Opinion ID: 150482
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Police Investigation and Collins' Statement

Text: Chicago Police Officer Christopher Dobek and his partner were among the first law enforcement officers to arrive on the scene. Dobek testified that they received a dispatch call at about 6:45 a.m. and responded to Collins' apartment. They found Lanier covered in blood but still alive in the hallway outside, and they called for an ambulance. Their knocking on Collins' apartment door pushed the door partly open. The apartment was in total disarray, with broken glass, blood all over the place. Collins was inside, approaching the doorway, wearing only a pair of black pants, with blood on his hand and torso. Paramedics took Lanier to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The medical examiner found evidence of injury to Lanier's face, neck, chest, back, and extremities. Her most serious injuries were two gaping wounds, each three inches long, at the creases of Lanier's right and left elbows, and another two-inch-long wound on her left inner forearm. The medical examiner's opinion was that Lanier had died as a result of multiple sharp force trauma due to an assault and the manner of death was homicide. Blood testing revealed the presence of a cocaine degradation product, benzoylecgonine, in Lanier's system. Detective John O'Shea and his partner, Detective Joseph Laskero, arrived on the scene shortly after Lanier was taken away. O'Shea interviewed several witnesses, including Patterson and Price. Around the same time, two other uniformed officers spoke with Collins and asked him to come to the station with them for questioning. Collins agreed, and the officers brought him to a police station a few blocks away, arriving between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Collins waited there until 10:30 a.m., when O'Shea returned to the station. At that point, O'Shea read Collins a standard set of Miranda warnings and Collins agreed that he understood and wanted to speak. During this brief initial interview, Collins told O'Shea that Lanier had tried to jump through the window. O'Shea testified that, because this was inconsistent with what some of the witnesses had told him, he asked Collins to submit to a polygraph examination. Collins agreed, but an examiner was not available until 8:00 p.m. O'Shea left Collins in an interview room without Collins asking or O'Shea offering permission to leave. The police left Collins alone during the nine hours that they waited for the examiner. He was allowed to leave the room to go to the bathroom. He was given food. He may have slept; O'Shea testified that he occasionally checked on Collins and saw him either on the floor or with his head down and arms folded on the table as if sleeping. Eventually the polygraph examiner, Officer Robert Bartik, became free as scheduled, and officers took Collins from the local station to another police facility for the exam. From 8:00 to approximately 10:00 p.m., Bartik administered the polygraph. He first gave Collins fresh Miranda warnings and obtained Collins' consent to submit to the exam. He then hooked Collins up and asked him nine questions, including whether Collins had pushed Lanier through the window and whether Collins had purposefully caused her injuries. Collins answered no to those questions, but the polygraph indicated that he was lying, and Bartik told him so. Collins was then taken back to the local station, where he waited another hour or so until O'Shea returned. After once again advising Collins of his Miranda rights, O'Shea confronted him with the results of the polygraph. At 11:59 p.m., Collins gave an oral statement implicating himself in Lanier's injury. [2] The detectives left Collins in the interview room and called Assistant State's Attorney Art Heil, who was on call for the State's Attorney's office that night. Heil arrived at the police station around 2:00 a.m. on May 2nd and learned the basics of the case from O'Shea and Laskero. The three of them then went back to Collins' apartment building to view the scene and to speak again with Ethel Patterson, who was apparently willing to give the investigators an audience even in the middle of the night. They returned to the station around 6:00 a.m. Heil then introduced himself to Collins for the first time, as a lawyer and prosecutor, and not your lawyer. He again explained to Collins his Miranda rights. Heil asked Collins to read a written statement of his Miranda rights aloud, then sign underneath to signify that he understood. Having done so, Collins talked with Heil for 45 minutes to an hour, after which Heil asked the detectives to leave the room. Outside their presence, Heil asked Collins if the police had treated him well and allowed him to eat and use the bathroom. Collins said that they had. Heil then proposed to memorialize in writing what Collins had told him. Collins agreed. Heil began the written statement by asking Collins basic questions about himself and how he had been treated by the police, and writing down Collins' answers. He proceeded to ask about the events leading to Lanier's death. As Heil described it, I would ask him a question. He would give me the response. I would write it down as he gave it to me. If I had questions, I would ask him questions back. I would prompt him with questions, asking him what happened next, so forth. When they were finished, Heil showed Collins the handwritten statement and had Collins read the first paragraph aloud. Then Heil read the rest of the statement aloud with Collins next to him. Collins, Heil, and one of the detectives signed the bottom of each page as they went along. This is the substance of the statement that Heil took down at 7:00 a.m. on May 2nd and that the state court admitted over Collins' objection, with emphases added: James Collins states that he is 43 years old and that his birthday is June 27, 1956. [3] James lives at 2910 West Harrison, number 301. He has lived there for the past two years. James lives there with his girlfriend, Flora Lanier, who has lived with him for the past year and about eight months. James states that he can read and write English. James went to Crane High School where he attended through his senior year but he did not graduate. James states that on the early morning of May 1, 2001, he and Flora had been up all night partying together. James states that they both smoked some crack cocaine. James states that around six o'clock a.m., he and Flora got into an argument. James states that the argument began over Flora not wanting to go to bed. James states that both he and Flora were yelling at each other and that Flora was disrespecting him and called him a bitch. James states that the argument then became physical and he was hitting Flora. James states that he began hitting Flora because she made him so angry that he went berserk. James states that while they were fighting, he pushed Flora into the window and the window broke. James states that he pushed Flora because he wanted to hurt her and he was angry. James states that after Flora went into the window the first time, he continued to fight with her. James states that he continued to hit Flora because of his anger. James states that he then pushed Flora back into the window a second time and she broke the center window which is the bigger one. James states that he pushed her the second time because he was still trying to hurt her. James states that Flora went into the window and the glass broke. James states that he then saw Flora was cut and was bleeding. James states that Flora was bleeding a lot and holding her arms. James states that he still continued to struggle with Flora and she got blood on his pajama bottoms. James states that Flora broke free from him and ran out of the apartment. James states that he did not go out after Flora and closed the door of the apartment behind her. James states that he did this because he just didn't care about what happened to Flora. James states that he then washed the blood off his hands and put on some pants over his bloody pajamas. James states that he then heard people outside in the hallway saying that they were going to call the police and an ambulance. James states that he then opened the door and saw Flora lying in the hallway bleeding. James states that he saw other people in the hallway but does not remember who was out there or how many. James states that he then said that Flora tried to jump out of the window herself but that was not the truth. James states that he said that because he knew what he did was wrong and he didn't want to get in any trouble. James states that he stayed inside his apartment until the police arrived a short time later.