People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 04 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. 1-08-1286.,1-08-1286.
• Citation: 392 Ill. App. 3d 359,910 N.E.2d 627
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carl WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

910 N.E.2d 627

392 Ill. App. 3d 359

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

No. 1-08-1286.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

June 4, 2009.

Ungaretti & Harris, Chicago, IL (Michael L. Sklar, John T. Ruskusky, Abosede Odunsi, Timothy Horton, Patrick Ross, of counsel), for Appellant.

Cook County State's Attorney, Chicago, IL (Anita Alvarez, James E. Fitzgerald, Mary P. Needham, of counsel), for Appellee.

Justice GALLAGHER delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Carl Williams appeals the circuit court's dismissal of his third petition for relief under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (the Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2006)). On appeal, defendant contends that his present petition and supporting affidavits meet the Act's "cause" and "prejudice" requirements for successive petitions. He further asserts that his petition established his actual innocence and stated the gist of a constitutional claim that the prosecution withheld material evidence from his trial counsel. For the reasons set forth below, the circuit court's order denying defendant leave to file his third postconviction petition is reversed, and this case is remanded for further consideration of the petition pursuant to sections 122-4 through 122-6 of the Act.

BACKGROUND

I. The Offense and Defendant's Direct Appeal

Defendant was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, along with aggravated criminal sexual assault, armed robbery and vehicular hijacking, in connection with the 1994 deaths of Reginald Wilson and Felicia Lewis. Along with defendant, four other men were charged with committing those crimes together.

A summary of the underlying facts is necessary to discuss defendant's current petition.¹ In the early morning hours of January 13, 1994, two men approached Wilson, Lewis and Steven Fitch when Wilson's Chevrolet Blazer was stopped at a gas station. After Fitch went inside the station, the men drove away in the Blazer with Wilson and Lewis inside. Several hours later, police pulled over the Blazer with Scott Chambers and Stanley Hamelin inside. The bodies of Wilson and Lewis were discovered later that day in a large garbage bin; both had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Under police questioning, Chambers and Hamelin stated that three other men were involved in the offense: "Bay" (later identified as Zarice Johnson), Anthony Brown and "Carl."

Later that day, Johnson and Brown were stopped in Brown's Chevrolet Caprice. Another passenger in Brown's car, who identified himself as Larry McGee but was later determined to be Clinton Taylor, was questioned about the offenses and said he knew "Carl" and would show police where to find him. Taylor led police to the home of defendant's girlfriend, Erica Wells, where defendant was located.

After being questioned, defendant made a formal written statement admitting to his participation in the crimes. In the statement, defendant said that he, Chambers, Hamelin, Brown and Johnson were riding around in Brown's Caprice and that Chambers had a weapon that he showed to the group. The five men agreed to hijack a car to sell its parts and split the proceeds. Defendant said he acted as a lookout when Chambers and Hamelin approached the Blazer at the gas station. After Chambers and Hamelin drove away in the Blazer, defendant, Johnson and Brown followed in the Caprice. When the two vehicles later met up, defendant brought Lewis to the Caprice, where Brown sexually assaulted her while defendant watched.

The five men later met at the apartment of Hamelin's sister, where Chambers told them that he had shot Lewis and Wilson. Defendant was convicted following a jury trial and was sentenced to natural life in prison. Chambers and Hamelin were convicted separately, and Johnson entered into a plea agreement with the State.

In defendant's direct appeal, he claimed that police lacked probable cause to arrest him and that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the presentation of hearsay evidence. This court rejected those arguments and affirmed defendant's convictions in 1999. See Williams, 305 Ill.App.3d at 530, 238 Ill.Dec. 779, 712 N.E.2d at 893. The Illinois Supreme Court denied defendant's leave to appeal. People v. Williams, 185 Ill.2d 662, 242 Ill.Dec. 149, 720 N.E.2d 1104 (1999).

