People v. Mitchell

853 N.E.2d 900, 366 Ill. App. 3d 1044, 304 Ill. Dec. 823, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 687
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided August 4, 2006·No. 1-02-1244·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE TULLY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Edward Mitchell, was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 100 years in prison. On appeal, defendant argues (1) that his confession should have been suppressed because it was obtained through coercion; (2) that the surveillance video from the food store where the shooting occurred should not have been admitted as the State failed to lay a proper foundation; (3) that the court improperly allowed hearsay testimony from an expert witness and that defendant’s counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the testimony; (4) that he was improperly sentenced to an extended term of imprisonment; and (5) that section 111 — 3(c)(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/111 — 3(c)(5) (West 2002)), which provides the procedural requirements for seeking an extended-term sentence, violates article I, section 7, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 7).

The trial court conducted a lengthy hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress his confession. The defendant’s contention in the trial court was that mistreatment by the police caused him to make an involuntary confession. Defendant makes that same argument on appeal. Defendant also argues that his confession should have been suppressed because it was obtained in violation of his fourth amendment rights under the McLaughlin/Gerstein rule. See County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 114 L. Ed. 2d 47, 111 S. Ct. 1661 (1991); Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 43 L. Ed. 2d 54, 95 S. Ct. 854 (1975). Our discussion of the facts incorporates the testimony from the hearing on the defendant’s motion to suppress as well as testimony from the trial.

FACTS

On July 31, 1999, eight-year-old Paulette Peake was shot and killed while standing inside Pat’s Food Store (Pat’s Foods) on the corner of 79th Street and Sangamon in Chicago.

Officer Ronald Spraggins of the Chicago police department responded to a call on July 31, 1999, that a child had been shot at Pat’s Food Store and arrived at the scene just after 9:30 p.m. Officer Spraggins testified that a crowd had gathered outside Pat’s Food Store and a woman was yelling out that she had seen three men hanging around Leo High School all evening. Leo High School is located diagonally across the street from Pat’s Food Store. The woman stated that she heard the shots fired and they came from the area where the men had been hanging out all night. She gave a general description of the men, calling one of them “Kenny” and another “Mitch.” Officer Spraggins went down the alley near Leo High School, where he found shell casings. He continued his search down the alley and observed the defendant jumping over a fence. Spraggins and his partner chased the defendant and arrested him in the alley. Officer Spraggins and his partner transported the defendant to the sixth district station.

At the sixth district, the defendant was interviewed by Detectives Robert Arteaga and Sylvia Van Witzenberg between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on August 1. The results of a gunshot residue test taken earlier were inconclusive. The interview lasted 20 to 30 minutes and the detectives told the defendant he was not being charged and he would be released from the sixth district. Detective Arteaga testified the defendant agreed to help them with the investigation and voluntarily went with the detectives to Area 2.

Also on August 1, 1999, the codefendant, Kevin Johnson, was taken into custody. Kevin Johnson identified the defendant as the shooter and gave a court-reported confession. Thereafter, Detective Arteaga went to 7927 South Sangamon to recover the murder weapon.

At approximately 2 p.m. on August 1, the defendant was placed under arrest after being identified as the shooter. Detectives Van Witzenberg and Arteaga interviewed him again at Area 2 after informing him that he had been named as the shooter. Later that evening, at approximately 10 p.m., the defendant was interviewed by Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) Arunas Buntinas. That interview lasted approximately 45 minutes. ASA Buntinas interviewed the defendant again for about two hours at 4 a.m. on August 2.

On August 2, the police interviewed a witness to the shooting, Mary Lewis. On July 31, Mary Lewis was standing in front of her house at 7812 Sangamon in Chicago. Pat’s Food Store is located at the end of her block and Leo High School is located diagonally across from Pat’s Food Store. Mary Lewis saw the defendant and two other men standing by the corner near Leo High School. She recognized all three of the men as she had seen them before. Ms. Lewis spent most of the evening on her front stoop because she wanted to go to Pat’s Foods but was waiting for the defendant and the others to “clear the corner” so she could walk down the street. At approximately 9:30 p.m., Ms. Lewis heard gunshots and saw sparks coming from the location where the defendant had been standing near Leo High School. Ms. Lewis ran into her house, put on some shoes, and then went to the corner, to Pat’s Food Store. When Ms. Lewis arrived at Pat’s Food Store, she was yelling, “Kenny and Mitch did it.”

At approximately 7 p.m. on August 2, Detectives Van Witzenberg and Arteaga showed the defendant a surveillance tape from Pat’s Food Store. The tape showed the inside of the store at the time of the shooting. This interview lasted approximately 45 minutes. Later on August 2, at approximately 11:30 p.m., ASA Buntinas interviewed the defendant again for 30 to 45 minutes and continued to interview the defendant periodically throughout the night. At 2 a.m. on August 3, the detectives and ASA Buntinas again showed defendant the surveillance tape from Pat’s Foods. Between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. on August 3, ASA Buntinas periodically interviewed the defendant. Throughout all of this questioning, the defendant denied any involvement in the shooting.

At approximately 4 or 5 p.m. on August 3, Detectives Van Witzenberg and Arteaga were notified of an outstanding warrant for the defendant in Bridgeview. At 10:30 p.m. on August 3, the detectives informed the defendant that he would be going before a judge in Bridge-view the following morning. The detectives arranged for the defendant to call his mother to let her know he was going to Bridgeview. However, there was a problem processing the warrant so the defendant was never taken to Bridgeview and he remained in the interview room in Area 2.

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People v. Mitchell, 853 N.E.2d 900, 366 Ill. App. 3d 1044, 304 Ill. Dec. 823, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 687 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

853 N.E.2d 900 (People v. Mitchell) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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