Reck v. People
| Decision Date | 23 November 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 33630,33630 |
| Citation | 130 N.E.2d 200,7 Ill.2d 261 |
| Parties | Emill RECK, Plaintiff in Error, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Edmund Hatfield, Chicago, for plaintiff in error.
Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., and John Gutknecht, State's Atty., Chicago (Fred G. Leach, Decatur, George W. Schwaner, Jr., Sprinfield, Irwin D. Bloch, John T. Gallagher, Rudolph L. Janega, William L. Carlin, and R. James Platt, Chicago, of counsel), for the People.
Emil Reck, plaintiff in error, comes here from the circuit court of Cook County where he was unsuccessful in a hearing under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. On May 29, 1936, Reck, whom we shall refer to as the petitioner, was sentenced to the Illinois Penitentiary for a term of 199 years as a result of a jury verdict finding him guilty of murder.
Briefly the facts that produced petitioner's conviction are the following: Dr. Peacock, a prominent Chicago pediatrician residing in an Edgewater Beach apartment, on the night of January 2, 1936, responded to a telephone call at his home to administer medical aid to a child living at 6438 North Whipple Avenue. He left his apartment in his automobile but did not return. The following afternoon his lifeless body was found, drenched in blood, slumped on the rear floor of his car, parked at 6326 North Francisco Avenue, Chicago. There were thirteen deep lacerations on his head and a bullet hole passing through his brain. There were no fingerprints. There were no clues. The doctor had no enemies. The Chicago Medical Society offered a substantial reward. Every conceivable effort was made to find a solution to this mysterious brutal homicide. Daily newspaper notoriety attended the search for the guilty. Almost three months elapsed before a solution appeared in the confession obtained from four teenage boys.
On Wednesday, March 25, 1936, petitioner, age 19, Durland Nash and Robert Goeth also 19 and Michael Livingston, age 17, were arrested on suspicion of stealing bicycles. Livingston was released to his mother on Thursday and later rearrested. These boys were questioned about many robberies and burglaries and were shifted from one police station to another, being on parade at many 'show ups.' By accident these boys were questioned about the Peacock murder, and then, only after having been detained 72 hours, Durland Nash was the first to confess, implicating Goeth, Reck and Livingston. On the following Sunday, the four boys were taken to the private office of the first assistant State's Attorney Crowley to make a joint confession in the presence of a court reporter. Their statement of what transpired on the night of January 2, 1936, runs as follows:
In the early evening of January 2, 1936, the four boys met and were riding in a Ford automobile driven by Jimmy Nash. They stopped at a Walgreen drug store somewhere on North Western Avenue. Robert Goeth and Nash got out of the car, went into the drug store, called Dr. Peacock and requested that he make a professional call on a sick child at 6438 North Whipple Street. The boys, while planning the robbery, had previously explored this neighborhood and found it to be dark and unfrequented. The two boys came back to the car and reported that their victim would be at the above address shortly, whereupon they drove there and parked their car nearby. Dr. Peacock arrived, parked his car in front of 6438, alighted from the car with his medicine case, and was approached by Robert Goeth who put a gun in his back and ordered him to re-enter his car, which he did. Livingston remained in the Ford and followed the doctor's car which was driven by Nash with Goeth sitting on his right and the petitioner with the doctor in the rear seat. After they drove some distance they ordered the doctor out of his car and demanded his money. He said he didn't have any money and started fighting with Goeth. When Goeth got loose he fired two shots at the doctor, and while the doctor was lying on the ground breathing heavily Reck, finished killing him with a wooden club about one foot in length that he carried as a weapon. The boys searched the doctor's pockets and found $20, divided it equally, and left him lying on the floor of the rear seat of his car. Goeth also struck him several times with the butt of his gun while he was lying on the ground. After driving away the four separated and went their respective ways.
The foregoing is only a very brief summary of that which is contained in question and answer statements covering 13 printed pages. After being typed it was read and signed by each. It contained the usual warning that it would be used against them in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Reck v. Pate
...Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed the Criminal Court's finding that due process had not been violated at Reck's trial. Reck v. People, 7 Ill.2d 261, 130 N.E.2d 200. This Court denied certiorari 'without prejudice to an application for a writ of habeas corpus in an appropriate United States......
-
United States v. Ragen
...affirmed the Criminal Court's finding that no constitutional rights of the petitioner had been violated at his trial. Reck v. People, 7 Ill.2d 261, 130 N.E.2d 200. The United States Supreme Court denied Certiorari without prejudice to an application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in an appropr......
-
United States v. Ragen
...in the Criminal Court of Cook County, which was denied, which action was affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court on November 23, 1955, 7 Ill.2d 261, 130 N.E.2d 200. That court summarized, 7 Ill.2d at page 262, 130 N.E.2d at page 201, the substance of the confessions signed by the four defend......