II. Postconviction Proceedings

A. Defendant's First and Second Petitions

In January 2001, defendant, acting pro se, filed a petition for postconviction relief, largely reasserting the points raised in his direct appeal. The circuit court summarily dismissed defendant's petition. This court affirmed, finding no issues of merit and granting the Cook County public defender leave to withdraw as appellate counsel pursuant to Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 107 S.Ct. 1990, 95 L.Ed.2d 539 (1987), in light of counsel's assertion that defendant's petition stated "no arguable bases for collateral relief." People v. Williams, No. 1-01-1445, 327 Ill.App.3d 1126, 287 Ill.Dec. 360, 815 N.E.2d 1004 (2002) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23).²

In 2004, defendant filed a second pro se postconviction petition, claiming that his initial petition was deficient and stating that he could provide newly discovered evidence of his actual innocence. Defendant attached affidavits of Chambers and Hamelin that he asserted were not available when he filed his first petition and in which Chambers and Hamelin attested they did not know defendant and did not identify defendant to police as one of the participants in the crimes. Both men stated that police showed them defendant's photo and pressured them to falsely implicate defendant. Defendant further asserted that his counsel on direct appeal was ineffective in failing to raise certain errors made by his trial counsel and that the attorney who represented him in his appeal from his first postconviction petition also was ineffective. The circuit court dismissed the petition, stating in a three-page written order that defendant had not met the cause and prejudice requirements to bring a successive postconviction petition and that defendant already had raised the issue of the ineffectiveness of his appellate counsel.

On appeal from that dismissal, this court affirmed that the affidavits of Chambers and Hamelin did not meet the cause and prejudice requirements or establish defendant's actual innocence such that defendant could bring a second postconviction petition. Williams, slip op. at 10. The court concluded that defendant had been aware of the identities of Chambers and Hamelin earlier but had offered no proof that he previously had attempted to obtain their statements or that they refused to cooperate or were unable to provide the information. Williams, slip op. at 8. This court further stated that the affidavits did not demonstrate defendant's actual innocence because they did not show "conclusively that defendant was uninvolved in the offenses." Williams, slip op. at 9. The court stated that given defendant's inculpatory statement and the identification of defendant by Taylor ("McGee"), it was unlikely that the affidavits of Chambers and Hamelin would have persuaded a jury of defendant's innocence. Williams, slip op. at 9-10.

B. Defendant's Third Petition

In January 2008, defendant filed a third petition for postconviction relief, which was prepared by counsel acting pro bono, asserted that he discovered additional facts and obtained new affidavits establishing his actual innocence. In support of the petition, Chambers, Hamelin and Johnson each attested that they told police and an assistant State's Attorney that defendant was "the wrong man" after being shown defendant's picture. Defendant asserted that his efforts to contact those men to obtain their affidavits were hampered by the difficulty of communicating within the prison system and that his purported accomplices "didn't know me and they had no reason to help me." Additionally, defendant stated that "McGee" was not correctly identified as Taylor until 2007.

Defendant stated he recently discovered that the police and prosecutors did not disclose to his trial attorney, Stephen Richards, the description of the fifth perpetrator that the other defendants had given. Defendant asserted that when Chambers, Hamelin and Johnson were arrested, they had described the fifth offender ("Carl") to police as being 6 feet tall with long hair and a slim build. Defendant stated that, in contrast, he is 5 feet 9 inches tall and that he had a stocky frame and short hair at the time of his arrest.

In addition to the affidavits of Chambers, Hamelin and Johnson, defendant's third petition was accompanied by his own affidavit and affidavits from Taylor, Richards and a former girlfriend of defendant. Defendant attested that an officer threatened and physically abused him until he signed an inculpatory statement. Defendant also asserted the statements of his alleged accomplices that he was not involved in the crimes, as well as the physical description of the fifth offender, were concealed from him and his trial counsel in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

The new affidavits of Chambers and Hamelin were prepared in 2007. Chambers reiterated his statements from his 2003 affidavit that he had described the fifth participant to police and said he did not know that individual. Chambers attested that when police showed him a photograph of a man who had been arrested as the fifth participant, he told police that was not the right person. Chambers stated that the officer told him that person in the photo was a friend of Brown named Carl. Chambers further stated that during his interrogation, a police detective told him not to include in his statement a description of the fifth participant in the crimes, presumably because that person's features would not match defendant's. Similarly,...