People v. Bailey

517 N.E.2d 570, 164 Ill. App. 3d 555, 115 Ill. Dec. 159, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3594
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 11, 1987
Docket84-0809
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 517 N.E.2d 570 (People v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bailey, 517 N.E.2d 570, 164 Ill. App. 3d 555, 115 Ill. Dec. 159, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3594 (Ill. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

JUSTICE PINGHAM

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial the defendant, David Bailey, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to imprisonment for his natural life. He appeals. For reversal he contends that (1) the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress his post-indictment, uncounseled lineup identification on June 8, 1983; (2) the evidence failed to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) the mandatory life sentence provision under sections 5 — 8—1(a)(1)(b) and (a)(1)(c) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 1005 — 8—1(a)(1)(b), (a)(1)(c)) is unconstitutional.

We first address the defendant’s contention that the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress his uncounseled, post-indictment lineup identification.

The record discloses that Reggie Brownlee and Lisa Kennedy were shot to death in their third-floor residence apartment at 7002 South Harper in Chicago during the early morning hours of May 30, 1983. Biana Castile was visiting in a first-floor apartment in the building and heard the shot. She looked out and saw two men, one of whom had a gun in his hand, running down the stairs from the third floor. The man with the gun was the defendant, David Bailey, with whom Castile was acquainted and knew as “Cochese.”

The defendant was arrested on May 30, 1983. He testified on cross-examination on the hearing of his motion to suppress that his arresting officer did not advise him of his right to counsel. He was taken to a police station where, after talking to several assistant State’s Attorneys, the last assistant State’s Attorney who spoke to him advised him of his rights. The prosecutor did not ask the defendant to state the Miranda rights which were given him by the assistant State’s Attorney.

Michael Pochordo, a Chicago police detective, testified at the hearing of the suppression motion, in response to a question put to him by the trial court, that he arrested the defendant. He further testified:

“THE COURT: Did you advise him of his Miranda rights at that point?
A. Yes, sir.
* * *
THE COURT: Did you specifically tell him at that time that he had a right to an attorney?
A. Yes, sir.”

Officer Pochordo did not further expound on the Miranda rights he gave the defendant. A diligent search of the record does not reveal the specific Miranda rights which were given the defendant or that the defendant was even given the complete Miranda admonitions when he was arrested or at any time thereafter.

A complaint for preliminary examination was subscribed and sworn to by Chicago police detective Michael Pochordo on May 31, 1983. The complaint alleged that the defendant, David Bailey, on May 30, 1983, at 7002 South Harper, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, committed the offense of murder of Lisa Kennedy in that he killed Lisa Kennedy without lawful justification by shooting her with a gun. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par 9 — 1(a)(3).) The complaint was filed on June 1, 1983, in Branch 66, a preliminary hearing court of the circuit court of Cook County. The defendant testified that he was taken before that court on that date and that ah attorney appeared with him and represented him at that time. The record reveals that the Branch 66 preliminary hearing judge ordered that the defendant be held without bail in the Cook County Department of Corrections and further ordered that the sheriff of Cook County bring the defendant before the chief judge of the criminal division of the circuit court of Cook County on June 22,1983.

On June 3, 1983, however, the indictment was returned by the grand jury and was filed by the court clerk. The first six counts of the indictment charged that the defendant murdered, by shooting, Reggie Brownlee and Lisa Kennedy on May 30, 1983, in Cook County, Illinois. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 9 — 1(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3).) Counts 7 and 8 alleged that the defendant committed the offense of armed robbery of Reggie Brownlee and Lisa Kennedy on the aforesaid date and place. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 18 — 2(a).) The defendant was charged in counts 9 and 10 with the offense of armed violence upon Reggie Brownlee and Lisa Kennedy on said date and place. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 33A — 2, 9 — 1(a)(2).

On June 1, 1983, the date the indictment was filed with the court clerk, an attorney also filed with the court clerk his written appearance as attorney for the defendant in the case. Although the attorney signed his name on the appearance form somewhat illegibly, he clearly listed his telephone number thereon as 236-7543.

The defendant testified that after he appeared on the complaint in Branch 66 preliminary hearing court on June 1, he was taken to the Cook County jail. He stated that he was visited in the jail by Attorney Steven Vandross, who told the defendant that he might become the defendant’s attorney in the case. • •

Detective Pochordo testified that he and his partner, Detective Catherine Reardon, worked on the Reggie Brownlee and Lisa Kennedy homicides and that he knew the indictment had been returned on June 3, 1983, when he decided on June 7, 1983, to conduct a post-indictment lineup for the witness, Biana Castile, to view the defendant. Detective Pochordo further testified that he also knew that the law guaranteed the defendant the right to have an attorney present and represent him at the lineup.

Pochordo related that on the afternoon of June 7, he attempted to find out who the defendant’s lawyer was but he was unable to do so. He stated that he called the clerk’s office on June 7 to have the clerk search the court records to determine the defendant’s attorney of record but that the clerk was unable to do so.

Pochordo did not identify the court clerk to whom he spoke. Pochordo did not disclose which of the numerous offices of the clerk of the circuit court he called. Nor did Pochordo relate what the clerk did to ascertain the identity of the defendant’s attorney. The record does not reveal whether the clerk gave Pochordo the telephone number, 236-7543, which was on the defendant’s attorney’s appearance form. Although Pochordo was unable to learn who the defendant’s attorney was, Pochordo testified further on cross-examination that he made no effort on June 7 to contact the Office of the Cook County public defender to advise anyone there that he planned to conduct a lineup the following morning at the Cook County jail witness quarters, with the defendant, who was in the Cook County jail and did not have an attorney, so that the public defender’s office would have an attorney present at the lineup to represent the defendant.

There is no evidence that Pochordo utilized any of the information from the defendant’s arrest report to notify any member of the defendant’s family to have an attorney present to represent the defendant at the lineup on June 8, 1983, at the Cook County jail witness quarters.

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Bailey v. Gilmore
5 F. Supp. 2d 587 (N.D. Illinois, 1998)
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620 N.E.2d 1105 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)
People v. Walton
556 N.E.2d 892 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
People v. Foster
556 N.E.2d 1214 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
People v. Coleman
534 N.E.2d 583 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)
People v. Bailey
517 N.E.2d 570 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 N.E.2d 570, 164 Ill. App. 3d 555, 115 Ill. Dec. 159, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 3594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bailey-illappct-1987.