People v. Williams
| Decision Date | 06 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 82807.,82807. |
| Citation | 249 Ill.Dec. 840,193 Ill.2d 1,737 N.E.2d 230 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Bobby O. WILLIAMS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and Lawrence Bapst, Assistant Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Springfield, for appellant.
James E. Ryan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Robert Haida, State's Attorney, of Belleville (Barbara A. Preiner and Joel Bertocchi, Solicitors General, and William L. Browers, Colleen M. Griffin and Darryl B. Simko, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.
Following a jury trial in the circuit court of St. Clair County, the defendant, Bobby O. Williams, was convicted of the first degree murder of Sharon Bushong. The same jury found defendant eligible for the death penalty. Following a hearing in aggravation and mitigation, the jury found that there were no factors sufficient to preclude imposition of the death penalty and sentenced defendant to death. Defendant's conviction and sentence have been stayed pending direct review by this court. Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d Rs. 603, 609(a).
Shortly before 1 a.m. on November 3, 1994, Sharon Bushong was shot to death during a robbery of the Convenient Food Mart at 9618 West Main Street in Belleville, Illinois. At the time of her death, Bushong was working in the convenience store as the sole clerk. The principal pieces of physical evidence recovered from the crime scene were a surveillance videotape that had been recorded by the store's security cameras, and a spent cartridge case that had been fired from a .380-caliber pistol. Several fingerprints were collected from the convenience store, but none matched defendant's. In addition, a.380-caliber bullet was recovered from Bushong's body during her autopsy.
The surveillance videotape was played for the jury at trial and is part of the record on appeal. The videotape shows, simultaneously, the views from four cameras placed in different locations in the store. Two of the cameras are positioned behind the store's counter, providing views of the cash register. The videotape is recorded in black and white and has no sound. A date and time display is included on the tape.
The surveillance videotape shows two African-American males entering the convenience store at 12:49 a.m.1 on November 3, 1994. One of the men is wearing shorts and a short-sleeve, dark-colored shirt with piping or thin stripes around the collar, shoulders, sleeves and bottom. He is wearing only one, ankle-high sock. He is also wearing some type of light-colored garment, possibly boxer shorts, over his head. The second man is wearing a baseball cap, and is covering his face with his hands and shirt. Neither man's face is visible at any time.
The individual with the garment over his head can be seen on the videotape taking Bushong behind the store counter and then standing to Bushong's right as she opens the cash register drawer. After Bushong opens the drawer, the man raises his left hand and shoots Bushong in the head. Bushong immediately falls to the ground. The man then shifts the gun to his right hand and removes the money from the cash register drawer with his left hand. During this time, the second man, who is on the public side of the store counter, can be seen leaning over and reaching into a display rack filled with potato chips. After the shooter removes the money from the cash register, the two men leave the store.
Richard Vorder Bruegge, a forensic photographic examiner with the FBI, provided expert testimony regarding the surveillance videotape. Bruegge explained that, by using various analytical techniques, it is possible to determine the height of an individual in a photograph. Bruegge stated that he examined the surveillance videotape, and photographs made from the videotape, to determine the height of the shooter seen on the videotape. After describing his analysis to the jury, Bruegge stated that the results of his examination were consistent with a person whose height was six feet, one inch to six feet, two inches. Additional evidence presented at trial established that defendant's height is six feet, one inch. Testimony was also introduced which showed that defendant was left-handed.
On February 15, 1995, defendant was arrested in Washington Park, a town located north of Belleville in St. Clair County. Two other individuals, Fred Jones and Andrew Towns, were arrested at the same time. At the time of his arrest, defendant was carrying a .380-caliber pistol in his jacket. James Hall, a forensic firearms examiner for the Illinois State Police, testified that both the cartridge case discovered in the convenience store and the bullet recovered from Bushong's body were fired from the .380-caliber pistol taken from defendant.
Rico Edwards, defendant's neighbor in Washington Park, testified that he had known defendant for approximately 18 years. Edwards stated that, in the middle of November 1994, he saw a .380-caliber pistol on the floor of defendant's car. In court, Edwards was shown the gun that was taken from defendant at the time of his arrest in February 1995. Edwards stated that it looked like the one he had seen in defendant's car, but he was not certain that it was the same one. Edwards also indicated that the people he associated with regularly exchanged guns.
Michael Cook testified that he had known defendant for approximately a year and that he knew defendant through Tony Turner, defendant's uncle. Cook stated that he had seen defendant with a .380-caliber pistol on four or five occasions during the summer of 1994. Cook also stated that the weapon taken from defendant at the time of his arrest, which was shown to Cook in court, looked like the one defendant had been carrying in the summer of 1994. Cook explained that the weapon looked like the one defendant had in 1994 because it was scraped and scratched around the front of the barrel, and because it had lost some of its black coloring at the tip of the barrel. Cook also positively identified the shirt which the shooter was wearing in the surveillance videotape as one that defendant had worn while playing basketball in the summer of 1994. In addition, Cook stated that he had seen defendant wearing just one sock while playing basketball.
