People v. Wicks

603 N.E.2d 594, 236 Ill. App. 3d 97, 177 Ill. Dec. 524
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 30, 1992
Docket1-90-0504
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 603 N.E.2d 594 (People v. Wicks) 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. Wicks, 603 N.E.2d 594, 236 Ill. App. 3d 97, 177 Ill. Dec. 524 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE BUCKLEY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant Kelsie Wicks was found guilty of murder. The trial judge sentenced defendant to 26 years in the Illinois State penitentiary. The issues defendant raises on appeal are: (1) that he was arrested without probable cause in violation of his fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures; therefore, his inculpatory statement should have been suppressed as the fruit of an illegal arrest; (2) that his statement to police and his waiver of his Miranda rights were involuntary and, therefore, his statement should have been suppressed; (3) that he was deprived of his right to a fair trial where the prosecutor, during rebuttal closing argument, extensively argued facts about the principles of physics to the jury which were not admitted into evidence and which significantly bolstered the State’s theory as to a crucial issue at trial; and (4) that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

On May 4, 1987, at approximately 6 a.m., a security guard at South Shore Hospital discovered an unconscious woman, later to be identified as Treigi Harrison (the victim), in the bushes by the hospital entrance. She had a hole in the right side of her forehead and was wrapped in a green blanket. The victim died two days later. According to Dr. Edmund Donoghue, deputy chief medical examiner of Cook County, the victim died of injuries to her brain and skull due to blunt force. There were two major injuries to her brain. The first injury on the front of her head was caused by a severe blow. A second injury on the back of her head was caused by her falling backwards.

Shortly after the victim was found, Detectives Phelan and Higgins were assigned to investigate. They found a label on the green blanket with Kelsie Wicks’ (defendant’s) name and address on it. The detectives went to the address, were informed that defendant had moved and were given his new address. They then proceeded to defendant’s new address and encountered defendant as he was entering the building.

Defendant testified in court that he first came in contact with the detectives in the vestibule of his apartment building at approximately 8:45 a.m. He stated that the detectives told him he would have to go down to the station with them. He asked why, and the detectives replied that he would be told the reason at the station. He testified that he was read his Miranda rights and then driven to the station and placed in an interrogation room. He was told about a woman who had been beaten and, at approximately 30-minute intervals, questioned about his “whereabouts” the previous day. According to defendant, at approximately 11 a.m., the detectives requested permission to search his apartment and he told them it would be “perfectly fine.” He stated that the detectives left him in the interrogation room while they went to execute the search and that after the search, they questioned him further about what he did the previous day. He was shown a picture of the victim and, at that time, was unable to identify her.

Defendant further testified that in the afternoon a second set of detectives came on duty and asked him to take a polygraph test to which he assented. According to defendant, on the way to the test, they engaged in a “general conversation” about matters unrelated to the case. They also stopped to investigate his alibi for the day before, but apparently the woman he stated he was with was not home. After the polygraph examination, they stopped to pick up food from McDonald’s on the way back to the station. According to defendant, the detectives told him he had “flunked the box” and that they knew he was lying. Defendant testified that they told him that they were there to help him, but he would have to help himself and if the blanket were connected to him at all he could be convicted of a crime. He testified they informed him that the victim was doing well and that if he “admitted to some kind of incident with her” he could “bond out” that night. He stated that the detectives convinced him that if he admitted to something he would only get a light charge of battery compared to what he would be facing otherwise. According to defendant’s testimony, he then looked at the picture of the victim again and this time told the detectives that the picture resembled someone he knew. He testified that, tired and afraid, and with the help of the detectives, he concocted the story which, at approximately 1 a.m. the following morning, he repeated to Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Lou Norwell.

According to defendant’s statement, at approximately 5:30 a.m. on May 4, 1987, he picked up the victim at the comer of 79th and Jeffrey Streets. He had had sex with the victim before, and on this date she agreed to have sex with him for $15. Defendant drove with the victim to 83rd and Yates, where the victim performed an act of oral copulation on the defendant. They then drove to 80th and Yates, where defendant told her he did not have any money. The victim jumped out of the car yelling, took defendant’s jump rope with her and made a motion as if to hit the car with it. Defendant followed her out of the car and struggled with her to retrieve his jump rope. He struck her twice, once on the face and once on the top of her head with the wooden jump rope handles, and she fell to the ground. Defendant picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket he had in his car, and drove her to South Shore Hospital.

On cross-examination, defendant testified that the detectives who met him in the vestibule of his apartment were in plain clothes and drove him to the station in an unmarked squad car. He stated he was not physically assaulted or handcuffed or ever told he was under arrest. At the station, he was not fingerprinted or handcuffed until he had made his incriminating statement. He stated he understood his rights as they were read to him, but he did not request an attorney. At the time of the incident, defendant was 35 years old, had attended four years of college and sold real estate.

Detective Phelan testified that they met defendant in the vestibule at approximately 10:30 a.m. He stated he informed defendant that a badly beaten black female was discovered wrapped in a blanket which had defendant’s name and address affixed to it. Defendant responded by saying he had not seen the blanket in a while. According to Detective Phelan’s testimony, the detectives asked defendant to accompany them to Area 2 to assist in the investigation and he agreed. Defendant was transported to the police station in an unmarked squad car, but was not handcuffed. They arrived at the station at approximately 11 a.m. and defendant was placed in an interrogation room where he was read his Miranda rights and questioned about the blanket and his whereabouts the previous day. He signed a consent to search form and waited at the station while the detectives went to search his apartment. Phelan testified that when they returned they asked him if he would take a polygraph test. He agreed and an appointment was set up for later that evening. Phelan also stated he did not have any other conversations with the defendant, did not promise him leniency for his statement, and did not psychologically coerce defendant into making a statement. Additionally, the defendant was not fingerprinted, handcuffed, or told he was under arrest until after his incriminating statement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
603 N.E.2d 594, 236 Ill. App. 3d 97, 177 Ill. Dec. 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wicks-illappct-1992.