People v. Gaston

2020 IL App (1st) 163371-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 20, 2020
Docket1-16-3371
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2020 IL App (1st) 163371-U (People v. Gaston) 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. Gaston, 2020 IL App (1st) 163371-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

2020 IL App (1st) 163371-U No. 1-16-3371 Order filed October 20, 2020 Second Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. 11 CR 6729 ) DEWAN GASTON, ) Honorable ) Frank Zelezinski, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.

JUSTICE PUCINSKI delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Lavin and Cobbs concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: We affirm defendant’s conviction for first degree murder, concluding (1) the trial court did not err in permitting a State witness to testify as to her prior consistent identification of defendant; (2) the erroneous admission of a witness’s testimony that she told “the same things” to the grand jury was harmless; and (3) the trial court did not improperly consider the victim’s personal traits in imposing defendant’s sentence.

¶2 Following a jury trial, defendant Dewan Gaston was convicted of first degree murder (720

ILCS 5/9-1(a) (West 2008)) and sentenced to 52 years’ imprisonment, which included a 25-year No. 1-16-3371

enhancement based on the jury’s finding that he personally discharged the firearm that caused the

victim’s death. Defendant appeals, contending the trial court erred when it (1) permitted the State

to elicit prior consistent statements from one of its witnesses; and (2) improperly considered the

victim’s personal traits in imposing defendant’s sentence. We affirm.

¶3 The State charged defendant by indictment with, inter alia, two counts of first degree

murder, alleging that, on December 6, 2008, he shot and killed Derrvelle Orr. The matter proceeded

to a jury trial, at which the evidence established as follows.

¶4 On December 5, 2008, Orr, who was an aspiring musician, told his father, Derrick Orr, that

he was going to a club to promote his music and asked to borrow Derrick’s new Hummer. Later

that evening, Orr met a friend, Tiffany Barnes, at Club Premier in Dolton. 1 Orr wore two or three

pieces of expensive-looking jewelry. Barnes and Orr left Premier together at approximately 2:30

a.m. on December 6, 2008, and drove east on Sibley Boulevard in Orr’s Hummer.

¶5 Orr pulled into a “well-lit” gas station on Sibley and parked at a gas pump facing south. He

exited the vehicle and walked inside to pay. As he returned to the pump, a black car pulled into

the gas station and parked on the opposite side of the pump, facing north. A black man with a

“twistees” hairstyle, whom Barnes identified in open court as defendant, exited the black car,

walked in front of the Hummer, and started talking with Orr. Orr reached into the Hummer for a

CD or a promotional flyer and gave it to defendant, who peered into the Hummer, at which time

Barnes saw his face from a distance of six feet.

1 Throughout trial, the club was referred to as “Club Premier” and “the Premier Club.” We will simply refer to it as Premier.

-2- No. 1-16-3371

¶6 Barnes then heard a gunshot and saw Orr run in front of the Hummer and fall to the ground.

As Orr was on the ground, she heard a second shot. Orr got up, ran into the street, and Barnes

heard a third shot and saw Orr fall to the ground. Defendant got back into the car and it sped off

toward the expressway. Barnes, who was panicked, called 911 and then ran to Orr who was lying

unresponsive in the street with blood “pouring from his head.”

¶7 As the shooting took place, Latavia Lacefield was driving east on Sibley and was stopped

at the traffic light at its intersection with State Street when she heard multiple gunshots. She saw

a man running from the gas station and then fall to the ground on State. The light turned green,

and Lacefield drove through the intersection, at which time she saw a black or dark green Cadillac

turn east out of the gas station onto Sibley and drive “faster than normal” on Sibley. Lacefield’s

passenger called 911 and gave the vehicle’s description and license plate number to the operator.

¶8 Detective Michelle Malone, who was a patrol officer at the time of the shooting, and

Officer Kramer responded to the scene and attempted unsuccessfully to administer aid to Orr. 2

Malone spoke with Barnes and Lacefield, who had returned to the gas station. Lacefield gave

Malone the license plate number of the Cadillac she observed leaving the gas station. Malone “ran”

the license plate number through the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) and

learned the Cadillac was registered to “Dewan Gaston,” whose address was in the 5800 block of

South King Drive in Chicago.

¶9 Barnes and Lacefield were transported to the South Holland police department while

Malone and Kramer remained at the scene to look for evidence. At the police station, Barnes

viewed a photographic array and identified defendant as the shooter “within seconds.”

2 Officer Kramer’s first name is not identified in the record.

-3- No. 1-16-3371

¶ 10 Based on Lacefield’s identification of defendant and his knowledge of whom the Cadillac

was registered to, Detective Chris Lareau began working to identify family, friends, and associates

of defendant. He went to King Drive in an attempt to locate defendant’s vehicle but was

unsuccessful. On December 9, 2008, the Cadillac was located at 47th Street and Ingleside in

Chicago near defendant’s brother’s residence. After he exhausted his attempts to locate defendant

in the Chicago area, he met with the State’s Attorney’s Office on January 8, 2009, and requested

an arrest warrant “with full nationwide extradition for *** defendant.” The warrant was issued and

entered into LEADS. Lareau also disseminated a flyer in the Critical Reach System, an Illinois-

specific database, which included defendant’s photograph and indicated he had a warrant for his

arrest.

¶ 11 The evidence also established that, after the shooting, defendant moved to Colorado, where

he eventually met, began dating, and moved in with Amanda Bell. In February 2011, Bell and

defendant were at their apartment, when police knocked on the door and inquired about the sale of

marijuana which was allegedly taking place out of the apartment. The police left after determining

the person for whom they were looking was not present. Bell returned to the living room, where

defendant was sitting, “acting kind of anxious and *** fidgety.” Defendant told Bell that he had a

warrant for his arrest in Chicago that was related to a murder. He told her he and his friends were

out for his birthday, drinking and doing drugs, and stopped at a gas station, where he “got into it”

with and shot another man. After the shooting, he and his friends drove to a relative’s house in

Chicago, and, shortly thereafter, defendant left for Colorado. Defendant directed Bell to tell police,

if they talked to her, that his name was “DeAndre.”

-4- No. 1-16-3371

¶ 12 On February 23, 2011, Detective Erik Gulbrandson of the Colorado Springs police

department went to defendant and Bell’s apartment and made contact with Bell and defendant,

whom he identified in open court. Gulbrandson asked defendant for identification, which

defendant was unable to produce.

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Bluebook (online)
2020 IL App (1st) 163371-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gaston-illappct-2020.