People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 10 May 1994
• Docket Number: No. 1-92-0953,1-92-0953
• Citation: 262 Ill.App.3d 808,200 Ill.Dec. 314,635 N.E.2d 653
• Parties: , 200 Ill.Dec. 314 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kevin WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 653

635 N.E.2d 653

262 Ill.App.3d 808, 200 Ill.Dec. 314

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

No. 1-92-0953.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Second Division.

May 10, 1994.

Rita A. Fry, Public Defender of Cook County, Chicago (Alison Edwards, of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., County of Cook, Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, Lou Anne Corey, Sang Won Shim and Jason H. Payne, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Presiding Justice DiVITO delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a joint bench trial with two others, defendant Kevin Williams was found guilty of first degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated battery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated unlawful restraint. He was sentenced to a term of natural life imprisonment for murder, with concurrent terms of 30 years and 10 years for the lesser offenses. Defendant appeals, raising issues of improper admission of evidence, violation of discovery rules, and ineffective assistance of counsel. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

During defendant's joint trial with codefendants Ira Hines and Reginald Lee, the following evidence was adduced.

Marsha Robertson testified that the victim, Harry Sain, was the father of her two children. The children lived with Sain, his mother Josephine Sain, and his sister Shirley Sain, at 844 South Racine in apartment 838, a first floor apartment in a three story apartment building known as the Jane Adams Projects or Hablo Homes.

On February 18, 1991, at about 1:15 a.m., Robertson and Sain left Camilla Dicken's house on Lytle Street, a block away from Racine, and began walking to Sain's apartment. When they were about half a block from their destination, Robertson saw four "dudes" approaching them. She recognized them as four men from the neighborhood known as Thunder, Fruitie, Reggie Lee, and West; they had nothing on their faces to hide their identities. At the time, Robertson did not know the real names of Thunder, Fruitie, or West, but she knew that Reggie Lee was Reginald Lee. She made an in-court identification of Fruitie as defendant, Thunder as codefendant Ira Hines, and Reggie Lee as codefendant Reginald Lee.

Robertson noticed that defendant, Thunder, and Reggie Lee each had a gun. She told Sain that the men had guns, and that he should go and open the apartment door. Just before Sain and Robertson reached the entrance of Sain's apartment building, as the four men were close to them, Robertson said, "Hi, Thunder," trying to delay him while Sain entered the apartment. Thunder then told defendant to place her "under arrest." Defendant, who had a "Tech-9" gun in his hand, grabbed her collar and pushed her against the wall inside the entryway, across from the mailboxes. Reggie Lee was upstairs with Sain, who was trying to get into his apartment; West was standing on the outside of the doorway. Thunder then went upstairs to where Sain was. Robertson could not see what was happening upstairs, but heard Sain asking what was wrong, and pleading with the men not to hurt them.

Thunder then asked Robertson, "Where's A.K. and Mark?" She told him that she and A.K., her boyfriend, were no longer together. Mark is her cousin. She knew where they were, but she did not tell Thunder. A.K. belonged to the El Rukn street gang, which did not operate in the area of 844 South Racine. Defendant and Thunder belonged to the Black Gangsters of the Disciples street gang, who "hung out" in the area. The two gangs were not friendly. Defendant and his codefendants were looking for A.K. and Mark because A.K. and the codefendants sold drugs.

When Robertson did not tell Thunder where A.K. and Mark were, Thunder walked up and down the stairs, never staying in one place. Defendant repeatedly asked Thunder whether Thunder wanted him to "do it now," but Thunder kept saying "no." Thunder walked down the stairs, and defendant asked again. When Sain started to walk down the stairs, Thunder said "yes." Defendant then began shooting at Sain, firing seven or eight times. After shooting Sain, defendant asked Thunder whether he should shoot Robertson. Thunder said "yeah," and defendant turned toward her and fired at her head twice. Thunder also shot at Sain twice, after he was already down. Defendant and Thunder ran away, and West was gone as well. Robertson was not sure whether she was shot; she merely felt a burning sensation on the left side of her forehead. She blacked out and, when she came to, Reggie Lee, who had been at the top of the stairs during the shooting, was running down the stairs with a gun in his hand. Robertson grabbed him and begged him not to kill her. Reggie Lee said, "Bitch, get down," pushed her away, and ran out. Sain, who was on the stairs, called Robertson's name, and then "went out."

