Opinion ID: 2219110
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: McCraney's Testimony

Text: McCraney testified that during the early morning hours of Thursday, May 11, 1978, he was in the living room of his home, a second-story townhouse apartment, located at 1533 Hammond Lane, in East Chicago Heights (fairly five miles or more on thoroughfares from the Clark service station). McCraney, a jazz musician, was playing his guitar and composing a song. The front of McCraney's apartment faced a courtyard and the back faced Hammond Lane. Throughout the evening, McCraney would periodically interrupt his playing to go upstairs and look through a back bedroom window to check on his two newly upgraded autos parked below on Hammond Lane. McCraney testified that at about 3 a.m., he looked through a back bedroom window and saw two cars, a blue Chevrolet and a beige Toyota parked outside. Several persons, including Paula Gray, Kenny Adams, and Verneal Jimerson, were sitting in the cars, walking about, and playing music. Adams was the driver of the beige Toyota, and Gray sat in his car as well as in a blue Chevrolet. During the two weeks that McCraney had lived there, these activities had occurred every night and it was not unusual for these various individuals to come and go many times from the vicinity during the day and evening. After looking out the window, McCraney went downstairs to the living room and resumed his guitar-playing. After about 13 to 15 minutes, he returned to the upstairs bedroom window and again looked outside. This time, he saw a red Toyota backing up beside the beige Toyota. McCraney's sighting of this red Toyota was not unusual, however, because it had appeared daily near 1528 Hammond Lane during the two weeks that McCraney and his family had lived in the apartment. In fact, by McCraney's estimate, since 9 p.m., that evening, when he began looking out the upstairs window, the red Toyota had driven to and departed from the parking area several times. Seeing nothing unusual, McCraney once again returned to his living room and resumed playing. Within 10 to 15 minutes, however, McCraney, was again at the upstairs window because he felt that something wasn't right since the cars had backed in. In addition to the other parked cars, McCraney now saw a yellow Vega backing near the red Toyota. McCraney observed the driver of the Vega speak with the driver of the red Toyota while both remained in their vehicles. The driver of the red Toyota, identified by McCraney at trial as defendant, then started his car and drove it under a nearby street light. He exited his vehicle, picked up a stone, threw it, and broke the light. Defendant then reentered the red Toyota and backed it into the same space from which he had previously driven it. When McCraney saw defendant break the light, he became nervous and continued to watch. He saw the driver of the yellow Vega, later identified as codefendant Willie Rainge, exit the Vega and enter the red Toyota. Defendant and Rainge then drove off in the red Toyota, headed east on Hammond Lane. Thinking that perhaps someone was preparing to or had already tampered with his car, McCraney went outside to check it. Finding nothing wrong, however, McCraney returned to his living room and continued playing his guitar. Shortly after McCraney resumed playing, however, he heard a car engine strongly revving, so he went upstairs to the front bedroom window which looked out onto the courtyard area. McCraney saw the red Toyota stalled in mud and gunning its engine. McCraney testified that this viewing of the Toyota occurred not longer than three minutes after the auto had departed from the rear of his apartment heading east on Hammond Lane. At this point, McCraney also heard people running, so he rushed to the back bedroom window. There, he saw a group of people getting out of cars, running towards the courtyard area located at the front of his apartment. McCraney testified that he remembered seeing Kenny Adams among these individuals. Once the group rushed to the middle of the court-yard, McCraney saw them gather around and push the red Toyota until it moved forward to a position near the doorway of an abandoned building located at 1528 Cannon Lane. The group, comprised of six to eight persons, then rushed into the building. McCraney was able to clearly identify defendant, Rainge, and Adams, but not the other individuals, within the group. McCraney was not able to tell whether the group included any white persons or women. Under cross-examination, McCraney acknowledged that he did not see Paula Gray or Verneal Jimerson enter the building. After the group entered the building, McCraney returned to his rehearsal and did not continue looking outside. After rehearsing for about 1½ hours, McCraney heard a single echoing gunshot that came from the courtyard area in front of his apartment. He did not stop playing, however, since gunshots were not unusual during the night in that area. On Friday, May 12, 1978, when Lionberg's body was found, McCraney stood within a crowd of spectators gathered near his apartment building. The crowd watched as police investigated the crime scene. McCraney testified that, while standing there, he overheard defendant, also in the crowd, jokingly say to other on-lookers, [D]id you shoot those people? [D]id you shoot those people?    [Y]ou should have seen them jump. According to McCraney, when defendant made these remarks, only Lionberg's body had been discovered. McCraney subsequently acknowledged, however, that at that time, he was aware that two persons were missing. When McCraney learned that Schmal's body had been discovered in the abandoned building, he reflected upon the events of the earlier morning, went to a nearby gas station and called police. McCraney told police, [T]he people that committed the crimes is on the scene now of the crime.    I might come forward if these people are picked up. McCraney described a beige and a red Toyota, and his own whereabouts to police. He did not, however, identify himself because, as he testified, he was concerned about the safety of his family. After calling, McCraney returned home. The next day, McCraney went to the Homewood police station and spoke at length with police and identified two vehicles held by police as the red and beige Toyotas belonging to the persons he believed responsible for the murders. Upon cross-examination, McCraney was impeached with his prior testimony given at defendant's first trial that he last saw defendant and Rainge among the group of persons on the courtyard side of his apartment at roughly 2:47 to 2:48 a.m. McCraney explained, however, that he had never provided a specific time, but had estimated time based upon a television show, Kojak, and the 45-minute song which he had been composing. According to McCraney, Kojak had been on television in the neighborhood of 2 a.m., and he had played the song throughout the show and afterwards, but had not played it straight through due to interruptions. At the time that he had last viewed defendant's car on Hammond Lane, the show had been over for longer than an hour. (The parties subsequently stipulated that Kojak aired on May 11, 1978, from 12:40 to 1:51 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.) Additional testimony of McCraney given at defendant's first trial was then introduced, which was that he had played his song once after Kojak ended and was playing it a second time by 3 or 3:15 a.m. In addition, two prior inconsistent statements of McCraney were introduced to the effect that the group of persons had entered the abandoned building both at 2:15 to 2:30 a.m. and at 2:30 to 2:45 a.m. When questioned regarding these prior statements, McCraney maintained that they were in error. McCraney testified that he had one clock in his home at the time he viewed these events. He maintained that his previous testimonies at defendant's first trial (no clock in home) and at Jimerson's separate trial (two clocks in home) were, respectively, incomplete, and possibly in error. McCraney acknowledged that he had been given $1,000 by the State's Attorney's office in late 1978 for costs related to the relocation of his family. McCraney also acknowledged that in 1984, when he was again called to testify and was being threatened, he was given an additional $1,400 to purchase a car necessary to relocate his family out of State. Also, prior to testifying at defendant's second trial, McCraney was given $1,200 to once again relocate his family. Officers Capelli and Pasterik's Testimony Cook County Sheriff's Police Investigator David Capelli and his partner, Patrick Pasterik, testified that they responded to the call concerning Lionberg's disappearance from the service station. When they arrived, they searched an auto which was parked behind the station and discovered a woman's purse. The purse contained Schmal's driver's license, receipts for a man's wedding band and a dress deposit, and an envelope marked Money for car, which contained $125 in cash. The officers proceeded to Schmal's residence, spoke with her father, and obtained a photo which depicted both Schmal and Lionberg. Several days later, when Capelli and Pasterik were conducting their investigation at the site of Lionberg's newly discovered body, they received a police dispatcher's call on their hand-held radio. The dispatcher related that information had been received from an anonymous caller that the killers were present at the site, that they were watching the police investigation and had a red Toyota. After receiving this information, the two officers walked directly toward the crowd of on-lookers. They observed defendant and Jimerson briskly emerge from the crowd and begin walking away. The officers followed and observed that either or both defendant and Jimerson looked back over their shoulders and speeded their walk. The officers, in turn, walked faster following defendant and Jimerson to a red Toyota parked nearby. The officers stopped defendant and Jimerson just as the two men reached the vehicle. Defendant was standing with car keys in hand by the driver's door and Jimerson stood by the front passenger's door. According to Capelli, he and Pasterik initially focused their attention on defendant and Jimerson because they were the only two persons to briskly emerge from the crowd as the officers approached and then walk quickly away. After the officers conducted an inventory search of the Toyota with defendant's consent, defendant and Jimerson were taken into custody and transported to the Homewood sheriff's police station.