Opinion ID: 844200
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prior prison adjustment

Text: Mary Rector, a corrections case records manager with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, testified concerning defendant‘s documented behavior during his prior prison term. According to the department‘s records, defendant received only a few informal ―writeups‖ — one for sitting in class with his shoes on the desk, one for wearing sunglasses in class, and two for smoking in class. Notations in his file relating to his work performance generally were positive. Spencer Stadler, a parole agent with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, testified that after defendant‘s release from prison in September 1994, he was supervised on parole for a period of 21 months. During this time, defendant complied with his conditions of parole and committed no technical violations or new offenses. Over objection by the defense, the People questioned Stadler regarding statements defendant made to him regarding Eddings‘s homicide. Defendant admitted to Stadler that he burned Eddings‘s residence, but said he had not harmed her and denied any sexual misconduct or physical violence. Defendant explained to Stadler that he had gone over ―to check on‖ Eddings when he became 40 concerned she had not picked up the newspaper he normally left for her on their neighboring fence. Stadler stated that defendant told him he knocked on Eddings‘s door and, when no one responded, he entered the house only to find her nude body lying facedown on the floor. According to Stadler, defendant told him that he checked to see whether she was alive, then panicked and left the residence, driving away in his truck because he thought he would be returned to prison due to the nature of his prior incarceration. Defendant then decided to return to destroy any evidence of his having been in the trailer.