Opinion ID: 2017830
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Sentencing Hearing Proceedings

Text: After the circuit court denied defendant's motion to vacate, J.D. Flood sought to withdraw from the case. The circuit court granted the motion and appointed Daniel Bute, an assistant public defender of La Salle County, as co-counsel. According to the postconviction testimony, Bute acted as primary counsel during the sentencing hearing and had complete control over the strategic decisions surrounding the defendant's case. During the aggravation portion of the hearing, the State first presented the testimony of 11-year-old S.A. She testified that in the afternoon of September 28, 1991, she was walking to a convenience store with her sister in Kewanee, Illinois. Defendant pulled his red truck alongside the road and asked S.A. for directions to Route 34. S.A. replied that she could not help him, but suggested that he ask for directions at the convenience store. According to S.A., defendant tried to lure her into his truck by offering her a ride to the store. She and her sister declined defendant's offer and ran home. S.A.'s mother also testified that when she saw her daughters after their return from the store, they told her that a man in a red pickup truck tried to get them into the truck with him. Twelve-year-old A.W. knew defendant because A.W.'s mother and defendant's ex-fiancée, Debbie, were good friends. Defendant and Debbie spent the night at A.W.'s house in Knox County, Illinois, on September 26, 1991. On the next morning, A.W. was to go to school and defendant was asked to give her a ride. Defendant, however, did not drive A.W. to school. Instead, he stopped first at a grocery store and bought some donuts. He also purchased some makeup for A.W. Defendant then drove around Galesburg for a short time, and then turned onto a country road. Defendant told A.W. that he wanted to teach her how to drive and that there would be no cops in the countryside. When they reached a cornfield, defendant attempted to tie A.W.'s hands with duct tape. He stopped, however, when A.W. began to cry. Defendant then took a piece of rope and tied A.W.'s hands together. Defendant rolled the passenger window down and tied the other end of the rope around the outside mirror. He laid A.W. on her back and licked her breasts, and rubbed his penis on her vagina. Defendant then turned A.W. onto her stomach and performed anal intercourse upon her. When defendant finished, he told A.W. that she had a nice body and that, if she wanted to do it again, she could let him know by signaling to him with a hug and a pinch. Knox County Deputy Sheriff Tina Hartz testified that she investigated the child sexual abuse case concerning defendant and A.W. According to Hartz, about a week after the incident, A.W.'s mother and defendant's girlfriend became suspicious of defendant when they learned that defendant had given A.W. $40. When they asked A.W. if defendant had wanted anything in return, A.W. told them about the incident in the cornfield, and they subsequently contacted police. A.W. told Hartz that she was too afraid of defendant to say anything immediately after her assault. Special Agent Bill Hammell of the Illinois State Police also testified for the State. Hammell interviewed defendant after his arrest. During the interview, defendant admitted to Hammell that he had sexually assaulted A.W. Hammell asked defendant if defendant had engaged in sexual contact with any other children. Defendant replied in the affirmative and told Hammell that there were possibly 15 other children with whom he had had such conduct. All lived in Michigan, where defendant had been living prior to September 1991. Defendant said that all of the children were between the ages of 8 and 13 and all were the family members of various people defendant had befriended. According to Hammell, defendant identified several children by name and described the different types of sexual activity he had with each of them, ranging from fondling to oral and anal sex. Hammell contacted authorities in Michigan and relayed to them the information defendant had given him. Hammell also provided information to the jury regarding defendant's previous convictions. In July 1983, defendant was living in Dallas County, Michigan, with friends, who had a seven-year-old daughter. Defendant molested the girl on numerous occasions while he stayed at her home. As a result of this activity, defendant was arrested. