People v. Martinez

696 N.E.2d 771, 297 Ill. App. 3d 328, 231 Ill. Dec. 475, 1998 Ill. App. LEXIS 374
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided June 10, 1998·No. 1-96-3090·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE BURKE

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant Robert Martinez was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that the circuit court erroneously determined that defendant failed to make a prima facie case of racial discrimination during jury selection. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

On October 3, 1994, Fillamon Ibarra-Saucedo was shot to death at the LaAlondra tavern located at 2010 West 18th Street in Chicago, and defendant was subsequently charged with first degree murder of Ibarra-Saucedo. At trial, the court conducted a voir dire examination of two panels of venirepersons. Among the persons interviewed in the first panel were Patricia Brown, Valerie Perkins and Gregory Bonestro. Brown was a single black woman who lived with her three children and one grandchild. Brown did not work outside of the home. Perkins was a single black woman who lived alone in a home where she had resided for 17 years. Perkins had been a registered nurse since 1976 and had worked at her current job for 11 years. Bonestro, whose race was not indicated in the record, was employed and lived in an apartment with his wife and children.

The trial court excluded four venirepersons for cause from the first panel with no objections from either the State or defendant’s counsel. The State, however, challenged Brown, Perkins and Bonestro with three of its seven peremptory challenges. Defendant challenged two venirepersons and made a Batson motion with regard to the State’s challenges to Brown, Perkins and Bonestro. Thereafter, the following discussion ensued:

“MR. PALMER [defendant’s counsel]: Based on my review of the cards, it appears there is really nothing to separate the three individuals from the remainder of the panel with regard to Miss Brown, forty-three, single, three kids. Although she doesn’t own a home, she rents. She lived in the same place eleven years.
Miss Perkins is forty-five, divorced, three adult kids. She is an educated person as is the majority of this panel. She is a nurse, which I believe at least one other person that has been accepted by the State. She is a crime victim as many of the panel that is accepted by the State. She also owns a home. She has lived in her same address for seventeen years.
* ❖ *
Judge, it’s our contention that there’s nothing separating and distinguishing these *** individuals other than their race, and I believe that at this time we’ve met our burden, and we’d ask for—
THE COURT: State?
MR. NOONAN [Assistant State’s Attorney]: I don’t believe that is a prima facie burden.
THE COURT: Yes.
S'fi i-i *
THE COURT: *** I’ll address all the questions where there’s a systematic excuse of person of the same race, am I correct, or creed or color as the defendant. Two of the ladies, Miss Brown and Miss Perkins are both black or African Americans.
MR. PALMER: For the record, they are the only two African Americans or black persons in this panel.
THE COURT: That’s correct.
It’s my understanding the Defense would not, would not have the standing to object, am I correct?”

Defendant’s counsel responded that he did not believe that was correct, but that he believed “there was a case,” the name of which he could not remember, where a white defendant made the same argument regarding exclusion of blacks. The State responded that there was a United States Supreme Court case regarding a white defendant who “complained about the exclusion of blacks, and that was not found to be a valid reason by the U.S. Supreme Court.” The State claimed that it believed that the case “came back” for other reasons than the fact that the defendant did not have standing because he was white, and that “the inquiry goes more to the jurors themselves, not the race of the defendant.” The trial court agreed and found that there was “no systematic exclusion of anyone” in this case. However, the trial court asked the State to explain the reasons for its challenges “so the record [will be] complete two years later if someone else upstairs disagrees.”

The State responded that it excluded Brown because she “sat in the court with sunglasses on for quite awhile,” she did not work, her answers were practically inaudible, and she was single with three children and a grandchild. Perkins was also single with three children, she sat in the jury box with her arms folded during questioning of the other venirepersons, and, in the State’s opinion, “presented a very defiant attitude” when questioned by the court. Bonestro had four prior drug arrests.

Regarding Brown, defendant’s counsel countered that the sun was shining through the windows 1 and that Brown did remove her sunglasses when she was being questioned. He further claimed that the fact Brown was single and had children was not a valid reason to have Brown removed from the jury. He also argued that Perkins, whose children were all adults, exhibited a “substantial stability” in living on her own for 17 years and holding a job for 11 years while being a single parent. Lastly, defendant’s counsel argued that the fact that Bonestro had been arrested was not “sufficient to exclude him.” Accordingly, he argued that the State failed to show sufficient race-neutral reasons for the exclusion of Brown, Perkins and Bonestro, and requested that the court deny the exclusions. The State responded:

“Just so the record is clear, if your Honor has not found a prima facie case, we don’t have to offer any race neutral reasons, and your Honor just asked me as an aside for those reasons, which is what I did.”

In response, the court stated, “I would agree. I would find there is no systematic exclusion. I’ll note your exception.”

Five members of the panel were then selected as jurors: Thomas Boecher, who had lived in a home for 12 years with his wife and had been a concrete truck driver for approximately 10 years; Paul Heck-man, who worked outside his home as an actuary and lived in a condominium with his wife; Albert Janulis, who was a retired senior management systems specialist and had lived in a home for 36 years with his wife; Linda Salinas, a schoolteacher, who had lived in her home for 2V2 years with her employed husband and two children; and Kathryn Zerate, a registered nurse, who had lived in her home for 16 years with her employed husband and family. 2

The trial court then called a second panel and continued voir dire. After the court finished questioning the individual venirepersons, it excused one for cause with no objections from the State or defendant’s counsel. The State utilized two of its peremptory challenges against single women whose races also are not indicated in the record.

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People v. Martinez, 696 N.E.2d 771, 297 Ill. App. 3d 328, 231 Ill. Dec. 475, 1998 Ill. App. LEXIS 374 (Ill. Ct. App. 1998).

696 N.E.2d 771 (People v. Martinez) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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