People v. Terry

CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 31, 2000
Docket1-98-0900
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Terry (People v. Terry) 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. Terry, (Ill. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

THIRD DIVISION

MARCH 31, 2000

1-98-0900

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,   )  Appeal from the

    )  Circuit Court of

Plaintiff-Appellee, )  Cook County

)

v. )

DERRICK TERRY, )  Honorable Daniel J.

)  Kelly, Judge

Defendant-Appellant. )  Presiding.

JUSTICE CERDA delivered the opinion of the court:

One of the main issues in this case is whether the comments made during the State's opening and closing arguments deprived defendant , Derrick Terry, of a fair trial.

Defendant appeals after a jury trial from his convictions for first-degree murder and aggravated battery.  He argues in part that his right to a speedy trial was violated, that his guilt was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and that his trial was unfair due to inadmissible evidence and/or improper remarks of the State concerning (a) defendant being a member of a gang that dealt drugs, (b) the prior consistent statements of the sole-testifying eyewitness identifying defendant at the trials of the two co-defendants, and (c) defendant's threats against the eyewitness and another State witness.  We agree that defendant's trial was unfair, and we reverse defendant's convictions and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

On October 26, 1995, the murder victim and Bennie Hogue were painting a house on the 1800 block of South Kedzie in Chicago. Shots were fired by three people at a passing car.  The victim was hit and killed.  Bennie Hogue was wounded.

Defendant was arrested and, on the 116th day of the statutory speedy-trial term, the State moved for an extension of the term so that the State could continue to search for Lonnie Walker, one of the passengers in the car who were the targets of the shooting.  The State claimed that Walker was an essential witness.  

Thomas Quinn, a State's Attorney investigator, testified for the State on its motion that he was first asked in early October 1997 to locate Walker to serve him with a subpoena for court dates that month.  Walker had been released from jail in September to a rehabilitation program but left without permission on October 5, 1997.  Ever since Walker had fled, Quinn and three other investigators had been looking for him at several locations, including the homes of relatives.  The State believed that, if a warrant were issued for Walker's violation of parole, it would be extremely helpful to the State in finding him.

Over defendant's objection, the trial court extended the speedy-trial term 30 days until January 20, 1997, and on that day, the trial commenced.  

D efendant moved in limine to prohibit reference at trial to drug dealing and gang membership.  The motion was denied.  

Bennie Hogue testified at trial that he spent the day on October 26, 1995, with Joe Hegwood painting the exterior of a house at 1840 S. Sawyer Street.  As he was working, he observed across the street a group of five young men standing in a vacant lot most of the day.  At about 5:30 p.m., he heard about 35 gunshots.  He was hit by several bullets, but he did not see who was shooting.  

A medical examiner testified that Hegwood died from the gunshot wounds that were inflicted during this incident.

Calvin Horton testified at trial, over defendant's objection, that in 1995 he observed drug dealing on a daily basis on the 1800 block of south Sawyer Street.  He knew men who frequented that block; they included defendant (nicknamed "D-

Man") , Ardell Washington, and Derrick Johnson.  He did not testify that these men were drug dealers or gang members.

Calvin further testified that , on October 26, 1995, in the late afternoon, he was near the vacant lot on the 1800 block of South Sawyer Street.  He heard Washington tell defendant, Johnson, and some others to watch out for a gray station wagon.  John Carter left in a car and, upon his return, gave a gun to defendant and a handgun to Washington.  The gray station wagon then drove by and stopped by the vacant lot.  Washington announced, "Here comes the gray station wagon."  Washington, Johnson, and defendant shot at the car.  

Calvin further testified that he ran toward his home at 1855 S. Kedzie Avenue.  Washington, who had borrowed Calvin's coat earlier, threw the coat up on Calvin's porch before running off.   Calvin's mother called the police who, upon their arrival,  searched the home and found the coat that Calvin had loaned to Washington.  Calvin was taken in for questioning at the police station, where he remained for two days.  He told a detective O’Connor that Washington and D-Man had been shooting and that he was not sure of D-Man's real name.  

Calvin further testified that he gave a six-page statement to an assistant State's Attorney while at the station; he was allowed to make changes to the statement, and he signed it.   Although he also told the assistant State's Attorney that D-Man was one of the shooters, the assistant State’s Attorney wrote down the wrong names of Terry Sykes and Derrick Knight.  He later found out that D-Man's real name was Derrick Terry, and they made the correction on his statement .

[Calvin's statement is not in the record, but according to a reading of the statement by a witness at trial, the statement named only Washington and Johnson as the shooters and named Terry Sykes as a person who had been running with a gun which Calvin could not tell if Sykes shot. The statement did not refer to a Derrick Knight.  The statement recited that D-Man was only present in the vacant lot prior to the shooting; it did not state that D-Man was one of the shooters.]

Calvin stated that he testified and identified defendant as the shooter at the prior trials of Johnson and Washington, who were the co-defendants for this murder.

Calvin further testified that he did not recall being introduced on July 24, 1996, to public defender Debbie Grohs in the company of a Peter "Sanifelt" [ sic ].  He also denied telling Grohs that he did not actually see who fired shots.  

Detective Terrence O'Connor testified that Calvin told him on the evening of the shooting, in an interview with O'Connor's partner, that he saw Washington, Johnson, and Sykes shooting.  Calvin did not at that time tell him that D-Man was shooting, but Calvin referred to defendant as Terry Sykes and stated during the interview with the assistant State's Attorney that he knew D-Man as Terry Sykes.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Terry, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-terry-illappct-2000.