Opinion ID: 2052501
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: post-trial motion

Text: Defendant moved for a new trial based upon an allegation that Jerome (Marcus) Taylor had recanted his trial testimony. At a hearing on the motion, Taylor testified that he did not tell the truth during defendant's trial when he said he saw defendant in the taxicab. He also was not telling the truth when he said that he had not been shown photographs of defendant. Taylor testified that at a meeting with Mike Smith and Detective Kill he was shown two photographs of defendant after he said he could not identify anyone. Detective Kill said this is the guy that killed your cousin. Taylor said that he knew defendant but that he would not testify that defendant did the shooting. Detective Kill said that he would lock Taylor up if he did not testify, so Taylor agreed to testify. They then rehearsed what Taylor would say, and Taylor gave a statement to a court reporter. Taylor also went to the State's Attorney's office on the day he testified at trial. Detective Kill picked him up at his house and took him there. Taylor told the assistant State's Attorneys that he was not going to testify. One of them asked Taylor if they had gotten to him, and Taylor said no and the reason he was not going to testify was that he had not seen anything. According to Taylor, the assistant State's Attorney then said, What, you just going to let the bastard go that killed your cousin? The assistant State's Attorney then told him that what he said would come out one way or another and that he would have him held in contempt of court and jailed for six months if he did not testify. Detective Kill told Taylor that he would protect him. Taylor was then shown three pictures of defendant. Two were the same ones he had already seen, and a third was a mug shot of defendant. Taylor testified that he was not telling the truth when he identified defendant at trial. He explained that he could not see anyone when the shots were fired because he was lying facedown. The only reason he testified otherwise was that he was scared. His recantation was not the result of any threats or promises. On cross-examination, Taylor was initially asked if he came to court with a man who was sitting in the back row and wearing a gold star and an emblem around his neck. Taylor denied it. Taylor further admitted that there was currently a truce between the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples. Taylor was asked if it was true that, as part of gang truces, gang members changed testimony. Taylor said he did not know anything about that and that it was not the reason he changed his testimony. Taylor admitted that he was hiding from the police during the pendency of defendant's case. Taylor denied that, on the day of the trial, he told Detective Kill to pick him up in something other than a squad car because he did not want the Black Disciples to know that he was testifying. He also denied telling Kill that he had been approached by a Black Disciple who told him, If you testify, you're dead. Taylor testified that his aunt, Rhonda Bussle, was pressuring him to testify against defendant. Taylor was shown his signed statement and acknowledged that it said that he was not threatened or promised anything and that he was afraid of defendant and defendant's brother. Taylor denied that he told his aunt that he was being forced to change his story. When he spoke to his aunt, she told him that the State's Attorney's office had called and wanted her to find out why Taylor was changing his story. Taylor told her that he was sorry his cousin was dead but that he did not see anything. Taylor testified that he understood that the penalty for perjury was one to three years' imprisonment, but explained that it was better than lying and getting someone the death penalty. The assistant State's Attorney asked that the record reflect that Taylor left the courtroom with the man he denied coming in with. Rhonda Bussle testified that she told Taylor prior to April 1994 that he needed to talk to the State's Attorney because he told Bussle that he knew defendant committed the crime. Shortly before the case was supposed to be set for a sentencing hearing, Taylor went to Bussle and told her he was forced to change his story. Taylor told her that he was scared. Bussle was angry and told Taylor that he would not be kin to her anymore if he changed his story. She saw him in the courtroom on July 18, and he told her they brought him down there. Bussle spoke to Taylor again on September 22. He told her that he was being forced to go to court and that someone had given him money. Detective Kill testified that when Taylor first gave his court-reported statement, he expressed fear that the Black Disciples would kill his girlfriend and his son. Kill assured him that he would be provided with protection and that, if necessary, his family would be moved. Kill picked Taylor up on the morning of his trial testimony and drove him to the courthouse. Taylor told him not to come in a police car because he was afraid he would be ambushed before he got to the car. On the way to the courthouse, Taylor told Kill that the Black Disciples contacted him the night before and told him they were not going to let him go to court. He told Kill that they were watching him on the street corner when he left. Kill was upset because Taylor had not told him that they were in the middle of an ambush. Following Kill's testimony, the court denied the motion for a new trial and stated that he would have found defendant guilty even if evidence of Taylor's recantation would have come out at trial.