People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 03 September 1993
• Docket Number: Nos. 1-89-1072,1-91-3928,s. 1-89-1072
• Citation: 252 Ill.App.3d 1050,625 N.E.2d 275
• Parties: , 192 Ill.Dec. 315 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 275

625 N.E.2d 275

252 Ill.App.3d 1050, 192 Ill.Dec. 315

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 1-89-1072, 1-91-3928.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Sixth Division.

Sept. 3, 1993.

Margaret Byrne, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty. of Cook County, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, William D. Carroll, Asst. State's Attys. and Celeste Stewart Stack, Sp. Asst. State's Atty., of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice GIANNIS delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Louis Williams, was convicted following a bench trial of two counts of murder (Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 38, pars. 9-1(a)(1), 9-1(a)(2)) in connection with the killing of James Atkins and with two counts of attempt (first degree murder) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 38, par. 8-4) in connection with the shootings of Raymond Spain and Darryl Davis. Following conviction, defendant was sentenced to consecutive penitentiary terms of 40 years for the murder of Atkins and two consecutive terms of 20 years for the attempted murders of Spain and Davis.

On appeal, defendant raises the following issues for review: (1) whether he was denied the right to effective assistance of counsel; (2) whether the State presented evidence sufficient to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (3) whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him to a total prison term of 80 years; and (4) whether the trial court committed error in dismissing defendant's post-conviction petition.

The charges against defendant stemmed from a shooting on April 17, 1987, in which James Atkins was killed, and Darryl Davis and Raymond Spain were wounded. Six suspects were initially charged in the shooting. Defendant's attorney also represented defendant's brother, Anthony Williams, and Anthony Thomas in proceedings related to the shooting. The charges against defendant's brother were ultimately dropped by the State. Anthony Thomas was subsequently convicted by a jury, along with a codefendant, Gerald Jeter, and those convictions were recently affirmed, although the case was remanded for new sentencing hearings. (People v. Jeter (1993), 247 Ill.App.3d 120, 186 Ill.Dec. 624, 616 N.E.2d 1256.) Another defendant, La Vance Parson, was also convicted for his part in the shooting and his conviction was affirmed, although the case remanded for clarification of Parson's sentence. People v. Parson (1993) 249 Ill.App.3d 1021, 189 Ill.Dec. 802, 620 N.E.2d 1119.

Defendant waived his right to a jury trial. In addition, prior to trial, defendant's attorney stipulated to much of the testimony received in the Jeter trial except for those portions of testimony relating to in custody statements made by Anthony Thomas and Gerald Jeter:

"[T]hat stipulation is that all the witnesses who testified in the People's case against defendant Anthony Thomas and the defendant Gerald Jeter, their direct-examination, cross-examination is part and parcel of the evidence against the defendant before the bench Louis Williams, with the exception of testimony of Assistant state's Attorney Leighton, regarding statements of Anthony Thomas and Gerald Jeter, and testimony of Anthony Thomas and Gerald Jeter, and testimony of Detective Allen Szudarski, regarding statements of Anthony Thomas and testimony of Youth Officer Morris, the portion of his testimony relating to statements of Anthony Thomas and Gerald Jeter."

The relevant facts adduced from the stipulated testimony can be briefly summarized. On April 17, 1987, at approximately 1 a.m., Raymond Spain, his girlfriend Yolonda Stewart, and six friends went to visit Rose Williams at her home on the eighth floor of a Chicago housing project. (Rose Williams is not related to defendant.) Three of their group were on leave from duty in the United States Army and were visiting Chicago on a four-day pass.

Police officer Szudarski testified that from previous investigations he knew the building where Rose Williams lived to be controlled by a street gang, the Black Gangster Disciples. One member of the victims' group, Ronald Daney, testified that he had been a member of a rival gang, the Del Vikings. At approximately 1:45 a.m., the group left Ms. Williams' apartment and took the elevator down to the first floor lobby. Shortly after stepping off the elevator the group was repeatedly fired on from behind. In the chaos, several members of the group began running for the exit. Once outside, however, the gunshots continued from various directions and the group split up. One witness testified that as many as 30 shots were fired. As noted, James Atkins died from his injuries. Raymond Spain and Darryl Davis were seriously wounded.

