People v. Wallace

448 N.E.2d 910, 114 Ill. App. 3d 242, 70 Ill. Dec. 32, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 15, 1983
Docket81-1107
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 448 N.E.2d 910 (People v. Wallace) 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. Wallace, 448 N.E.2d 910, 114 Ill. App. 3d 242, 70 Ill. Dec. 32, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730 (Ill. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

JUSTICE SULLIVAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

After defendant was convicted by a jury of murder, armed robbery, and home invasion, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. 1 On appeal, he contends that the trial court erred in (1) denying his motion to suppress his written statement; (2) failing to excise from his written statement a reference to his alleged sale of narcotics; (3) denying his motion for a mistrial after a State’s witness testified to his presence in jail; and (4) permitting his impeachment on a collateral issue involving his bond forfeiture in an unrelated case.

There is no contention that guilt was not established beyond a reasonable doubt, and we will therefore discuss only the testimony bearing upon the issues presented. At the hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress his written statement on the ground that it was not voluntarily given, Assistant State’s Attorney Neville testified that defendant was advised of his constitutional rights and then gave the statement to him at 2:50 p.m. on October 1, 1980, in the presence of Officer Pochardo and a court reporter at police headquarters; that after the statement was typed, defendant read it, initialed every page, and signed the last page; that in his presence there were no promises or threats made to defendant, and no one struck him; and that defendant had given a prior oral statement to him which was substantially the same as the written statement.

Defendant testified in substance that he was in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 30, 1980, when Chicago police officers Hood and Pochardo informed him they had an arrest warrant against him for murder; that the next day, on the way to Chicago, Pochardo told him the details of the murder and, although he told the officers that he had no knowledge of it, Pochardo said that the State would seek the death penalty if he would not cooperate; that no Miranda warnings were given him by the police officers, but they were given by the assistant State’s Attorney prior to the oral and written statements given to him; and that he made these statements because he was scared and trying to protect himself.

Officers Hood and Pochardo both stated that when they first saw defendant, in Birmingham, he was advised of his constitutional rights; however, they both admitted the police report did not so state. They also testified that he never asked for a lawyer and that no threats or promises were made at any time to him. Hood also stated that he may have told defendant that they had statements from Larry Wiggins and Webber Dowells which implicated someone named “Bull” in the shooting, but that he did not say that either of them had named defendant as the person doing the shooting.

The motion to suppress was denied and, at trial, a Chicago police officer testified that in his investigation of the shooting of a woman on June 21, 1979, he found the body of Wilhemina Wade lying in the hallway of the first-floor apartment at 5021 Indiana Avenue. He also noticed that dresser drawers in her apartment had been removed and their contents strewn about. While the officer was in the apartment, Anthony Harris came in and told him of seeing two men involved in the shooting. Harris gave a description of them and said one had the nickname “Bull.”

Harris, age 13 at the time of the shooting, then testified that he was in the rear yard of the building helping Wade clean up her yard when three men approached the gate from the alley. One man walked on through the gate, and she stopped the other two who said that they were going to see someone on the second floor. She told the latter two to ring the front bell. Shortly thereafter, the two men returned to the yard, and he heard one of them call into the house for “Bull.” He (Harris) was then standing on the porch next to the back door of Wade’s apartment, and a man he identified as defendant came out of the apartment, pointed a gun at him, and told him to come in. Defendant was pulling him into the apartment when Wade told defendant to get out of the house. Defendant then shot her twice, and she fell to the floor. Although defendant told one of the others to tie him up, he was allowed to go home. When the police arrived, he talked to them and they later showed him five photographs from which he identified defendant as the person who shot Wade. In court, Harris again identified defendant as the person doing the shooting.

Webber Dowells testified that when he met defendant on June 21, 1979, the latter asked him to take a walk, and they were joined by Larry Wiggins. They had a conversation about robbing a woman who owned a building whom defendant thought would have some money since she collected rent. Defendant produced a handgun, and they proceeded to her building at 5021 South Indiana. They entered the yard, and Mrs. Wade, who was with Anthony Harris, told them to go to the front if they wanted to see someone; that shortly thereafter, he went up on the back porch of the first-floor apartment where he saw defendant inside. Wiggins said, “Bull, you in there?” and Wade then came in and asked defendant what he was doing in the apartment. He (Dowells) heard a struggle and then two shots, following which he saw defendant standing over Wade’s body, pointing a gun at Harris whom he told not to say anything or he would kill him. The next day, Harris was in an unmarked police car with two officers and pointed him (Dowells) out as being one of the men who had been in Wade’s apartment. He admitted being a drug addict at the time of the incident; that he had been using drugs on and off for four years; and that he “was promised something” for his testimony.

Stephen Hood, a Chicago police officer, found some belongings of Wade’s in the second-floor apartment at 5021 South Indiana. He obtained an arrest warrant for defendant and, after learning he was in Birmingham, Alabama, he went there with his partner, Investigator Pochardo. They arrested defendant on September 29, 1980, and on October 1 flew him back to Chicago, taking him directly to police headquarters where he and Pochardo talked to him in the presence of a State’s Attorney.

Arthur Neville, an assistant State’s Attorney, testified that about 2:50 p.m. on October 1, defendant gave him a statement before a court reporter who then typed the statement, and it was given to defendant who initialed each page and signed it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
448 N.E.2d 910, 114 Ill. App. 3d 242, 70 Ill. Dec. 32, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 1730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wallace-illappct-1983.