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the charge of indecency with a child. He received a 10-year prison sentence. Defendant also pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse, which arose from a August 6, 1983, encounter with a 12-year-old boy. In that case, defendant performed oral sex on the boy. Defendant received a 10-year prison term for that crime as well. Defendant served some of the sentences and was later put on probation with counseling. Defendant's probation was transferred to Iowa, and defendant lived there until 1990, when he moved to Michigan. While living in Michigan, defendant married on April 20, 1990. Hammell also testified that defendant told him that defendant wet his bed when he was a child and that his mother punished him by putting duct tape on his mouth. His stepfather and uncle would then engage in anal intercourse with defendant. V.S., a 13-year-old, testified that she went camping with defendant and two other minors, including her brother, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in the summer of 1991. While en route to the campgrounds, the van the group was traveling in became stuck in an orchard. V.S.'s brother and the other minors went to seek help, leaving V.S. alone with defendant, during which time defendant committed an act of anal intercourse upon V.S. Twelve-year-old T.S. testified that he went to school with defendant's stepson in Benton Harbor during the 1990-91 school year. One night, T.S. was at the home of defendant's grandmother with defendant. After watching television with defendant, T.S. and defendant went to defendant's bedroom. There, defendant pulled on T.S.'s penis until he was told to stop. Ten-year-old D.H. met defendant at the home of his sister's friend in Michigan in 1990. While there, D.H. and defendant worked in a garage on a motor. According to D.H., defendant grabbed him and attempted to remove D.H.'s clothing. J.S., an 11-year-old girl, recounted that in the summer of 1991, she awoke one night while staying at the home of defendant's grandmother and found defendant in her room. He had removed her underwear and was performing oral sex upon her. Joann Danfell, a Berrien County, Michigan, deputy sheriff, testified that she conducted an child sexual abuse investigation in Michigan at the request of Bureau County authorities. As a result, she interviewed T.S., D.H., and J.S. Each child told her of incidents of sexual contact with defendant. Bureau County Deputy Sheriff Jim Reed testified that defendant attempted to escape from the jail by removing bricks from his cell wall. After Reed had thwarted the attempt and reported the incident, he found that defendant had attempted suicide by hanging himself. Reed rescued defendant. Defendant became violent at that time. Defendant was treated at a hospital for his injuries and then returned to the jail. Finally, the State called the victim's mother to testify as to the impact defendant's crimes in this case had on her and the rest of the victim's family. Defendant presented several expert witnesses in mitigation in order to establish that defendant was suffering from a mental disturbance at the time of the murder. Dr. George Savarese, a licensed clinical social worker, conducted a psychosocial developmental history of defendant. In so doing, Dr. Savarese interviewed defendant and reviewed various police and medical reports as well as defendant's school records. Dr. Savarese also reviewed interviews of defendant's family, neighbors, teachers, and employers. Dr. Savarese concluded from the information that defendant suffered from mental problems that were attributable to traumatic events throughout defendant's life. For example, defendant's father committed suicide five months before defendant's birth. In order to cope with the loss, defendant's mother was heavily tranquilized while pregnant with defendant. After defendant's birth, his mother married a man who also reportedly committed suicide, and one of defendant's brothers was diagnosed with leukemia. Another brother died of sudden infant death syndrome. Dr. Savarese believed that these traumatic events took a heavy emotional toll on defendant's mother and prevented the normal mother-child bonding that occurs during a child's formative years. Dr. Lyle Rossiter, a licensed psychiatrist, also testified on defendant's behalf. According to Dr. Rossiter, defendant suffered from a severe borderline personality disorder with sociopathic features and pedophilia. Dr. Rossiter noted the same childhood events that Dr. Savarese had described and confirmed that the incidents had a negative effect on defendant's development. Dr. Rossiter pointed out that there were early indications of defendant's developmental problems, such as defendant's being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and defendant's history of delayed speech development. Both Dr. Rossiter and Dr. Savarese also noted that defendant reported suffering from sadistic sexual abuse by his stepfather and mother. Defendant claimed to have been the victim of childhood incest. Neither witness, however, could confirm whether these incidents actually occurred or whether they were fabricated by defendant. Nevertheless, each stated that his diagnosis would not change even if the events had been fabricated because such fantasies were consistent with defendant's mental problems. Dr. Diane Alber, a psychologist, testified that she treated defendant as a condition of defendant's release from prison in 1984. She described defendant as being unable to cope with stress and suffering from depression. Defendant fantasized about romantic relationships with young girls and that he was impulsive, immature, and progressively unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. The foregoing provides the factual backdrop relevant to our discussion of the issues arising from the guilt phase of the proceedings. We address these issues in turn.