People v. Friday

598 N.E.2d 302, 232 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 174 Ill. Dec. 105, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1238
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 6, 1992
Docket4-91-0832
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 598 N.E.2d 302 (People v. Friday) 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. Friday, 598 N.E.2d 302, 232 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 174 Ill. Dec. 105, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1238 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

On October 3, 1991, following a jury trial in the circuit court of Adams County, defendant William E. Friday was convicted of four counts of first degree murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, pars. 9— l(aXl), (aX2), (aX3)) and one count of attempt (robbery) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, pars. 8 — 4(a), 18 — 1(a)). He was subsequently sentenced to concurrent terms of 45 years’ imprisonment for one count of murder and five years’ imprisonment for the attempt (robbery) conviction.

On appeal, defendant maintains (1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a change of venue based upon adverse pretrial publicity; (2) the trial court erred in precluding him from presenting independent evidence which would establish the bias of the State’s witnesses; (3) defense counsel’s failure to cross-examine occurrence witnesses as to the cause of a fire to establish bias constituted ineffective assistance of counsel; (4) the trial court erred in refusing his instructions on involuntary manslaughter; and (5) the trial court improperly reserved judgment on three counts of murder. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Defendant was charged with four counts of murder for the beating death of Earl Bundy, Sr., at the home of Carla Williams, and with one count each of attempt (robbery) and unlawful restraint. The unlawful restraint charge was dismissed prior to trial. Johnny Presley was originally charged as a codefendant, but the cases were severed. Following a jury trial, Presley was convicted of murder on July 25, 1991. He was subsequently sentenced to 75 years’ imprisonment.

As the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict is not questioned, only a very brief summary of the evidence is necessary for an understanding of the issues. The principal evidence for the prosecution was provided by occurrence witnesses: (1) Connie Manus, a 13 year old, (2) Anthony Black, a 24 year old who had a hearing impairment and had consumed 12 to 18 glasses of beer and some marijuana on the evening of the killing, and (3) Cynthia Gredell. They, together with defendant, Presley, Williams, the decedent Bundy, and others were eventually gathered at Williams’ home on the evening of April 13, 1991.

According to the composite testimony of those three eyewitnesses, the following chain of events occurred: (1) Bundy and Williams went into Williams’ bedroom; (2) Williams lay down on a bed, and Bundy got on top of her attempting to remove her clothing; (3) Presley responded to Williams’ call for help and knocked Bundy backward into a headboard of the bed; (4) Presley continued to hit Bundy on the chin; (5) during the course of this, defendant had entered the bedroom and grabbed Bundy’s wallet; and (6) defendant remained in the bedroom while Presley continued to batter Bundy. According to Gredell, she saw defendant hit Bundy once during the time Presley was attacking Bundy.

According to the witness Black, when he came into the bedroom and told Presley to stop hitting Bundy, two voices told him to leave. Undisputedly, Presley inserted a mop handle into the anus of Bundy. The evidence was undisputed that eventually defendant went with Presley as they removed Bundy’s body from the Williams house, placed it in an automobile, and drove the automobile to the Mississippi River where the automobile was permitted to run into the river with Bundy’s body in it. Sometime that night, after Presley and defendant left Williams’ house with Bundy’s body, the Williams house burned, and Williams and two of her three children died in the fire.

Defendant admitted he had been in Williams’ bedroom while Presley was hitting Bundy, but stated that he stayed because Presley threatened him if he did not do so. Defendant maintained he asked Presley to stop hitting Bundy, but Presley continued. He denied he took Bundy’s wallet but admitted he helped Presley dispose of the body.

At the hearing on defendant’s motion for change of venue, defense counsel presented copies of 25 articles which had appeared in a local newspaper between the time of the offense (April 13, 1991), and the date of defendant’s motion (August 12, 1991). He argued that area radio and television stations had also reported extensively, and in detail, the stories of Earl Bundy’s death, the arrest and trial of the other defendant, and of the fire which destroyed Williams’ house shortly after the beating. He did not offer proof of either the scope or content of the coverage by radio or television or the percentage of the population of the area that was reached or served by either the newspaper, radio or television.

Counsel also presented the results of a poll he conducted of 50 individuals based upon “past jury venires.” The poll indicated (1) 98% of the polled individuals had heard or read of the murder charges pending against defendant and Presley; (2) 86% had heard or read that Bundy was beaten; (3) 50% had heard Bundy was robbed; (4) 88% had heard Bundy was sodomized with a broom handle; (5) 94% had heard he was placed in the trunk of a car that was pushed into the Mississippi River; (6) 72% had heard one of the defendants had already been convicted of the murder; (7) 52% had already formed an opinion or belief that the other defendant was also guilty of murder; and (8) 6% indicated that although they had an opinion or belief as to the guilt or innocence of the untried defendant, they refused to give an answer which might lead to a changed venue. Defense counsel noted that a poll conducted by the State resulted in the State’s conclusion that 33% of the people surveyed could not be fair and impartial in rendering a verdict. No evidence was presented of the scientific accuracy of either survey.

Defendant notes the general population of Adams County is 71,622. The articles defendant has included in the record are all from the Quincy Herald-Whig. Of the 25 articles, three were primarily about codefendant Presley, three made no mention of defendant at all, and one article was about the public defender’s caseload and said only that defense counsel had recently been assigned his first murder case. That article did not mention defendant’s name. One article was about an arson in Hannibal and was apparently included because the victim of that arson was a “foster sister” of Presley. That article also did not mention defendant. Finally, although most of the articles gave some description of the beating, murder, fire or finding the body in the river, only five articles gave specific details of the murder.

Defendant notes two local television stations and area radio stations reported the charges, the evidentiary hearings held prior to trial and all proceedings of Presley’s trial. Defendant maintains the “clear picture” emerging from the publicity is that the community was predisposed as to defendant’s guilt, and it was virtually impossible for him to receive a fair trial.

The instant case is similar to People v. Hines (1988), 165 Ill. App. 3d 289, 518 N.E.2d 1362, decided by this court. There, as here, a murder took place in a somewhat rural area, and the local newspapers and television stations provided extensive coverage. That defendant’s request for change of venue was denied.

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Related

People v. Torres
669 N.E.2d 1279 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1996)
People v. Place
605 N.E.2d 634 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
598 N.E.2d 302, 232 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 174 Ill. Dec. 105, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-friday-illappct-1992.