People v. Falls

625 N.E.2d 313, 252 Ill. App. 3d 1080, 192 Ill. Dec. 353, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1365
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 7, 1993
DocketNo. 1-88-0574
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 625 N.E.2d 313 (People v. Falls) 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. Falls, 625 N.E.2d 313, 252 Ill. App. 3d 1080, 192 Ill. Dec. 353, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1365 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE CAMPBELL

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant Allen Falls was convicted of the murder of Michael Ridges and conspiracy to murder Robert Fischer. Defendant was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment. This appeal is related to People v. Coulter (1992), 230 Ill. App. 3d 209, 594 N.E.2d 1163, and People v. Jackson (1992), 233 Ill. App. 3d 1089, 599 N.E.2d 1192. This court granted defendant’s motion to substitute the Coulter record for this appeal on June 22,1992.

The record on appeal indicates the following facts. Defendant, Dwayne Coulter, Ira Jackson and John Annerino were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Annerino died before trial. The trial court granted a severance from Coulter, but ruled that defendant and Jackson would be tried together before separate juries. The court denied defendant’s motion to sever the charges against him.

Before trial, defendant moved to suppress statements he made to the police following his arrest. At a hearing on this motion, Officers Robert Rutherford, John Mahon, Edwin Harder and James Rousell testified that they were present when defendant, Coulter and Jackson were removed from a blue Cadillac on the Kennedy Expressway and placed under arrest. These officers testified that after his arrest, Falls was taken to Northwest Hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound to the leg caused by a codefendant. These officers also testified that defendant was informed of his constitutional rights, but that defendant never indicated that he wished to remain silent or consult with an attorney. The officers further testified that they never saw defendant complain of pain. Officer Rutherford testified that neither he nor anyone in his presence refused to give defendant medication. Officer Ma-hon testified that the doctor in the emergency room at the hospital told him that defendant’s injury was so minor that medication would not be necessary.

Assistant State’s Attorney Richard Stock testified that he spoke with defendant at Northwest Hospital. Stock indicated that he also informed defendant of his constitutional rights, but that defendant never indicated that he wished to exercise them. Stock stated that defendant seemed coherent and answered his questions.

Officers Rousell and Harder drove defendant to the Maybrook police station after his treatment at the hospital.

Roberta Samotny, an attorney, testified that on the date in question, she received a telephone call from an attorney named Sam Adams at about 6 p.m. As a result of that call, she and Georgia Perry-Stevens, a paralegal and secretary to Sam Adams, drove to the Maybrook police station. Samotny testified that she arrived at the station at approximately 7 p.m. and told the reception desk she was there to see defendant and Coulter. Samotny testified that she was told to wait and that while waiting, she met Richard Flater, who was there to see Jackson. According to Samotny, she did not see defendant until 7:45 or 7:50 p.m. Defendant asked where she had been and indicated that he had given a statement five minutes earlier.

Georgia Perry-Stevens corroborated much of Samotny’s testimony. However, Perry-Stevens stated that they arrived at the station at 6:50 p.m. and were denied access to defendant for 45 minutes to IV2 hours. Perry-Stevens also testified that she thought that Samotny did not see Falls until 9 p.m.

Diane Wiley testified that she was working at the patrol desk at the police station on the evening in question. She remembered Samotny, but did not recall when Samotny arrived. Wiley testified that after Samotny identified herself, she notified her supervisor, who came downstairs and escorted Samotny upstairs within a few minutes.

Lieutenant Arthur Jackson testified that he was the supervising officer on the evening at issue. Lt. Jackson testified that he was first informed that Flater was present in the station. He spoke to Flater. After learning that Flater was there to see his client, Lt. Jackson went upstairs to the investigation section and relayed the message to Captain Frank Braun, who was in charge of the investigation, and Assistant State’s Attorney Dennis Dembach, who was the felony review supervisor for the State’s Attorney’s office that evening.

Lt. Jackson testified that Braun and Dernbach met Flater downstairs about five minutes later and asked whether they could use an office for a conference. While Braun, Dembach and Flater were in the office, Lt. Jackson was informed of Samotny’s arrival. According to Lt. Jackson, Samotny was escorted into the office with the others no more than five minutes later.

Braun and Dembach corroborated portions of Lt. Jackson’s testimony. They also testified that it was no more than 15 to 20 minutes between the time they went downstairs to the time they accompanied Flater and Samotny upstairs to see their clients.

On surrebuttal, Samotny stated that she did not confer with Braun and Dembach on the first floor and did not see Dernbach until she arrived on the second floor of the police station.

At the conclusion of the testimony and argument, the trial court denied defendant’s suppression motion.

As noted above, defendant and Ira Jackson were tried together before separate juries. The evidence adduced at defendant’s trial is substantially the evidence recounted in Jackson, which also used the record with the Coulter docket number. (See Jackson, 233 Ill. App. 3d at 1090-96, 599 N.E.2d at 1194-98.) Thus, the record need only be recounted briefly here.

The record shows that Officer Ridges was found shot to death in Prospect Heights, Illinois, on October 17, 1985. The State presented evidence connecting defendant to John Annerino, Robert Fischer and, ultimately, to Officer Ridges. (See Jackson, 233 Ill. App. 3d at 1090, 599 N.E.2d at 1195.) In this appeal, the State and defendant recount the testimony of Robert Fischer, detailing how he and Annerino were once associates, but later had a falling out. Subsequently, someone attempted to shoot Fischer, someone threw a brick through his window that was followed by a threatening telephone call, and someone claiming to be a Chicago police officer telephoned to tell Fischer to be home at a certain time so that a warrant could be served upon him. These incidents prompted Fischer to contact the Prospect Heights police.

The case was referred to Officer Ridges, who spoke with Fischer at Fischer’s home for about 10 minutes at approximately 9 a.m. on the morning of October 17, 1985. Fischer discovered later that day that Officer Ridges was shot approximately IV2 blocks from Fischer’s home.

Cook County sheriff’s police officer James Lussky testified that Officer Ridges transmitted a radio message at about 9:20 a.m. on the date in question requesting backup for a traffic stop at Willow Road and Route 83. En route, Officer Lussky heard a transmission indicating that an officer had been shot at that location. Upon arriving at the scene, Officer Lussky discovered Officer Ridges’ body; defendant’s driver’s license was nearby.

Chicago police officer John Kucharski testified that he heard a police radio message at about 9:40 a.m. that a blue Cadillac was wanted in connection with the shooting.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
625 N.E.2d 313, 252 Ill. App. 3d 1080, 192 Ill. Dec. 353, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-falls-illappct-1993.