People v. Case

616 N.E.2d 601, 246 Ill. App. 3d 566, 186 Ill. Dec. 411, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 993
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 29, 1993
DocketNo. 3-91-0784
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 616 N.E.2d 601 (People v. Case) 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. Case, 616 N.E.2d 601, 246 Ill. App. 3d 566, 186 Ill. Dec. 411, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 993 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE BARRY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, the defendant, 17-year-old Bryan D. Case, was found guilty of first degree murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(a)(2)). He was sentenced to a term of natural life imprisonment. The defendant appeals, and we affirm.

The evidence tended to establish that the body of the 15-year-old victim, Christy Doyle, the defendant’s first cousin, was discovered on her bedroom floor by her brother, Wade Doyle, about 9 a.m. on Sunday, September 30, 1990. Christy had stab and slash wounds to her neck and upper body. Her purse and its spilled contents were found on the hallway floor outside the bedroom. Among the spilled contents were Christy’s dental appointment card and two photographs. The defendant’s fingerprints were found on these items.

Christy lived with her parents, Jim and Linda Doyle, and her brother Wade. The rear section of the Doyle house is two stories with an open garage area which faces an alley. Christy’s bedroom and Wade’s bedroom are on the second floor of the rear section of the house. The middle section is a single story containing the kitchen and a bathroom. The front section of the house is two stories, with a living room on the first floor and the parents’ bedroom on the second floor.

Numerous witnesses testified at trial about the events of the weekend of the murder. Jim Doyle testified that he gave Christy permission to go out on Friday evening, but told her to be home by 11 p.m. She did not come home that evening. The next time Jim and Linda Doyle saw Christy was the next day at about 5:30 p.m. She was walking toward a Norco gas station with the defendant and another young man. Jim told Christy to be home at 11 p.m. that evening. Jim and Linda testified that Christy did not have a purse with her at that time.

Jim and Linda Doyle testified that they returned home about 9 p.m. Saturday evening. Their son Wade came home about 9:30 or 9:45 and went upstairs to bed. Wade was drunk, but he was not loud or combative. Linda went to bed about 10:30 p.m. She heard Christy come home and talk to Jim about 11 p.m. Jim testified that Christy came into the living room and told him she loved him. Jim was angry with Christy for not coming home the previous night. He noted that he and Linda had been having problems with Christy that fall. Jim told Christy that “this shit” had to stop. Christy told him she knew it had to stop and went to bed. Jim then fell asleep on the couch and did not awaken until the next morning. He did not lock the doors.

Jim and Linda Doyle further testified that they did not hear anything during the night. They awoke about 7:30 the next morning and drank coffee in the kitchen. Jim then went to the store, and Wade came downstairs and told Linda to check on Christy because she was covered with blood. Linda called 911 after checking on Christy.

Wade Doyle testified that he and a friend had gone fishing on Saturday. They drank three or four cases of beer during the day, and Wade was drunk when he returned to town that evening. He vaguely remembered being dropped off at a Pizza Hut restaurant about a block and a half from his home. A Pizza Hut employee testified that Wade came in about 8:30 p.m. and passed out while eating a pizza. After Wade later passed out in the restroom, the manager called the police. Officer Alan Beaber testified that he woke Wade and told him to leave. Although Wade staggered, he walked under his own power when he left.

Wade remembered getting home about 9:30 or 9:45 p.m. and going upstairs to bed. The next thing he remembered was waking about 8:30 or 9 a.m. and finding Christy’s body.

Jeff Hanson, Christy’s friend, testified that he spent most of Saturday afternoon with her. That evening, Jeff and Diana Henderson, another friend of Christy’s, saw Christy at a park in town. Christy left the park about 10:50 and started walking home. Jeff said Christy was upset and did not really want to go home because she and her father had to do some serious talking.

Brandi Tieman and Trisha Blackwood testified that they were with the defendant and Chuck McClure at Trisha’s house on Saturday between 8:15 and 10:30 p.m. The defendant and McClure were drinking Southern Comfort and Kool Aid. The defendant was wearing a black T-shirt with a design and writing on the front. Sometime after 10:30 p.m., Brandi and Trisha drove the defendant and McClure to a Moose Lodge. Clifford Coffin testified that he saw the defendant and McClure at the Lodge about 11 p.m. that night. Coffin gave them a ride into town and dropped the defendant off in front of the courthouse.

Eva Simmons testified that she saw the defendant and McClure at the Norco gas station just after midnight on Saturday night. Eva then drove them around. At one point, she stopped and the defendant vomited. After they dropped off McClure, the defendant asked Eva to take him to Christy Doyle’s house. Eva dropped him off about a half-block from Christy’s. Eva saw the defendant walk toward the alley, and then she left. When she saw the defendant the next afternoon, he told her his sister had picked him up in the alley before he got to Christy’s. Eva said that on Saturday the defendant was wearing a black T-shirt with writing on it.

Kathy Duvall testified that she lived about V-k blocks from Pee Wee Creek. There is an alfalfa field northwest of her house. About 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, September 30, she was standing on her front porch when she saw a man running down the street toward Pee Wee Creek. He had dark, collar-length hair and was carrying something in his left arm. She thought he was wearing a light-colored shirt, dark pants, and tennis shoes, although she was not certain he was wearing a shirt. Duvall estimated that the man she saw was 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches and 150 to 170 pounds. After viewing a photograph taken of the defendant when he was arrested on October 13, 1990, Duvall said his hair was the same as the hair of the person she had seen running. However, she could not say whether the man she saw was the defendant.

Police officer Gary Swanson testified that at the time of the murder the defendant was 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 8 inches and weighed 150 to 160 pounds.

Esther Berryman testified that she worked at the Norco gas station during the morning of Sunday, September 30. About 2:30 or 2:45 a.m., she saw the defendant standing by the telephone booth outside the station. He appeared to be wet. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. Berryman said it was a cold and windy night. She asked the defendant if he wanted to come inside. He refused and said he had just called someone to pick him up.

Julie Elliot, the defendant’s sister, testified that the defendant had been living with her and her husband in Chicago since June of 1990. Julie and the defendant went to Bureau County to visit relatives on Saturday, September 30, 1990. That morning, they first went to the Doyles’ house, where they met their mother. They stayed about an hour. The Doyles were not home. Julie stayed at her grandmother’s house on Saturday night. The defendant called her there about 2:40 a.m. and asked her to pick him up at the Norco station. Julie said the defendant was wearing a plain black T-shirt when she picked him up. He had her turn on the heat because he was cold.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
616 N.E.2d 601, 246 Ill. App. 3d 566, 186 Ill. Dec. 411, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-case-illappct-1993.