People v. Reed

432 N.E.2d 979, 104 Ill. App. 3d 331, 60 Ill. Dec. 80, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1497
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 3, 1982
Docket80-61, 80-68 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 432 N.E.2d 979 (People v. Reed) 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. Reed, 432 N.E.2d 979, 104 Ill. App. 3d 331, 60 Ill. Dec. 80, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1497 (Ill. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

JUSTICE McGILLICUDDY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, the defendant, Fred Reed, was convicted of two counts of murder and one count of armed robbery. He was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 50 to 100 years for each murder and 20 to 30 years for armed robbery.

On appeal the defendant raises the following issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence or, in the alternative, whether defendant’s counsel was incompetent by presenting insufficient evidence to support that motion; (2) whether the trial court erred in refusing the compulsion instruction tendered by the defendant; (3) whether the defendant was accountable for the armed robbery offense; and (4) whether an armed robbery instruction tendered by the State was improper. This opinion will discuss only that testimony relevant to these issues.

The defendant and Lonnie Young, also known as Lonnie Hall, were indicted for the murder of Michael Robbins and the murder and armed robbery of Beverly Truitt. The indictments against Hall were nolle prosequied.

At the hearing on the defendant’s pretrial motion to quash his arrest and to suppress evidence, the defendant presented one witness, Sergeant Edward Adorjan of the Chicago Police Department. Adorjan stated that on September 2, 1977, at about 4 p.m., he went with Investigators O’Connor and Zuley to the defendant’s apartment located in the same building as the victims’ apartments. Marie Brown, the defendant’s girlfriend, was in the apartment. The officers were dressed in civilian attire. The defendant arrived a short while later, and Adorjan informed him that they wanted to question him regarding the deaths of Robbins and Truitt. The defendant was asked to accompany the officers to the police station. Reed agreed to go and Brown was permitted to accompany him. Reed was not told that he was under arrest nor was he handcuffed. Adorjan never asked the defendant whether he wanted to answer the questions at his apartment, and at the station the defendant was never told he was free to go. Adorjan stated that the defendant would have been allowed to leave until about 8 p.m. Adorjan left the station at 5:30 p.m.

The defendant’s motion to quash his arrest was denied. The defendant then made a motion to suppress the written and oral statements he made at the police station. During the hearing on this motion, Investigator Theodore O’Connor testified that the defendant agreed to go to the police station for questioning. At the station the defendant was taken to an interview room and was given his Miranda warnings. O’Connor conversed with the defendant for about a half hour and then talked to Marie Brown who was in the main office. O’Connor stated that after his first conversations with Reed and Brown, the defendant could have left the station.

Marie Brown testified that the police officers asked the defendant to accompany them to the station and that Reed said he would go. Neither Brown nor Reed were handcuffed by the police.

The defendant testified that on September 2, 1977, the police indicated to him that they wanted to question him about Robbins and Truitt. The defendant testified that he did not know the men were police officers when he went with them. The defendant also testified that he knew the men were officers because they had shoulder holsters and that he went with them involuntarily because he was told to go. After repeatedly being asked whether he was forced to go with the officers, the defendant repeatedly answered that he was told to go and had no other choice.

The defendant’s second motion to suppress his statements was denied.

At trial, Investigator O’Connor repeated his testimony concerning his visit with Adorjan and Zuley to the defendant’s apartment on September 2, 1977. He stated that the officers did not have their weapons drawn when the defendant arrived. O’Connor did not know whether the defendant would have been placed under arrest if he had refused to go to the station.

O’Connor further testified that at about 5 or 5:30 p.m., the defendant was taken into an interview room and was given his Miranda warnings. He was not handcuffed. Reed told O’Connor that he had known Robbins and Truitt and discussed the circumstances under which he had last seen Robbins alive on Saturday, August 27.

O’Connor then spoke to Marie Brown and thereafter had a second conversation with the defendant. O’Connor told the'defendant that Brown said she and Reed had seen Robbins on Sunday morning. The defendant then stated that “Big 50,” a drug pusher, had held a meeting on Sunday and told Robbins, a heroin pusher, that no heroin would be sold. Robbins threatened to call the police and left.

O’Connor told the defendant that Denise Johns, Beverly Truitt’s sister, 1 informed the police that Reed had given Robbins a .32-caliber automatic gun for protection. The defendant admitted that he had given Robbins a gun on Friday, August 26.

O’Connor stated that at about 9 or 10 p.m., he asked the defendant about two rings and a silver bracelet he was wearing because the items appeared to be feminine. The defendant could not remember the names of the stores he purchased the jewelry at and then stated he bought the rings from a “guy on the street” and found the bracelet in a garbage can. O’Connor testified that the defendant was no longer free to leave when he could not explain how he obtained possession of the jewelry.

After O’Connor left the interview room occupied by Reed, he took Marie Brown to another interview room and asked her about two rings she was wearing. He then showed the jewelry to Johns and returned to talk to the defendant. He asked the defendant whether the defendant had a necklace with blue stones. The defendant responded negatively and at 10:10 p.m. signed a form consenting to the search of his apartment. A short while later, Officers Epplen, Stachula and Zuley returned to the station with the necklace found in Reed’s apartment. The necklace was shown to Johns and then to the defendant. At this point, the defendant was under arrest. At about 10:30 or 11 p.m., when the defendant asked if he could leave, he was told he would be placed in the lockup.

Sergeant Adorjan testified that on September 3,1977, he interviewed Marie Brown at about 10:40 a.m. and interviewed the defendant at about 2:15 p.m. The defendant was given his Miranda warnings and was informed of statements made by Brown. The defendant told Adorjan about a meeting held several days before Robbins’ death concerning narcotics traffic. After Robbins left the meeting, there was talk of killing him. The defendant further stated that on Sunday evening, at about 10:30 or 11 p.m., Lonnie Hall knocked on the defendant’s apartment door, showed him a gun and told him that he wanted Reed to help him enter Robbins’ apartment. The defendant and Hall went downstairs to Robbins’ apartment. The defendant knocked on the door and identified himself. When Robbins opened the door, Lonnie Hall forced his way into the apartment and ordered Robbins to lie on the bed. Hall told the defendant to tie Robbins up and the defendant complied. Hall placed a pillow over Robbins’ head and fired two shots.

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Bluebook (online)
432 N.E.2d 979, 104 Ill. App. 3d 331, 60 Ill. Dec. 80, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 1497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-reed-illappct-1982.