People v. Dowaliby

582 N.E.2d 1243, 221 Ill. App. 3d 788, 164 Ill. Dec. 299, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1844
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 30, 1991
Docket1-90-2029
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 582 N.E.2d 1243 (People v. Dowaliby) 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. Dowaliby, 582 N.E.2d 1243, 221 Ill. App. 3d 788, 164 Ill. Dec. 299, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1844 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE CERDA

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant David Dowaliby (David) was convicted of first degree murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1) and concealment of a homicide (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9— 3.1) for the death of his seven-year-old daughter, Jaclyn. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of 40 years’ imprisonment for first degree murder and five years’ imprisonment for concealment of a homicide. David contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and it was error to deny his motion for a directed verdict; (2) the trial court erred in instructing the jury; (3) the trial court erred in excluding evidence that should have been admitted; (4) the trial court erred in allowing prejudicial photographs and slides to be given to the jury for use during its deliberation; (5) the prosecutor committed reversible error during closing argument; (6) the cumulative errors denied him a fair trial; and (7) the judgment should be vacated and the indictment dismissed because the indictment was procured by false testimony before the grand jury. We reverse because as a matter of law the evidence was not sufficient to find David guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and it was error to deny his motion for a directed verdict.

In 1988, David and his wife, Cynthia, lived in a single-family dwelling house in Midlothian, Illinois. David’s mother, Anna Dowaliby (Anna), owned the house and lived in an apartment in the basement. The basement apartment did not have its own doors for ingress and egress to and from the outside. David and Cynthia lived in the house with their daughter, Jaclyn, age seven, and their son, Davey, age four. Jaclyn was the daughter of Cynthia and her first husband, Jim Guess. David adopted Jaclyn after he and Cynthia were married.

Jaclyn was last seen alive on Friday, September 9, 1988. On September 9, 1988, David worked from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and arrived home at 5:30 p.m. He left at 6 p.m. to go bowling at the Anchor Bowl in Blue Island. He returned home from bowling around 9:20 p.m. Cynthia, Jaclyn, Davey, Anna and Michelle Goldrick, David’s sister, were home. Goldrick left shortly after David arrived home. Jaclyn went to her room with a Christmas catalog and went to bed around 10:30 p.m. David, Cynthia and Davey sat in the family room watching television. David went to bed around 10:30 p.m. while Cynthia and Davey were still watching television. Cynthia watched television until 11:30 p.m. Before going to bed, she turned off the lights in the living room and checked the children. Jaclyn had fallen asleep with her overhead light on, which Cynthia turned off. Cynthia left the doors to the children’s rooms open and her bedroom door ajar. She then went to sleep.

Anna left home that evening around 10:30 p.m. to go to Papacino’s Restaurant in Oak Forest. Anna stated that she went out the back door of the house and checked to make sure that it was locked. Anna stated that in the past she had used both the front and back doors, but in September 1988, she did not have a key to the front door. Anna did not return home that night.

On September 10, 1988, the Dowalibys’ alarm clock rang at 7:30 a.m. Cynthia looked at the clock and asked David what was the day. When he told her it was Saturday, she turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. David was supposed to play golf that morning, but he also went back to sleep. At around 8 a.m. David was awakened by Davey. David got up and went to the living room, where he saw that the front door was open. He closed the door, sat down, and watched T.Y. cartoons with Davey. When he heard Cynthia awake about 9 a.m., David brought a cup of coffee to her in the bedroom. Shortly after-wards, Cynthia asked if Jaclyn was awake. David told her “No,” and Cynthia said she was going to wake her up. When Cynthia went into Jaclyn’s room and saw that she was not there, Cynthia and David looked for her throughout the house.

David then suggested that Jaclyn may have gone outside, so they looked for her outside. They got in their pickup truck and drove around the neighborhood looking for Jaclyn. In the meantime, Anna came home for the first time since she had left around 10:30 p.m. Friday. When David and Cynthia returned home they discovered that one of the basement windows to Anna’s apartment had been broken. They immediately called the Midlothian police. The transcript of the Midlothian police department tape shows that David made the phone call at 10:26 a.m.

The telephone company phone log indicated the following calls were made from the Dowaliby house on September 10,1988:

9:46 a.m. Sylvia Borelli 1 minute
(Cynthia’s sister-in-law)
9:52 a.m. Susan Haseman home 1 minute
(Jaclyn’s friend)
9:57 a.m. James Guess home 1 minute
(Cynthia’s former husband)
10:06 a.m. Wag’s Restaurant 5 minutes
10:25 a.m. 411-Directory Assistance 1 minute
10:26 a.m. Midlothian Police 1 minute
10:31 a.m. Wag’s Restaurant 1 minute

Donald Woodark, a Midlothian police officer, testified that on September 10, 1988, he made an initial investigation of a possible break-in and missing child. When Woodark arrived at the Dowaliby house, David let him in and told him that he believed that there had been a break-in and that his daughter was missing. Defendant took Woodark outside to show him the broken basement window. The wire screen in front of the basement window had been ripped back, but was partially intact in its frame. Glass was lying around the outside area where the basement window was located.

Woodark also testified that while he was walking down the hall to Jaclyn’s bedroom, he noticed a dresser with its drawers open. Inside Jaclyn’s room, he saw clothes hanging out of the drawers, and clothes on the floor. The bedroom closet light was on and the window blinds were closed. The bed, which had no sheets on it, was pulled out at an angle. David and Cynthia told Woodark that they moved it when they were looking for Jaclyn. On the bed was an open suitcase with clothes in and around it. Cynthia told Woodark that it was one of Jaclyn’s playthings. David and Cynthia said that the only thing missing was Jaclyn’s bedspread.

David told Woodark that he found the front door open when he got up at 8 a.m. He said that he was positive he had closed and latched it before going to bed Friday night. David also told Woodark that he had installed a sliding bolt about three inches from the top of the door to prevent the children from leaving the house early in the morning. After sending out a missing person report, Woodark went back to the basement window area, where he picked up pieces of glass by their edges. He stated that he was looking for any blood or marks to indicate what was used to break the window. After examining the pieces of glass, Woodark put them back in approximately the same place where he had picked them up.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
582 N.E.2d 1243, 221 Ill. App. 3d 788, 164 Ill. Dec. 299, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dowaliby-illappct-1991.