Opinion ID: 2785233
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Campbell’s Direct Appeal

Text: Campbell appealed, arguing among other things that defense counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to No. 13-2634 11 present the testimony of two exculpatory witnesses, Leroy Hunter and Toni Leonard. According to police reports in the state court record, Mr. Hunter lived on the street where the murder took place and was interviewed on February 3, 1998, after calling police to report that he had witnessed the beating. He told police that he was awakened by gunfire that night. He went to his front window and saw a man lying in the street. He saw several men running away, while two men remained standing over the victim. The two men were Joe Posey and Steven Peete. Mr. Hunter knew Peete before the incident because Peete lived across the street from him. Mr. Hunter told police that Posey struck the victim with a pistol and Peete struck the victim three or four times with “something that looked like a pipe, or a big stick.” He also told police that on the day after the incident, he saw Peete return to the spot where the victim had been lying. There was a bloodstain in the street, and Peete spit on it. Mr. Hunter perceived this gesture as a sign of disrespect toward the victim. During his conversations with police, Mr. Hunter never identified Campbell as a participant in the beating. Toni Leonard was also interviewed by police. She was first interviewed on January 23, 1998, after she was arrested on an unrelated charge. She told police she witnessed the beating. According to the police report, Ms. Leonard had been walking toward Bellefontaine Street when she heard shouting. She saw Shepherd arguing with Jeffrey Dillon and Lynntez Holt about “dummy bags” of drugs. Dillon struck the victim in the head “very hard” and then Holt “hit him several times.” The victim fought back, and Dillon pulled out a pistol and struck the victim in the head with it twice. A 12 No. 13-2634 crowd soon formed around the altercation. Deandrea Donald took the pistol from Dillon and struck the victim in the head with it. Terron Lyons jumped on the victim’s head. Johnson kicked the victim at least once. And Posey kicked the victim at least twice. After her initial interview, the police asked Ms. Leonard to identify suspects in a series of lineups. In total, she positively identified nine men as directly involved in Shepherd’s murder, including Johnson. During this same period, Ms. Leonard viewed an in-person lineup that included Campbell. She did not identify him as involved in the murder. She identified another man instead. A divided state appellate panel affirmed Campbell’s conviction over a strong dissent. People v. Campbell, 773 N.E.2d 776 (Ill. App. 2002). The court held that counsel’s failure to call either Mr. Hunter or Ms. Leonard did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel “because it was a matter of trial strategy.” Id. at 785. The court also noted that “none of the testimony which [Campbell] claims Hunter and Leonard would have given would have exonerated” Campbell because all they could do was “further implicate Johnson and Peete as involved in the murder, a fact of which the jury was already aware,” and because testimony that Campbell did not start the beating would not have contradicted the State’s theory that Campbell participated in the beating. Id. Justice Knecht disagreed and would have remanded for a new trial. He concluded that defense counsel’s failure to impeach Johnson and Peete with the full scope of their criminal histories and the details of their plea agreements with the State, as well as his failure to call Mr. Hunter and Ms. Leonard, constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 787– No. 13-2634 13 90 (Knecht, J., dissenting). Recognizing that the decision to call a witness is generally considered a matter of trial strategy, Justice Knecht called counsel’s failure to call Mr. Hunter and Ms. Leonard “egregious,” explaining: “Defense counsel’s failure to call Hunter and Leonard could hardly be called trial strategy. I can fathom no strategy in this case that could overcome the value of their potential testimony.” Id. at 790. Campbell’s petition for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Illinois was denied. People v. Campbell, 787 N.E.2d 160 (Ill. 2002) (Table).