendant prior to the Batson remand.

BACKGROUND

As we noted in our initial consideration of defendant's appeal in this cause, defendant was found guilty of the murder and armed robbery of Donna Rucks (Rucks), her daughter Carla Williams (Williams), who lived with her in an apartment in the City of Chicago, and Rucks' sister, Adrienne Parham (Parham). According to evidence presented at trial, the offenses were committed in Rucks' apartment on approximately December 2, 1986. In addition, State evidence demonstrated that all of the women died from gunshot wounds to the head. Their bodies were discovered on December 3, 1986, by employees of the building management where the apartment was located. Officers of the Chicago police department were summoned to the scene.

Detective Richard Rochowicz of the Chicago police department testified that on December 3, he and his partner, Richard Vallandingham, arrived at the apartment at approximately 10:40 a.m. Thereafter, Detectives Thomas Ptak and William Foley also arrived at the apartment. The telephone rang while the officers were there and Detective Foley answered. After this phone conversation, Detectives Ptak and Foley went to the home of defendant's father, where they met the defendant. The detectives told defendant that they were investigating the death of Donna Rucks.

Detective Ptak testified that defendant stated that he was an acquaintance of Rucks, that he was concerned about her, and that he would be happy to help in the investigation. Defendant agreed to accompany the detectives to a nearby police station. While defendant was at the station house, he acknowledged to Detective Ptak that he had been at the women's apartment the previous day. Defendant explained that he had been "concerned" because no one answered his knocks on the door of the apartment. Defendant said that he called the police, but that the officers who responded to his call refused to break into the apartment because it looked secure from the outside.

Defendant also informed Detective Ptak that defendant had spoken to a parole officer. Detective Ptak consulted with this parole officer and then resumed his interview with the defendant. Defendant waived his Miranda rights at this interview and stated that he had gone to the women's apartment on December 2 and knocked on the door. Defendant related that his knocking caused the door to swing open and that he entered the The following day, Detective Ptak learned that defendant might have fired a weapon, a few days earlier, at a store in a neighborhood near the apartment where the women had been murdered. The detective went to the store and recovered a bullet that was embedded in a cooler. Detective Ptak was told that defendant had fired the shot into the cooler. The officer returned to the police station and submitted the bullet he had recovered from the cooler for ballistics studies.

[209 Ill.Dec. 265] apartment. Defendant stated that he found the dead bodies of Rucks, Parham, and Williams in the apartment. The locations of the bodies and the condition of the apartment as recounted by the defendant corresponded to the scene as it had appeared to Detective Ptak. Defendant stated that he left the apartment, closing the door behind him, realizing that as he did so the door would lock. Defendant explained that he had not told the police what he had discovered because he was [165 Ill.2d 269] afraid that someone would "pin" the deaths on him because he was on parole. When Detective Ptak told defendant that one of the victims had been raped, defendant disagreed, telling Detective Ptak that he "kn[e]w" that victim had not been raped. Following these remarks, defendant was placed under arrest for the murder of the three women.

Thereafter, Detectives Rochowicz and Vallandingham advised defendant of his Miranda rights and informed defendant that the bullet from the cooler matched those recovered from the bodies of the dead women. Defendant then agreed to give an account of what had actually taken place.

Defendant told the officers that on December 2, he telephoned one of the slain women, Carla Williams, who was "holding" $5,000 for him. Defendant told Williams that he wanted the money, but she said she did not have it and that he would have to wait for it. Defendant became angry that Williams refused to return his money. He went to a pool hall where he met Eddie Jones, whom he also knew by the name of Charles Battles. In talking to Battles, defendant offered to pay $1,500 to Battles if he would help defendant recover his money from Williams. Battles agreed and they drove to the women's apartment. Defendant gave Battles a .38 revolver that defendant had with him.

When they arrived at Rucks' apartment, defendant knocked on the door and was allowed to enter. He left the door open slightly so that Battles could get into the home. According to defendant, Battles came into the apartment and announced a "stickup." One of the women, Rucks, jumped up from the couch. Her movements startled Battles and he shot her. Then Parham, one of the other murdered women, started to run away. Battles shot her also. The third woman, Williams, came down the steps from the upstairs bedroom. When Williams saw what had happened, she started to run back up the stairs. Battles pursued and shot her. Defendant related to the detectives that Battles then said to defendant that he "better be with" Battles, and defendant agreed that he was "with" Battles. Defendant then left the apartment, while Battles remained.

After giving this verbal account to the detectives, defendant gave oral and written statements to Assistant State's Attorney Michael Gerber. These later statements were substantially similar to the account defendant gave to Detective Rochowicz.

Tests performed by evidence technicians established that the bullet recovered from the cooler had been fired from the same weapon used to shoot the three women in the December 2 homicides. A firearms examiner employed by the Chicago police department, Detective Richard Chenow, testified at defendant's trial regarding the specific characteristics of the bullets that linked those fired into the women to the shot fired into the cooler. Two eyewitnesses, Robert Jackson and Nigem Abder, testified that on November 26, 1985, they saw defendant shoot a weapon in the store, and that the bullet fired from the gun struck and became embedded in a cooler.

At the close of the State's case, the trial court denied defendant's motion for a directed verdict. Defendant presented no evidence in his own behalf. Following deliberations Additional evidence and matters of record are set out below with respect to the issues upon which they bear significance.

[165 Ill.2d 271] [209 Ill.Dec. 266] the jury found defendant guilty of three counts of murder and three counts of armed robbery. After sentencing hearings, defendant was sentenced to death on the murder convictions and consecutive 30-year sentences for the armed robbery convictions.

BATSON ISSUE

In his initial appeal, defendant argued that the trial court erred when it denied his motion for a mistrial based on the State's alleged discriminatory use of peremptory challenges during jury selection in violation of Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69.

In Batson, the United States Supreme Court held that the prosecution cannot employ a peremptory challenge in order to exclude a prospective juror because of race. When a defendant claims that the State has engaged in improper use of peremptory challenges in violation of Batson, the defendant must first make out a prima facie case of discrimination. In a prima facie case, the facts and circumstances must raise, "from all the surrounding circumstances, a reasonable inference that the prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges to exclude prospective jurors because of their race. [Citations]." (Wiley, 156 Ill.2d at 473, 190 Ill.Dec. 736, 622 N.E.2d 766.) Once it is determined that the defendant has made out a prima...