Shortly after the shooting, Rose Williams gave defendant's name and address to police as the man she saw from her eighth floor window shooting a gun shortly after her friends left her apartment. According to Ms. Williams, defendant, whom she had known for about a year and whom she saw approximately once a day, was crouched down with his knees bent and arms outstretched but joined at the hands. She testified that the area from where defendant shot was well-lit, despite the fog and time of night. She also described the view from her window as being a "birdeye view" and indicated that defendant wore a blue and white jacket, dark colored pants and a dark hat. She further indicated that she could see sparks coming from the gun as defendant fired three times. The next day the police asked Ms. Williams if she could identify defendant from a photograph. She indicated that she could and then identified defendant from a single picture given to her by the police.

Police officer Hamilton testified that he first spoke with Rose Williams outside the building where the shooting took place and that he and Ms. Williams subsequently went to her eighth floor apartment where he looked out her bedroom window. He testified that the night was foggy, but that the fog was well above the building and that the view to the ground was pretty clear. He estimated that the window was approximately 60 feet from the ground. He also testified that he could see several of his fellow officers and stated that he could recognize them from the window.

Defendant's counsel cross-examined both Ms. Williams and officer Hamilton. During cross-examination, counsel established that Ms. Williams had never spent significant time in defendant's presence, that the weather was foggy, that there were shadows and that many people live in the building. He also established that Ms. Williams testimony differed from her police statements in that the police reports indicated that she had seen her friends running from the scene. At trial, she denied seeing her friends from the window.

After officer Hamilton's testimony, the State rested and defendant's counsel made a motion for a directed verdict which was denied. Defense counsel then indicated that he was waiting for a witness and the court ordered a recess. After recess, however, defense counsel answered that he was ready for closing argument. During closing he argued that the trial court should use its common sense to conclude that it was not possible to identify someone from an eighth floor window and suggested that the judge could look out the courtroom window for himself to see that this was the case. He also argued that Rose Williams' identification, under the facts of the case, was insufficient to convict defendant without some corroborative evidence, of which there was none. Following the State's rebuttal argument, the trial court found defendant guilty of all charges.

Defendant subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief and much of defendant's support for his claim of incompetency of counsel lies in documents used to support this petition. Included with the petition was an affidavit of defendant's trial counsel in which counsel stated that he did not interview Rose Williams before trial because police reports indicated that Williams had observed the shooting from eight stories above the scene and that the night was foggy. He also indicated that, rather than go to the scene of the crime and determine for himself whether it was possible to identify the defendant from that height, he viewed the street from the eighth floor of the courthouse and concluded that the trial judge "could use his common sense as to how difficult it would be for Rose Williams to identify someone from that height." In addition, defendant's counsel indicated in his affidavit that he advised defendant to stipulate to certain testimony from the Thomas trial because this evidence did not implicate defendant.

Also with defendant's petition was a photograph and affidavit of a private investigator hired following defendant's conviction. The photograph purports to be taken from the window where Rose Williams testified she had observed defendant firing a gun and shows two blurry individuals standing on the pavement below. The private investigator stated in the affidavit, "[e]ven though I know [my assistant] well, I was unable to recognize him as I looked down toward him from apartment 809."

Next, defendant directs the court to an affidavit from Rose Williams dated October 1, 1991, which was also attached to his petition. In Ms. Williams' affidavit she recanted her identification of defendant and stated that at the time of the shooting she based her identification merely on the clothing she knew defendant to be wearing at the time. She also stated that since the shooting, and after defendant had been convicted and had begun serving his sentence, she had seen on the street a person whom she believes actually did the shooting.

Final exhibits included with the petition were affidavits of Muriel Sutton and Cassandra Murray. Both affiants stated that they were with defendant at the time of the shooting. Both stated that they spoke with defendant's counsel...