The People Of The State Of Ill. v. Hommerson

• Decision Date: 25 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 2-08-0346.,2-08-0346.
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Peter HOMMERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

399 Ill.App.3d 405

927 N.E.2d 101

339 Ill.Dec. 560

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Peter HOMMERSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-08-0346.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

Second District.

March 25, 2010.

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Thomas A. Lilien, Deputy Defender and Kathleen J. Hamill (Court appointed), Office of the State Appellate Defender, Elgin, for Peter Hommerson.

Michael J. Waller, Lake County State's Attorney, Waukegan; Lawrence M. Bauer, Deputy Director, Edward R. Psenicka, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Elgin, for People.

Justice BURKE delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Peter Hommerson, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Marvin and Kay Lichtman, and the circuit court of Lake County sentenced defendant to natural life in prison. On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the State failed to prove him guilty of the murders beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) testimony elicited during trial violated the marital privilege; and (3) the cumulative effect of improper comments made by the prosecutors during closing argument rendered his trial unfair. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On January 23, 1996, at 7:38 p.m., the fire department was dispatched to the home of Marvin and Kay Lichtman. It was determined that the fire was deliberately set by someone who used gasoline as an accelerant. Inside a room off the foyer, Marvin's body was found clutching papers in one hand. The remains of Kay's body and an unidentified animal were also found in the house. The coroner's testimony revealed that the Lichtmans died as a result of gunshot wounds. The forensic expert opined that the bullets and casings recovered from the victims' bodies and the crime scene were .22-caliber.

The Lichtmans were a wealthy couple and their home was filled with expensive paintings, artifacts, Hummel figurines, Remington bronzes, and other art pieces. At trial, the State maintained that defendant murdered the Lichtmans for monetary gain. The State introduced evidence that defendant had owned a glass company that had undergone a series of financial problems, which caused defendant to borrow large sums of money. The State also asserted that defendant, who had access to the house on the day of the murders, purchased cardboard boxes and rented a van that day to collect the valuables from the house. The police later found in defendant's work van an exotic vase owned by the Lichtmans.

At trial, the State introduced defendant's initial statement to the police in which he stated that he had been working at the Lichtmans' on January 23, 1996, arriving at approximately 10 a.m. After he completed some preliminary work, he left the residence between 11 and 11:30 a.m. to rent a van at a Budget rental facility in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and he purchased a number of cardboard boxes before returning to the Lichtmans' between 12:30 and 12:45 p.m. When he left the residence that morning, he told the maid to leave the garage door open because he would be returning later. Defendant said he rented a van at Budget because his work van was not running well.

At 7:08 that evening, defendant purchased seven gallons of gasoline from a Shell station six miles from the Lichtmans' residence. A gas station employee testified that she was not certain whether defendant pumped the gas into the van or a container, but the van was parked in front of pump eight and the gas came from pump seven. The heat sensor at the Lichtmans' was triggered at approximately 7:38 p.m., which prompted the fire department to dispatch personnel.

In a later interview with police, defendant related that his real reason for renting the van was to illegally dump garbage. After leaving Budget, defendant purchased boxes to remove clutter from his Algonquin home, arriving there around noon. Later, he drove to the Lichtmans'. He arrived there around 12:30 or 12:45 p.m. and rang the bell, but no one answered. He waited for 40 minutes and then returned to his Algonquin home. Defendant said that he and his wife drove to a house they owned in Woodstock to prepare it to sell. Defendant drove the rental van. He left Woodstock and returned the van to Budget at about 5:15 or 5:30 p.m. Defendant told the police that he left Budget in his work van, drove back to Woodstock, stopping to fill up the van with gas at a Shell station, and then drove to his Algonquin home. Trial testimony showed that, based on defendant's account of his use of the rental van on the date in question, he would have traveled approximately 58 miles. However, the mileage recorded on the van's return to Budget showed a total of 29 miles.

