Court Opinion

ID: 9524899
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:58:18.548257+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:12:17.546485
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MILLER, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur in the court’s disposition of the defendant’s convictions. I do not agree, however, that a new sentencing hearing is necessary in this case, for I do not believe that error occurred in the introduction of testimony relating the accomplice’s confession at the second stage of the capital sentencing hearing. Accordingly, I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion. The majority believes that the confession of accomplice Daniel Hines was insufficiently reliable to warrant its admission into evidence as part of the State’s case in aggravation during the second phase of the sentencing hearing. As the majority opinion details, the jury heard five separate accounts of the events that led to the tragic death of the victim in. this case. Testifying in the State’s behalf at trial were the defendant’s brother, Michael Turner, and two cellmates of the defendant, Howard Greenlee and Harold Meyers. Michael Turner was with the defendant and Hines when the victim was kidnapped, and he provided a detailed description of the events preceding and following the victim’s murder. Michael Turner was not present when the defendant committed the murder, however, and evidence of what occurred during that time was provided by Meyers and Greenlee, who testified to certain inculpatory statements made by the defendant while he was in the Macoupin County jail awaiting trial on the instant charges. The defendant testified at trial, and he denied all complicity in the victim’s kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder. Finally, during the second phase of the defendant’s capital sentencing hearing, the State presented Hines’ confession, which was read to the jury by a law enforcement officer. The rules of trial evidence do not govern the second phase of a death penalty hearing. Subject to the demands of due process (see Gardner v. Florida (1977), 430 U.S. 349, 51 L. Ed. 2d 393, 97 S. Ct. 1197), the only requirements limiting the introduction of evidence at that stage of the proceedings are that the information be relevant and reliable. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(e); People v. Free (1983), 94 111. 2d 378, 422-23.) That determination “rests in the discretion of the trial court.” (People v. Hall (1986), 114 Ill. 2d 376, 416-17.) Hearsay testimony that does not fit within a recognized exception to the hearsay rule is not automatically rendered inadmissible at the latter stage of a bifurcated capital sentencing hearing, nor does its introduction necessarily deny a defendant the right to confront witnesses. (People v. Perez (1985), 108 Ill. 2d 70, 86.) Consistent with those principles, this court has held that the introduction, at the second stage of a capital sentencing hearing, of hearsay evidence concerning statements by nontestifying accomplices does not violate a defendant’s confrontation rights. (People v. Lyles (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 373, 414-16; People v. Davis (1983), 95 Ill. 2d 1, 47.) I would hold that the requirements were satisfied in this case with respect to Hines’ confession. In his confession, Hines denied having an active part in the planning of the offenses, and he stated that he was not present when the defendant committed the murder. Although it appears that Hines’ account of his own role in the victim’s kidnapping was different from the accounts provided by Michael Turner, Howard Greenlee, and Harold Meyers, Hines’ statements regarding his absence from the scene during the defendant’s murder of the victim were substantially corroborated by the testimony of those other witnesses. Michael Turner testified that he and Hines were waiting at the car while the defendant remained in the field with the victim. They were able to hear sounds from the field, and sometime later the defendant returned to the car. Michael Turner testified that he did not learn of the victim’s murder until the next day, when the defendant told Michael what he had done. The defendant said that he driven the knife through the victim’s neck twice, using the palm of his hand. Michael Turner also testified that the defendant told Hines about the murder several days later; on that occasion the defendant repeated the explanation he had previously given to Michael Turner regarding the victim’s murder. The defendant’s account of the murder was confirmed by the autoptic evidence introduced at trial, which established that the cause of the victim’s death was two stab wounds to the neck. I would distinguish the instant case from People v. Rogers (1988), 123 Ill. 2d 487, on which the majority places principal reliance. In Rogers the prosecution was permitted to introduce into evidence at the second stage of a death penalty hearing confessions made by two accomplices, whose statements conflicted with the defendant’s own confession in several important respects. The accomplices maintained in their confessions that the plan to rob and kill the victim in that case had originated with the defendant, and they claimed that they had attempted to discourage the defendant from committing the offenses. The defendant, in his confession, stated that one of the accomplices had instructed him to kill the victim while committing the robbery. Tape recordings of the accomplices’ confessions were played to the jury during the second stage of the defendant’s death penalty hearing; the prosecutor argued that the most serious circumstance in aggravation was the cold-blooded planning that had preceded the crimes, and he presented the accomplice confessions as evidence of who had been the motivating force in the commission of the offenses. Citing Lee v. Illinois (1986), 476 U.S. 530, 90 L. Ed. 2d 514, 106 S. Ct. 2056, the court in Rogers noted that accomplice confessions incriminating a defendant are presumptively unreliable, and the court characterized as “particularly strong” the presumptive unreliability of the two confessions introduced at defendant Rogers’ sentencing hearing. (Rogers, 123 Ill. 2d at 521.) It appeared that the two accomplices, a male and a female who were romantically involved at the time, would have anticipated their impending arrest in connection with the offenses and therefore could have made advance preparations for their interrogations. Moreover, we noted that the male accomplice “extraordinarily claimfed]” in his statement to the police that although he had supplied the defendant with the murder weapon several days before the crimes and accompanied the defendant when the offenses occurred, he. attempted to discourage the defendant from committing the crimes. (Rogers, 123 Ill. 2d at 522.) Rogers also referred to the prosecutor’s explanation at the sentencing hearing that he was presenting a tape recording of the statement, rather than the accomplice’s live testimony, because of the witness’ poor demeanor. We stated, “Essentially, the prosecutor was apparently concerned that the jury might not believe [the male accomplice] if they could see him testify.” (Rogers, 123 Ill. 2d at 522.) The court concluded that the presumption of unreliability had not been overcome with respect to either accomplice’s confession and therefore ruled that the circuit judge had erred in admitting the hearsay statements. The accomplice confession in this case is not similarly unreliable. Although Hines’ claim that he was not aware of what the defendant intended to do to the victim until the group reached the cornfield was contradicted by the State’s other evidence, Hines’ assertions that he was not present during the murder and was not immediately aware of the murder were substantially corroborated. The trial testimony of Michael Turner, Greenlee, and Meyers established that the defendant was alone when he committed the murder and that Hines was with Michael Turner at the car during that period. Contrary to the majority’s view, Hines’ portrayal of the defendant as “the ringleader and main actor” in the commission of the crimes (128 Ill. 2d at 572) is not an inaccurate summary of what occurred. Accordingly, I do not believe that error occurred in the introduction, at the second stage of the defendant’s capital sentencing hearing, of the testimony relating Hines’ confession, and I would uphold the trial judge’s decision to permit the jury to hear that information.