People v. Auilar

319 N.E.2d 514, 59 Ill. 2d 95, 1974 Ill. LEXIS 259
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1974
Docket44754
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 319 N.E.2d 514 (People v. Auilar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Auilar, 319 N.E.2d 514, 59 Ill. 2d 95, 1974 Ill. LEXIS 259 (Ill. 1974).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE WARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Gonzalo Auilar, was found guilty by a jury in the circuit court of Cook County of the murder of Virginia Hunter and sentenced to not less than 20 nor more than 60 years in the penitentiary. His appeal was taken directly to this court under our Rule 603. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 110A, par. 603.

On September 24, 1970, the body of Virginia Hunter was found lying face down in a pool of blood in her apartment in Chicago. Death had been caused by a blow to the head which crushed her skull. A brick and a Viceroy cigarette were found near the body. It was later ascertained that two television sets, four transistor radios (one was an Orion make) and an alarm clock were missing from the apartment.

Four days later Gonzalo Auilar and Edwardo Medina came to the 19th district police station. Medina said to Officer Quentin Muntainer that the police had been looking for Auilar. The defendant then walked up to Muntainer, who placed him under arrest. He advised Auilar that he did not have to make a statement or say anything; he told him, too, he had a right to have an attorney present, and did not have to sign anything. The defendant was not then questioned but was transferred to another police station.

There Officer William McCoy asked Auilar his name, place of employment and if he had been involved in a homicide. The defendant stated he had been. Officer McCoy then said to the defendant:

“Q. Before I go any further, I am going to advise you of your constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand that?

A. Yes.

Q. Anything you say will be used against you. Do you understand that?

Q. You have a right to consult an attorney, do you understand that?

Q. You have the right to have an attorney present during this questioning, do you understand that?

Q. If you can’t afford an attorney, the Court will provide one for you; do you understand that?

A. Yes.”

The defendant answered Officer McCoy’s questions about the homicide of Virginia Hunter and signed a statement, which read:

A. Well, I went to the apartment with the other guy with the glasses, I don’t know his name. The other guy rang the doorbell and the woman opened the door. We walked up to the door and went into the woman’s house. I stayed in the doorway and the other guy went back downstairs and got the piece of brick. I asked her if Johnny was there and she said who. I said Johnny and she said let me see. She went to look at some paper. When she did this the other guy said to me, are you ready, and I said yes. Then this other guy hit the lady with the brick and she said aiee and didn’t say no more. The other guy found two television sets and I found two radios and he found some other radios and put them in a box and said, let’s go. No, he found a pillowcase and put them in there. Then he left and the other guy gave one of the televisions to someone else waiting outside and he took the other television and I took the pillowcase with the radios. We carried them for about three blocks and the other guy got a Yellow Gab. We then went to the other guy’s house on Aldine and he put the television in his house and said he was going to sell it and give me half the money. And I took four radios to my house. I gave one of them to a guy named Billy, I still have one of the radios in my house, the other one sold for $5.00. I still have one clock in my house that I took from the lady’s house.”

The defendant also signed a consent for the police to search his apartment. When they did they found the deceased’s Orion radio and a package of Viceroy cigarettes. The defendant denied knowing where the cigarettes came from. His motions to suppress physical evidence and statements were heard and denied prior to trial.

The prosecution’s witnesses included Officer John Durkin, Officer William McCoy and Carlos Santiago.

Carlos Santiago testified that Eusebio Velasquez, Glidden Velasquez, Gonzalo Auilar and he were standing at the corner of Sheridan and Broadway at 2 p.m. on September 24, 1970. He said that Glidden Velasquez pulled Auilar aside to talk and seconds later he and Auilar left together walking west on Sheridan. When the witness saw them about a half hour later, Auilar was carrying a pillow case containing several objects and Glidden was carrying two television sets. Santiago testified that while they were in jail Auilar had told him that Glidden Velasquez had thrown the brick at Virginia Hunter while he stood by the door. He said that Auilar admitted going into the apartment and picking up the radios.

Officer McCoy testified that he took the statement from the defendant and said that after obtaining the defendant’s consent to search his apartment he had gone there and had found the deceased’s Orion radio and a package of Viceroy cigarettes.

The testimony of the defendant was practically identical with the statement he had given Officer McCoy. He said, inter alia, that he had been on a street corner with Eusebio Velasquez and Carlos Santiago when Glidden Velasquez pulled him aside and asked him if he wanted “to look for a job.” The defendant said yes and Glidden Velasquez then said that they first had to stop at Velasquez’s former apartment. The defendant said, somewhat contrary to the testimony of Santiago, that all four began walking together, but that Eusebio Velasquez and Santiago stopped and waited for them on a corner two blocks from the deceased’s apartment. He testified that when Glidden Velasquez and he reached the deceased’s apartment Velasquez told him to ask for “Johnny.” He stated he did so and that the woman said she did not understand what he was saying. Velasquez left the defendant for the purpose of getting the brick to strike Mrs. Hunter. The woman went back inside to get a pen and paper, apparently so that the defendant could write out the question. He stood at the door as Velasquez followed Mrs. Hunter into the apartment. Before Velasquez entered the apartment he asked the defendant if he was ready and the defendant said yes. Seconds later the defendant heard the woman scream. He first testified that he never went into the apartment but he had changed his testimony on cross-examination and said he did enter the apartment. When he went inside to take the pillowcase full of radios from Velasquez, he saw the woman lying on the floor. He acknowledged he made no effort to call a doctor or the police. Afterwards Velasquez told him that he would give him one half of the money he received from the sale of the television sets.

The defendant first contends that his statement was improperly admitted into evidence, as neither Officer Muntainer’s nor Officer McCoy’s warnings satisfied the requirements of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602. He says the admonitions improperly suggested that there would have to be a court proceeding before he would be entitled to counsel. We need not, however, reach this question.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
319 N.E.2d 514, 59 Ill. 2d 95, 1974 Ill. LEXIS 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-auilar-ill-1974.