People v. Williams
| Citation | 739 N.E.2d 455,193 Ill.2d 306,250 Ill.Dec. 692 |
| Decision Date | 12 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 85453.,85453. |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Jacqueline Annette WILLIAMS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Charles M. Schiedel, Deputy Defender, and Allen H. Andrews, Assistant Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, for appellant.
James E. Ryan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Joel Birkett, State's Attorney, of Wheaton (Joel D. Bertocchi, Solicitor General, and William L. Browers and Jay Paul Hoffmann, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.
On November 16, 1995, Debra Evans was fatally shot and stabbed in the Addison apartment where she lived with James Edwards and her children, Samantha, Joshua, and Jordan. Debra was nine months pregnant, and the baby she was carrying, Elijah Evans, was cut from her womb. Samantha was killed in the apartment with her mother. Joshua and Elijah were taken from the apartment, and Jordan was left alone in the apartment with his dead mother and sister. The day after Debra's and Samantha's murders, police found Joshua's dead body in an alley in Maywood. When police arrested defendant, Jacqueline Annette Williams, on November 17, she was holding Elijah, who was still alive. In connection with the murders and kidnappings of the members of the Evans family, defendant, her cousin Laverne Ward, and her boyfriend Fedell Caffey were jointly indicted on several counts of first degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. They were tried separately.
Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Du Page County, defendant was convicted of the first degree murders of Debra, Samantha, and Joshua Evans. She was also convicted of the aggravated kidnappings of Joshua and Elijah Evans. The same jury found defendant eligible for the death penalty and found no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty. The circuit court sentenced defendant to death for the first degree murders of Debra, Samantha, and Joshua Evans. At a separate sentencing proceeding, the circuit court sentenced defendant to 15 years' imprisonment for the aggravated kidnapping of Joshua Evans and imposed a consecutive 15-year sentence for the aggravated kidnapping of Elijah Evans.
Defendant directly appeals her murder convictions and death sentence to this court. Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(b); 134 Ill.2d R. 603. Her death sentence has been stayed pending our review. 134 Ill.2d R. 609(a).
At defendant's trial, James Edwards testified that in November 1995, he was living with Debra and her three children in a two-bedroom apartment in Addison, Illinois. Samantha was 10 years old, Joshua was 7 years old, and Jordan was almost 2 years old. Debra was nine months pregnant and was scheduled to enter the hospital on Sunday, November 19, to have labor induced.
At about 5:30 p.m. on November 16, 1995, Edwards left for his job. When he returned, after leaving work at 2:30 a.m., Jordan met him in the kitchen. Jordan was alive. Edwards found Debra lying on the living room floor between a coffee table and a love seat. She was unresponsive, and Edwards observed a large wound to her stomach. Samantha was lying on the floor in the children's bedroom. Her neck had been slashed. Joshua was missing. Edwards called 911.
Edwards further testified that several items were missing from the apartment, including a Grambling State University Tigers jacket and a pair of poultry shears. In addition, on the bed that he and Debra shared, there was an Ace bandage that Edwards had never seen before.
Patrice Scott testified that, shortly after midnight on November 17, 1995, defendant, who was a friend of hers, came to the Villa Park apartment Scott shared with Dwight Pruitt and Scott's three daughters. Joshua was with defendant, and defendant had blood on her sweater. Joshua was wearing a coat and boots but no socks or pants.
According to Scott, defendant asked if Joshua could spend the night at Scott's apartment because his mother had been shot "out west" during a drug deal, and defendant was going to visit her in the hospital. Defendant also told Scott that she, defendant, had given birth and would bring the new baby with her when she came to retrieve Joshua in the morning.
After defendant left, Scott asked Joshua what his name was. He told her his name and said he needed to use the bathroom. Joshua used the bathroom, and Scott put him to bed on her living room couch. During the night, Scott heard Joshua whimpering and crying in his sleep. Around 5 a.m., Scott arose to feed her newborn, Alexis. Joshua was still whimpering and crying in his sleep. When he awakened around 6 or 7 a.m., he was crying.
