People v. Henderson

404 N.E.2d 392, 83 Ill. App. 3d 854, 39 Ill. Dec. 8, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2799
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 15, 1980
Docket78-1821
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 404 N.E.2d 392 (People v. Henderson) 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. Henderson, 404 N.E.2d 392, 83 Ill. App. 3d 854, 39 Ill. Dec. 8, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2799 (Ill. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE DOWNING

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Michael Henderson, was charged by information with the murder and rape of Zelder Wilson. Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, he was found guilty of murder, not guilty of rape, and was sentenced to 60 to 120 years imprisonment.

On appeal defendant contends that: (1) because of his limited intelligence and in the absence of family and legal counsel, he did not intelligently and voluntarily waive his right to remain silent; (2) the trial court erred in admitting his inculpatory statements because they were a product of an unlawful arrest; (3) the State failed to prove that he was fit to stand trial; (4) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his blood type; (5) he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; and (6) his sentence was excessive.

The record indicates that on September 15,1976, the body of the 87-year-old victim was found lying nude from the waist down on the floor of her apartment. A pathologist testified that her cause of death was due to asphyxiation and blunt trauma to the head. After investigating the scene, the police arrested the 18-year-old defendant and took him to the station for questioning. After being advised of his rights, the defendant confessed to the murder and rape of the victim. According to the defendant’s signed statement which was admitted into evidence and read at trial, the defendant said he returned to his apartment at about 11 a.m. that day and saw the victim in the back of the apartment building emptying garbage. He asked her for a glass of water and she invited him in. She told him to go ahead and get a glass of water. He did so, drank some, and put the glass on the sink. He then said he did not want any water, picked up a knife, told her he “wanted some pussy” and to go into the bedroom; She consented and asked him not to kill her. He said after they had sex, they left the bedroom, he turned up the stereo, and they went into the kitchen. He told her she better not tell anyone, she said she wouldn’t, and again asked him not to kill her. He then knocked her down, picked up a knife, and stabbed her four or five times. He said the knife he used was different from the one he originally picked up because the victim hid the other one. He left the knife he stabbed her with on the floor near her. He then went into the bathroom and washed his hands, leaving blood on the bathroom sink. He left the victim’s apartment by the front door, went to his own apartment, took a shower, and changed his clothes. He said he threw his dirty clothes into his sister’s laundry bag and she washed them. He said he cut his middle and ring fingers of his right hand when he stabbed the victim. When he left the victim’s apartment, he had blood on his hand so he wiped it on the wall. He stated that he saw the man who lived in the third floor apartment, told him he saw a man running out of the victim’s apartment, and asked him to see if the victim was okay. This man got another neighbor and after knocking on the victim’s door, the defendant opened the door with his shirttail. He said they saw the victim lying on the floor.

Pretrial Hearings

Prior to trial, the trial court held a competency hearing as well as a hearing on defendant’s motions to quash his arrest on the grounds it was made without probable cause and to suppress his confession on the dual grounds that it was made subsequent to an illegal arrest and in violation of his constitutional rights. Defendant was found competent to stand trial, and the motions to quash the arrest and suppress the confession were denied.

At both these hearings, the defense called a psychiatrist and a psychologist to testify. Dr. Katz, whose qualifications as an expert in psychiatry were stipulated to by the State, testified that he examined the defendant on one occasion in June of 1977. In his opinion, the defendant was mentally retarded with a mental age of 12 to 14 years old. He said his opinion was corroborated by Chicago Board of Education reports on the defendant which indicated that in 1964, at a chronological age of 8 years old, defendant had an IQ of 77 and a mental age of 4 years 10 months; that in 1966, defendant had an IQ of 66; and that in 1970, defendant had an IQ of 74 and a mental age of 8.6 years old. Dr. Katz stated that a mentally retarded person has great difficulty in understanding concepts, numbers, and symbols, and has difficulty reading and understanding language. He stated that the defendant was capable of conversing on a simple level, and that although defendant made inconsistent statements, they were responsive to the questions asked. The inconsistency, he said, indicated an attempt by defendant to disguise Ms retardation by saying things he thought the questioner wanted to hear. At the competency hearing, Dr. Katz testified that in his opinion, the defendant could understand the nature of the charges against him and the court proceedings, but would be unable to cooperate “fuHy to maximumly assist his Counsel.” At the suppression hearing, Dr. Katz testified that the defendant would have a poor concept of the meaning of words such as “waive” and “consultation.” After considering the fact that the defendant had been arrested on four prior occasions, Katz said defendant could understand the meaning of “lawyer” and “court of law.” He said defendant would probably understand what was meant by a right to remain silent, that anything he said could be used against him, and the concept of being present with someone when informed that he had a right to have an attorney present. But defendant’s ability to clearly understand and intelligently give up such rights, Katz said, would be diminished in a stressful situation. He also stated that the more experience the defendant had in a stressful situation, the less anxiety he would have.

Dr. Eosenwald, after his qualifications were reviewed, testified as an expert in psychology. He stated that in October of 1977, he administered the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale and Bender Gestalt test to the defendant. He found that 'the defendant had an IQ of 62 which was equivalent to the mental age of 7 to 9 years old. He classified the defendant as a high grade mental defective which placed Mm in the bottom five percentile of the population. In Dr. Rosenwald’s opinion, the defendant could understand the nature of the charges against him, but doubted whether he could understand the full nature of the criminal proceedings. He stated that defendant could comprehend the simplest kind of procedural questions, but would have great difficulty comprehending and answering complex questions. Dr. Eosenwald found the defendant to be cooperative and believed he would try to assist counsel in his defense, but was dubious as to how successful he would be. The degree of cooperation, he said, would be limited by defendant’s IQ and impaired mental state. He stated that the defendant would understand the word “silent” but would not understand the full context of the words “right to remain silent” nor the implication of the phrase “advise of rights." Eosenwald said the defendant might respond affirmatively to questions in which such words were used because of his lack of understanding and the fact that he was cooperative. He said defendant would probably understand the words “lawyer" and “court of law” because he had been exposed to lawyers and courts over a period of time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Davis
2025 IL App (1st) 231499-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Clark
2023 IL 127273 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2023)
People v. Clay
836 N.E.2d 872 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2005)
United States Ex Rel. Mahaffey v. Peters
978 F. Supp. 762 (N.D. Illinois, 1997)
Coverson v. State
617 So. 2d 642 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1993)
Butler v. State
608 So. 2d 314 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. Shields
593 A.2d 986 (Superior Court of Delaware, 1990)
People v. Gutirrez
564 N.E.2d 850 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
Redman v. Thieret
666 F. Supp. 148 (C.D. Illinois, 1987)
State v. Cumber
387 N.W.2d 291 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1986)
State v. Kelly
504 A.2d 37 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1986)
People v. Branham
484 N.E.2d 1226 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1985)
People v. Redman
481 N.E.2d 1272 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1985)
People v. Gore
452 N.E.2d 583 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1983)
People v. Leiker
450 N.E.2d 37 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1983)
People v. Watson
438 N.E.2d 453 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1982)
People v. Bush
430 N.E.2d 514 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)
People v. Shumate
419 N.E.2d 36 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
404 N.E.2d 392, 83 Ill. App. 3d 854, 39 Ill. Dec. 8, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-henderson-illappct-1980.