People v. Daniels

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in People v. Daniels. Read the opinion of the Court — 331 Ill. App. 3d 380
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided February 19, 2004·No. 1-97-4354 Rel·Published

Opinion

       FOURTH DIVISION

                                               February 19, 2004

1-97-4354

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the

) Circuit Court of

) Cook County.

Plaintiff-Appellee, )

)

v. )

SHEILA DANIELS,     )

) Honorable

) Joseph J. Urso,

Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE QUINN delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in 1990 before Judge Michael P. Toomin, defendant Sheila Daniels was convicted of the first degree murder of her paraplegic boyfriend, David McCoy, and was sentenced to an 80-year prison term. (footnote: 1)  On appeal, with one justice dissenting, this court ruled, inter alia , that the trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress statements, but reversed defendant's conviction, finding the admission of polygraph results at her trial improper.   People v. Daniels , 272 Ill. App. 3d 325 (1994) ( Daniels I ).  Following a second jury trial before Judge Joseph J. Urso, defendant was again convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to 80 years' imprisonment.  On appeal, defendant contends: (1) that the trial court erred in refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing on her motions to suppress statements; (2) that the trial court erred in quashing her subpoenas to the City of Chicago (City); (3) that the trial court erred in refusing to send her medical reports to the jury during its deliberations; and (4) that her 80-year sentence is unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey , 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000).  For the reasons set forth below, we affirm defendant's conviction, vacate her sentence and remand for resentencing.  Issues (1) and (2) will be considered in published portions of this opinion and issues (3) and (4) will be determined in unpublished portions of this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Defendant's conviction arose from the November 12, 1988, shooting death of McCoy in the garage of the home that he, defendant and her daughter shared at 1654 East 92nd Street in Chicago.  Working through a trace of the gun used in the murder, police returned to defendant's house on November 17, 1988, to question her again about McCoy's death and some telephone logs the police had acquired.  Defendant was asked to go to the police station to assist in reviewing the telephone logs.  Defendant agreed, and while accompanied by three officers, arrived at the police station around 5:30 p.m. that day.  The facts surrounding her stay at the police station and the content of various statements she made to police, including a statement taken by a court reporter wherein defendant admitted to shooting McCoy but claimed it was in self-defense, were laid out at length in Daniels I .  Therefore, only those facts necessary for proper consideration of the instant appeal will be repeated here.

At the police station, defendant was questioned regarding McCoy's death and admitted to having purchased the gun used in the shooting, but stated it had been stolen by her brother Anthony Daniels.  After defendant told police where Anthony lived, he was picked up and taken to the police station.  Anthony was questioned and released.  

At 11:40 p.m., defendant was advised of her Miranda rights and agreed to take a polygraph exam, which lasted about 2½ hours.  After learning she had failed the exam, she implicated her brother Tyrone in McCoy's murder.  At 3 a.m. she was placed under arrest for McCoy's death and advised of her Miranda rights.  About 30 minutes later, she accompanied police to Tyrone's home, where he was arrested and taken to the police station.    

Prior to her first trial, defendant filed a motion to suppress written and oral statements.  In her motion, defendant asserted that she had been illegally arrested in her home without a warrant in the absence of probable cause, which was a violation of her fourth amendment rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.  She also asserted that incriminating statements she had given investigators were made in the absence of Miranda warnings and resulted from prolonged questioning and refusals by police to allow her to contact her attorney and family, which was a violation of her fifth and sixth amendment rights.  

After an evidentiary hearing, Judge Toomin denied defendant's motion to suppress.  With respect to her fourth amendment claim, he found that defendant had voluntarily accompanied police to the station.  As for the voluntariness of her confession, Judge Toomin, citing People v. Dodds , 190 Ill. App. 3d 1083 (1989), and People v. Nicholls , 42 Ill. 2d 91 (1969), ruled that defendant's confession was voluntary.  

In Daniels I , defendant argued, inter alia , that Judge Toomin had erred in denying her motion to suppress statements.  In particular, she contested his determinations that she had voluntarily accompanied police to the station from her home on November 17, 1988, that she had not been tricked by police into accompanying them and that her statement to the polygraph operator was sufficient to establish probable cause for her arrest.  This court rejected all of these arguments, finding that "the circuit court properly denied her motion to suppress."   Daniels I , 272 Ill. App. 3d at 336.

After this court reversed her conviction and remanded the case, defendant filed another motion to quash arrest and suppress statements, which was twice amended and once reoffered.  In the original motion filed after remand, defendant stated that some time after 11:30 p.m. on November 17, 1988, officers showed defendant her brother Anthony, who at the time was handcuffed to a wall in the police station.  Anthony was bruised and bloody, apparently as a result of having been beaten.  She alleged that during her interrogation, officers engaged in conduct calculated to psychologically and physically coerce her into making admissions as to her involvement in McCoy's murder, including exhibiting her brother Tyrone to her.  At the time, he was also in the police station and was bleeding after having been beaten by police.  She alleged that police informed her that they would continue beating Tyrone and might even subject her to physical cruelty unless she made admissions relating to her involvement in McCoy's murder.  Defendant sought a hearing on her motion to suppress.

In her second amended motion to quash arrest and suppress statements filed on May 21, 1996, defendant again alleged she had made admissions due to the physical abuse Tyrone had endured at the hands of the police.  She further alleged that prior to seeing her brother Anthony in a beaten condition, police had threatened to charge her and/or Anthony with McCoy's murder for which they could receive the death penalty.

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