On cross-examination, Cook said that he could not remember when he told police that he recognized the shirt worn by the shooter in the videotape, though he was certain that he had told them. Cook also acknowledged that he had not told the police that he had seen defendant wearing only one sock. Cook further stated that the people he associated with regularly traded guns.
Lavarro Jenkins testified that he saw defendant with a .380-caliber handgun in January 1995. According to Jenkins, defendant showed him the gun while the two of them were driving in a car in Belleville. In court, Jenkins identified the gun taken from defendant at the time of his arrest as the gun which defendant had shown him in January 1995. Jenkins stated that he knew it was the same gun because he had offered to buy it from defendant. Jenkins also testified that, while he and defendant were discussing the gun, defendant said "there's a hot one on it." Jenkins explained that this was a slang term meaning that the gun had been used in a murder. Jenkins further stated that, while driving down "the 90's part" of West Main Street in Belleville, he and defendant passed a convenience store. At that point, according to Jenkins, defendant reached over, pointed to the convenience store and said "that's one of them."
On cross-examination, Jenkins admitted that he had been convicted of theft over $10,000 for stealing a car. He also acknowledged that there were two felony forgery counts pending against him, though he stated that the State had not offered him anything in exchange for his testimony at defendant's trial. Jenkins also stated that defendant never said that he, himself, had "committed a hot one" with the .380-caliber pistol. Like the prior witnesses, Jenkins indicated that it was common for the people he associated with to exchange guns back and forth.
Fred Jones, a friend of defendant, testified for the State pursuant to a plea agreement. Jones explained that, in exchange for his testimony, the State had agreed to dismiss a murder charge pending against him in St. Clair County and to recommend a 6- to 15-year sentence for armed robbery.
Jones testified that he saw defendant sometime after midnight on November 3 or November 4, 1994. At that time, defendant told him that he "and a couple more boys went up in Belleville to rob the convenience store and they shot the lady." Sometime after defendant told him about the murder, Jones saw that defendant was carrying a black, .380-caliber pistol. Jones identified the gun taken from defendant at the time of his arrest as the gun that defendant had with him in November 1994. Jones explained that he knew it was the same gun because he had seen defendant with it on several different occasions. Jones further stated that defendant called the gun his "Baby." Jones also identified the shirt worn by the shooter in the surveillance videotape as the one defendant was wearing when Jones saw him on November 3 or 4. In addition, Jones stated that, having played football with defendant, he knew that defendant was left-handed.
Jones was extensively cross-examined regarding six separate, conflicting statements which he had given to the police. In the first statement, given to police in early November 1994, Jones denied having any knowledge about the robbery of the Belleville convenience store or the murder of Bushong. The second statement was given to police on February 15, 1995, shortly after Jones was arrested, along with defendant, in Washington Park. In...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. Brown
......Murders and Attempted Murders . The Hobos liberally used violence to retaliate against rival gangs, harm people who cooperated with law enforcement, and defend their drug trafficking territory. The Hobos had long-running rivalries with several 973 F.3d 679 ...Bland and Montgomery described the Hobos as a gang. Cashell Williams, a Fifth Ward BD, testified that his gang had a rivalry with the Hobos. Additional evidence showed that the Hobos were not just a group of criminals ......
-
State v. Anderson
...... the defense to offer mitigation evidence "didn't testify about any links, any connections between the defendant's upbringing and him murdering people. Nothing in his childhood caused that." Finally, Anderson points out that the prosecution, during its penalty phase opening statement, told the jury ... See, e.g., Carruthers v. State, 272 Ga. 306, 528 S.E.2d 217 (2000) ; People v. Williams, 193 Ill.2d 1, 249 Ill.Dec. 840, 737 N.E.2d 230 (2000) ; State v. Hale, 335 Or. 612, 75 P.3d 448 (2003) . See also State ex rel. Neely v. ......
-
People v. Ballard
......"Manifestly erroneous means arbitrary, unreasonable and not based on the evidence." People v. Wells, 182 Ill.2d 471, 481, 231 Ill.Dec. 311, 696 N.E.2d 303 (1998) . However, de novo review is appropriate when neither the facts nor the credibility of witnesses is questioned. People v. Williams, 181 Ill.2d 297, 309, 229 Ill. Dec. 898, 692 N.E.2d 1109 (1998) . . Defendant argues that we should review this contention de novo because the facts are undisputed. We disagree. This contention turns on the credibility of witnesses. Therefore, we must review this contention ......
-
People v. Bonds, 1-07-1629.
...it constituted an abuse of discretion. Anderson, 291 Ill. App.3d at 849, 225 Ill.Dec. 854, 684 N.E.2d at 848; see also People v. Williams, 193 Ill.2d 1, 20, 249 Ill.Dec. 840, 737 N.E.2d 230, 241-42 Here, defendant claims the statements purportedly made by Chino to his aunt, Salina Ford, and......