People v. Miller

842 N.E.2d 290, 363 Ill. App. 3d 67, 299 Ill. Dec. 551, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1294
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided December 28, 2005·No. 1-04-0381·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE ERICKSON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant Kareem Miller was convicted of attempted first degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred in: (1) allowing the State to use a police officer’s impeachment testimony substantively, and in failing to promptly instruct the jury that the testimony could not be used substantively; (2) allowing a police officer to testify that an eyewitness identified defendant as the shooter; and (3) admitting an assistant State’s Attorney’s testimony into evidence to perfect an impeachment. Defendant also claims that the mittimus must be amended to reflect the correct credit for time he served in custody prior to sentencing.

BACKGROUND

The victim, Ladrakegus Easley, testified that at approximately 7:30 a.m. on March 25, 2002, he left his apartment to buy a newspaper. On his way to the store, he saw his friend Murray Harris drive by and asked him if he wanted to smoke some marijuana. The two men bought some cigars to make “blunts” at a gas station. They smoked two “blunts” for about 25 to 30 minutes. Thereafter, Harris dropped Easley off at his apartment.

When Easley arrived at his apartment, he realized that he had forgotten the newspaper. After picking up the newspaper at a nearby gas station, Easley walked through a gangway on his way back to his apartment. When Easley returned to the porch, he heard someone call his name. He turned around and saw defendant, whom he knew as “Stalker.” He had a conversation with “Stalker” for two to three minutes. After the conversation, Easley turned to leave. As he began walking away, he heard loud gunshots and felt a sharp piercing pain as he fell to the ground. Easley stated that he saw “Stalker” fire a 9-millimeter automatic handgun at his head, legs, arms, and body. “Stalker” then ran through a vacant lot across the street. Easley stated that his vision was not impaired by the marijuana, that he remained conscious, and that he never lost sight of “Stalker.”

After he was shot, Easley said the first person he saw was his neighbor John Bailey. At trial, Bailey testified that he looked out of his window after hearing gunshots and saw Easley’s body lying on the ground. He ran out to help Easley. When the police arrived, they directed Bailey to ask Easley who shot him. Bailey stated that Easley replied that “Stalker” had shot him.

Easley’s girlfriend, Renesha Lightning, also came to his aid after he was shot. She testified that she lived with Easley. At about 7:30 a.m., Easley got out of bed and went outside. He returned about 30 to 45 minutes later. Upon returning, he kissed her and told her that he was going outside again to get a newspaper. After Easley left, Lightning heard gunshots and people saying Easley had been shot. When she went outside to aid Easley, the police were already at the scene. She testified that she asked him who had shot him, and he replied “Stalker shot me, Stalker shot me.” She said she knew who “Stalker” was and identified him in a lineup on April 18, 2002.

Harris, a convicted felon, testified that he had known Easley for about 12 or 13 years. He stated that they were partners in a drug dealing business. On the morning of the shooting, he testified that he picked up Easley to “bag” drugs while smoking marijuana “blunts” laced with PCE At around 7:30 a.m., he drove Easley home and they planned to meet at their usual place to sell drugs. Easley was supposed to bring the drugs. Ten minutes later, a man named “Spider” approached him and asked for Easley’s whereabouts. When Easley arrived, the three men had a short conversation. “Spider” then pulled out a gun and began shooting Easley. After the shooting, Harris went to the liquor store to call an ambulance. He then returned to the crime scene, took the drugs out of Easley’s pockets, and left the scene when the police arrived.

Later that morning, the police took Harris into custody for questioning. At the police station, Detective Golden and Detective Ditryk questioned Harris, but Harris denied telling them anything. The State impeached Harris with his signed investigation summary taken by defense counsel’s private investigator. In the investigation summary, the investigator reviewed with Harris a summary of his interview with the police indicating Harris admitted speaking to the police about the shooting. After Harris was impeached, he admitted that he previously spoke to the detectives. Harris stated that he told the detectives that he saw someone shoot Easley 10 times with a 9-millimeter handgun, but he did not know who shot him. He denied telling the detectives that “Stalker” shot Easley. Harris acknowledged that he had known defendant for eight years and that he visited him in jail while awaiting trial in this case. Harris also acknowledged that the police showed him a photo array during questioning on the day of the shooting. He testified that although he saw defendant’s picture in the photo array, he did not identify defendant as the shooter.

After Harris’s testimony, the State called Detective Golden to testify. At this time, defense counsel asked the court to instruct the jury that Golden’s testimony could be considered for impeachment purposes only. After hearing arguments from both parties, the court determined that portions of Golden’s testimony were substantively admissible as prior identification testimony pursuant to section 115 — 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/115 — 12 (West 2002)), while other portions were admissible for impeachment purposes only. The court then denied defendant’s request, stating that it did not want to anticipate Golden’s testimony and would not parse out his anticipated testimony to determine which portions could be admitted as substantive evidence and which portions could be admitted as impeachment evidence at that time. Instead, it chose to instruct the jury at the end of the trial.

Detective Golden testified that he interviewed Harris on March 25, 2002. Harris told him that he and Easley were driving around in his car. He later dropped Easley off at his apartment. Golden stated that Harris and Easley had planned to meet at 100th Place. When Harris arrived at that location, he told Golden that he saw Easley talking to an individual. Harris overheard the individual say “you’re going to close me down” to Easley as he shot him. Golden testified that the shooter ran past Harris and that Harris recognized the shooter as “Stalker.”

Detective Golden then ran a search on the name “Stalker” in the police department’s database and located defendant. Golden also testified that Harris said that something must have happened in the previous 48 hours because Harris and defendant had been “tight” before that, and that it may have had something to do with “drug relations.” After defense counsel objected to this testimony, the court instructed the jury to disregard the allegations of drug dealing. Golden also stated that Harris picked out defendant from a photo array.

Assistant State’s Attorney Garcia testified that on April 19, 2002, he drove to Logan Correctional Center with Detectives Golden and Ditryk to interview Harris, who was in custody for an unrelated offense. Garcia stated that Harris acknowledged previously speaking to the detectives.

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People v. Miller, 842 N.E.2d 290, 363 Ill. App. 3d 67, 299 Ill. Dec. 551, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 1294 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

842 N.E.2d 290 (People v. Miller) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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