Robertson ran up the stairs and began banging on the door to Sain's apartment. Sain's mother answered the door, and Robertson told her that defendant and Thunder had just shot Sain. Robertson then called the police. When they arrived, she told them what happened and said defendant, Thunder, Gus (Reggie Lee's brother), and West shot Sain. Robertson incorrectly named Gus because she was shaken up and talking fast. She corrected herself and named Reggie Lee later, when she went to the police station. She had burns on her face from being shot at, but she did not go to the hospital; instead, she went to the police station and talked to the detectives.

Robertson told the detectives that defendant, Thunder, Reggie Lee, and West were the offenders. About two hours after the shooting, she viewed photographs and recognized Thunder's picture. On February 21, 1991, she was asked to view more photographs, and she recognized photographs of defendant and Reggie Lee. Robertson was also interviewed by an assistant state's attorney; afterwards, her statement was put in writing and she signed it. In May 1991, she testified before the grand jury concerning the shooting incident. She was afraid of West and of the entire neighborhood when she testified before the grand jury; subsequently, she did not continue to live at her house, but stayed in hotels paid for by the State.

On the morning of June 25, 1991, Robertson was visiting her sister at 1239 South Racine. At about 10 a.m., two men came to her sister's house and knocked on the door. They asked Robertson to come with them in order to sign a statement. The men told her that "it wouldn't cost nothing but 55 cents for a bullet to go into one of [your] heads," referring to her and her family. They then drove Robertson downtown to an office. On the way, the men told her that they wanted her to say that the offenders wore ski masks during the incident, and that she was high on heroin at the time. They also told her to say that she named the codefendants because she was mad that they had previously kidnapped A.K., who in fact had been kidnapped on December 19 by Thunder and a person named Cassadine, who was then dead.

Robertson and the men arrived at an office building, the location of which she did not remember, at 11 a.m. or noon. After parking, they all went upstairs. The men went inside the office while Robertson remained in the waiting room. The men came out about 15 minutes later, and Robertson went inside without them. Thunder's attorney, Mr. Vilkelis, introduced himself to her. He asked her where she lived, how many children she had, and about her sister and other personal things. She told him she lived at 1239 South Racine, although she did not. A court reporter arrived about five to ten minutes later. Robertson then gave a statement, lying and saying what the men wanted her to say because she was afraid for herself and her family. There was nobody else present except for Vilkelis, the court reporter, and another attorney. She did not immediately sign the statement after it was taken. Vilkelis told her that he would be in touch in a few weeks, although he did not ask for her telephone number. Robertson left, and the two men, who were waiting for her, drove her back to her sister's house.

On August 28, 1991, Robertson was on Lytle Street with Camilla and A.K. when two men drove up. One of them was one of the men who had previously driven her to the downtown office, and the other was a stranger. Robertson got into their car and went with them back to the downtown office. She went into the office, looked over the statement she had previously made, and signed it, making no corrections or changes. She signed it because she was afraid for herself and her family, and because she was afraid of people in the neighborhood and of West. Another man then entered the office and took two photographs of her. She walked into the hallway and a woman, who was not present when Robertson signed the statement, also signed it. The two men then drove her back to where they had picked her up. Prior to that day, Robertson had known that someone was looking for her to sign the statement.

On cross-examination, Robertson testified that A.K. had sat in the courtroom "for about a second" during her testimony, but had left before she mentioned his name. She was not employed, and supported herself through General Assistance. She did not support any of her five children. She received between five hundred and six hundred dollars from the State for living expenses, staying in several hotels over a four to six month period. The State paid the money directly to the hotels, not to her; when she needed money for personal things, she called the State. During the time she was housed by the State, she did not receive General Assistance because she failed to keep her appointments and the aid was cancelled.

Robertson had used heroin "every now and then" for the past year or year and a half. She was not an addict, and used heroin only when she was out socializing with friends. When she...