People v. Kidd

2013 IL App (2d) 120088
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 25, 2013
Docket2-12-0088
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2013 IL App (2d) 120088 (People v. Kidd) 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. Kidd, 2013 IL App (2d) 120088 (Ill. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

2013 IL App (2d) 120088 No. 2-12-0088 Opinion filed September 25, 2013 ______________________________________________________________________________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Kendall County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 11-CF-140 ) JASON E. KIDD, ) Honorable ) John A. Barsanti, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE McLAREN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Schostok and Spence concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Defendant, Jason E. Kidd, was indicted on one count of drug-induced homicide (720 ILCS

5/9-3.3(a) (West 2010)) “by knowingly delivering cocaine, a controlled substance to Merrideth [sic]

M. Castro and [she] thereafter inhaled or ingested a portion of the cocaine into her body and said

inhalation or ingestion of cocaine caused [her] death.” Following a jury trial, defendant was

convicted and sentenced to a term of 10 years’ imprisonment and 3 years’ mandatory supervised

release. He timely appealed.

¶2 Defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing his tendered jury instructions and that

he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We determine that defendant’s first issue lacks merit; 2013 IL App (2d) 120088

however, his second issue is meritorious and, therefore, we reverse defendant’s conviction and

remand for a new trial.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 On March 7, 2010, defendant found his girlfriend, Meredith Castro, facedown on an upstairs

bedroom floor. He rolled her over and immediately realized that she was dead. He called the police.

¶5 Alex Silva, an Oswego fire department paramedic, testified that he and his partner were

dispatched to a townhouse in Oswego in response to a call of an unconscious or unresponsive person.

Upon arriving at the townhouse, Silva and his partner were met by defendant, who said that Castro

was upstairs and was not breathing. Silva and his partner found her lying faceup on the floor,

unresponsive, with no pulse, and not breathing. After confirming that she had no heart activity,

respiration, or pulse, they told defendant that Castro was deceased. Silva testified that defendant was

upset.

¶6 Defendant told Silva that he and Castro had used cocaine on the previous day. He also told

Silva that Castro had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, and

other cardiac issues, and that she was took insulin and other medications. Silva then contacted a

nearby hospital and received a “pronouncement” of death, which is different from a time of death.

Silva and his partner alerted the coroner’s office and then left the scene.

¶7 Officer Matthew Unger, of the Oswego police department, testified that he and his partner

were called to a townhouse in the early morning of March 7 to assist paramedics with a “possibly

deceased person.” When he arrived between 6:30 and 7 a.m., he went upstairs and saw Castro lying

faceup on a bedroom floor. She was not breathing and had no pulse or heart activity. He stated that

“[w]hen we were assessing her, we noticed that she was stiff.” He then went downstairs and spoke

-2- 2013 IL App (2d) 120088

with defendant in the living room. Defendant stated that he had lived with Castro in the townhouse

for two years. The previous day, Castro was upset because her cat had died. Defendant told Unger

that in the evening he and Castro had consumed “powder cocaine” and marijuana, then watched a

movie together. Castro went upstairs to bed between 10 and 11 p.m. Defendant stayed downstairs

and slept on the couch. Around 6:30 a.m. he went upstairs and found Castro on the floor in the

bedroom. Defendant told Unger that he vomited after he found Castro, and then he called the police.

Defendant told Unger that Castro had congestive “heart failure, COPD, high blood pressure, and

diabetes.”

¶8 Detective Rob Sherwood, of the Oswego police department, testified that he was the “on-call

investigator” on March 7, 2010, and responded to a call for a “suspicious death investigation” at a

residence. He arrived around 8 a.m. The scene had already been processed, so he made

arrangements to interview defendant at the police station. Defendant was not under arrest. The

interview was recorded and a video recording and a transcript were admitted into evidence and

published to the jury.

¶9 During the interview, defendant told Sherwood that Castro wanted to get cocaine because

she was upset that her cat had died. Defendant admitted to smoking marijuana almost daily, and he

stated that Castro knew about his drug use. Defendant stated that Castro had used cocaine frequently

in the past but had not used it for about a year. He stated that “last night she said, ‘Go get me a bag

of cocaine.’ ” He then stated that he “went to the bar, got us a bag, we went home. We did it. And

we smoked pot.”

-3- 2013 IL App (2d) 120088

¶ 10 On cross-examination, Sherwood stated that he did not ask specific questions about the drug

transaction at the bar, such as whether anyone was with him or where the money for the drug

purchase came from.

¶ 11 Officer Chad Vargas, an investigator with the Oswego police department, testified that on

May 9, 2011, he and Sherwood arrested defendant for drug-induced homicide. After giving

defendant his Miranda warnings, they interviewed him at the police station. A transcript of the

interview was admitted into evidence and published to the jury. Defendant stated that, after he

returned from disposing of Castro’s deceased cat, she said “let’s get a bag [of cocaine].” She went

to an ATM for cash. At first defendant stated that they could have gone to one of three bars, or they

could have had the cocaine delivered. Vargas reminded him that in the previous interview in March

2010 defendant stated that they went to one bar and then returned home and snorted the cocaine.

When asked if the purchase was at one particular bar, defendant responded, “uh-huh.” Defendant

also told Vargas that Castro possessed morphine, Xanax, and Vicodin and that she sometimes

smoked “crack” cocaine.

¶ 12 Dr. John Denton, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on Castro on March 9, 2010.

Castro was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 260 pounds. He testified that the settling of her blood

indicated that she had been placed on her back “soon after death.” Castro’s lungs were “heavy or

congested” with blood but she did not have blood clots, pneumonia, asthma, COPD, emphysema,

or cancer. Her heart was enlarged and her main arteries were partially (“moderately”) blocked. Her

liver was fatty and enlarged, which Dr. Denton opined was “related to her obesity and diabetes.” Her

brain was swollen. The toxicology report noted evidence of morphine consumption, at 290

nanograms per milliliter. According to Dr. Denton, this is an elevated level. He stated that over 100

-4- 2013 IL App (2d) 120088

nanograms is “a potential cause of death.” Dr. Denton testified that, while cocaine is a stimulant,

morphine is a narcotic that, as a sedative, leads to respiratory depression. He opined that hypoxia

(deficiency of oxygen reaching body tissues) caused by “cocaine and opiate intoxication” was the

cause of death.

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