Scott testified that she asked Joshua if he was worried about his mother and told him that his mother would be okay. Joshua replied, "No, no, she's not," and said that his mother and sister were dead. He explained that four burglars had come through the window and cut his mother and sister. He said that his little brother had been left in the apartment and asked Scott to get Jordan. Joshua told Scott that he had been hiding in the apartment and that, when the burglars left, he ran out after defendant, who brought him to Scott's apartment. Joshua repeated this story several times.
Scott asked Joshua if he knew who the burglars were. Joshua identified the burglars as Annette, Fedell, Vern, and "Boo-Boo." According to Scott, defendant is usually called Annette, and defendant has a relative named Bo Wilson. Scott admitted that she did not initially tell police that Joshua had named Fedell and "Boo-Boo" as two of the burglars. She testified that she was afraid of Fedell.
Joshua continued crying after he told Scott what had happened to his family. Scott's daughters entered the living room and one of them read Joshua a book. Joshua listened to her read, but his emotional state did not change significantly. When Scott's daughters left for school, Joshua told Scott to chain the door because the burglars might return.
Scott further testified that, around 9 a.m., defendant returned to the Villa Park apartment. Scott informed her that there was a discrepancy between what defendant said had happened to Joshua's mother and what Joshua said had happened. Scott also told defendant that Joshua had named her, Vern, and Fedell as the "burglars" who had entered his apartment. Defendant became angry at Joshua, cursed at him, and accused him of lying. In response, Joshua asserted repeatedly, "No, no, that's what happened."
According to Scott, defendant then told Joshua that his mother had left him some medicine. Joshua replied, "What medicine, I don't take any medication." Defendant brought him into the kitchen and gave him something, after which he gagged and vomited. Scott again asked defendant about what Joshua had told her that morning. Defendant said that Joshua talked too much and that Caffey had told her to take him south to the "projects."
Scott testified that she then agreed to go to defendant's house so that defendant could give Scott some baby outfits for Alexis. Defendant drove Scott, Alexis, and Joshua in a gray four-door car to her Schaumburg townhouse. At the townhouse, defendant first brought Scott to a bedroom. Caffey and a white baby boy with blond hair and tape on his stomach were on the bed in the bedroom. Defendant then asked Scott to bring Joshua to the laundry room in the townhouse.
Scott testified that Caffey and an unidentified man were already in the laundry room. Scott denied that this man was Ward or Bo Wilson and denied that Wilson had threatened to kill her. After the unidentified man left, defendant told Caffey, Caffey asked defendant why she had brought Scott to the house and why she had not taken Joshua "out south" as he had instructed.
Defendant told Joshua to sit on the day bed in the laundry room and picked up a rope from the floor of the laundry room. She wrapped it around Joshua's neck, and she and Caffey began strangling Joshua with the rope. Joshua and Scott screamed, Scott pushed defendant, and defendant dropped the rope.
Defendant then left the laundry room and returned holding a knife behind her back. According to Scott, Caffey did not instruct defendant to get the knife. When Scott saw the knife, she screamed and asked Caffey and defendant to take her home and to free Joshua. Defendant threw the knife on the bed. Caffey instructed defendant to take Scott home and informed Scott that, if she told anyone what had happened, he would kill her and her whole family. Scott grabbed Alexis and sat in the front seat of the gray car, which was parked in the garage of the townhouse. Defendant instructed Joshua to sit in the back seat, which he did. Scott looked into the back seat and saw Caffey stabbing Joshua as defendant appeared to be holding Joshua's arm. Scott felt Joshua kick the seat and heard him gagging.
Defendant then moved to the driver's seat of the car, and Caffey told her, "You know where to go." Joshua was whimpering in the back seat, and Scott was afraid for her life and her baby's life. They drove to Maywood, where defendant and Caffey took Joshua from the car and helped him walk to the back of a building. Defendant and Caffey returned without Joshua. Defendant left Caffey in Maywood and drove Scott to her apartment in Villa Park.
When Scott and defendant arrived at Scott's apartment, defendant asked Scott for cleaning products to remove vomit from her car. Scott gave her some cleaning supplies, and defendant drove away.
Pruitt's testimony about the events in Villa Park essentially mirrored Scott's. He added that he was watching the midday news around 11 a.m. on November 17 when he saw a television news story about the homicides in Addison. H...
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