During police questioning, defendant specifically denied owning a .22-caliber firearm. Defendant's friend, Gerald Harrison, testified that in 1994 or 1995, defendant told Harrison that he had accidentally fired his .22-caliber pistol in his basement. Defendant showed Harrison where the bullet had traveled through his gun cabinet and into the wall. The police executed a search of defendant's home, where they found holes in the back of the cabinet and in the wall behind it. During the search, the police found a receipt showing that defendant had purchased a .22-caliber pistol in March 1994. The police also found .22-caliber ammunition consistent with the shell casings recovered from the scene of the crime.

The series of events defendant alleged was originally corroborated by defendant's wife, Ros Hommerson, in a statement given to the police at the same time defendant was being interviewed. At trial, however, Ros recanted her previous statement as a lie that she told for the purpose of establishing a false excuse for defendant. Ros testified that everything she told the police in her statement was a lie and that the truth was that on the day of the offense defendant left in the morning after breakfast and did not return until after 7:30 p.m.

After defendant's questioning by the police and the discovery of the .22-caliber handgun receipt and the ammunition consistent with the evidence found at the Lichtmans', defendant fled to Mexico on January 26, 1996. Ros testified that on January 26, she and defendant drove to a motel in the St. Louis area, where she registered under a fictitious name. The next day they drove to the Mexican border and defendant crossed into Mexico on foot. The State introduced two receipts, with fabricated names and false addresses, from motels that defendant stayed at while traveling to Mexico. Ultimately defendant was served with an arrest warrant for this case on October 14, 2005, approximately 10 years after the crime was committed.

Following closing arguments, the jury found defendant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. Thereafter, the trial court ordered defendant to serve a sentence of natural life in prison. Defendant timely appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Defendant first contends that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was the person who caused the deaths of the Lichtmans. When a court reviews the sufficiency of the evidence, the relevant question is “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis in original.) Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979); see People v. Phillips, 215 Ill.2d 554, 569-70, 294 Ill.Dec. 624, 831 N.E.2d 574 (2005), citing People v. Collins, 106 Ill.2d 237, 261, 87 Ill.Dec. 910, 478 N.E.2d 267 (1985). This standard of review does not allow the reviewing court to substitute its judgment for that of the fact finder on questions involving the weight of the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses. People v. Sutherland, 155 Ill.2d 1, 17, 182 Ill.Dec. 577, 610 N.E.2d 1 (1992), quoting People v. Campbell, 146 Ill.2d 363, 375, 166 Ill.Dec. 932, 586 N.E.2d 1261 (1992). Further, reviewing courts apply this standard regardless of whether the evidence is direct or circumstantial ( Campbell, 146 Ill.2d at 374-75, 166 Ill.Dec. 932, 586 N.E.2d 1261), and circumstantial evidence meeting this standard is sufficient to sustain a criminal conviction ( People v. Hall, 194 Ill.2d 305, 330, 252 Ill.Dec. 653, 743 N.E.2d 521 (2000)). Thus, the standard of review gives “full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d at 573; see People v. Nitz, 143 Ill.2d 82, 95, 157 Ill.Dec. 431, 572 N.E.2d 895 (1991).

“The trier of fact need not, however, be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt as to each link in the chain of circumstances. It is sufficient if all of the evidence taken together satisfies the trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt.” Hall, 194 Ill.2d at 330, 252 Ill.Dec. 653, 743 N.E.2d 521. Further, in weighing evidence, “ ‘the trier of fact is not required to disregard inferences which flow normally from the evidence before it, [nor need it] search out all possible explanations consistent with innocence and raise them to a level of reasonable doubt.’ ” People v. Wheeler, 226 Ill.2d 92, 117, 313 Ill.Dec. 1, 871 N.E.2d 728 (2007), quoting Hall, 194 Ill.2d at 332, 252 Ill.Dec. 653, 743 N.E.2d 521. A reviewing court will not reverse a conviction unless the evidence is “unreasonable, improbable, or so unsatisfactory as to justify a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt.” Campbell, 146 Ill.2d at 375, 166 Ill.Dec. 932, 586 N.E.2d 1261.

The State introduced evidence, both direct and circumstantial, that revealed the following. Defendant borrowed large sums of money for his business. He worked for the Lichtmans, whose home...