Court Opinion

ID: 9543314
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:44:15.741655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:07.888239
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE SULLIVAN, dissenting: The majority has- reversed and remanded for a new trial on its conclusion that the trial judge committed prejudicial error because he considered certain testimony of police officer Kwilos in finding ■ defendant guilty. I disagree. This testimony concerned the substance of a conversation Kwilos had on January 1, 1982, with Geoffrey Mayfield, for whose murder on January 28, 1982, defendant was found guilty. Initially it is noted that the very lengthy discussion by the majority regarding the inadmissibility of this testimony is unnecessary because, as pointed out by the majority in its opinion, the State agrees that it was inadmissible hearsay which should not have been admitted. Moreover, the majority reverses not on the basis that Kwilos’ testimony was admitted but because of its conclusion that the trial judge considered the testimony in his finding of guilt. Thus, the simple questions presented on appeal are whether the trial court did consider this testimony and, if so, whether it was prejudicial error to do so. It is unquestioned that in the trial judge’s decision finding defendant guilty there is no mention by him, directly or indirectly, of Kwilos’ testimony and although it is clear that in his decision the very able trial judge’s finding of guilt was based solely on the admissions made by defendant to police officers,3 the majority nevertheless disregards all the references by the trial judge to those admissions, and makes an unwarranted assumption that the trial judge considered the inadmissible testimony of Kwilos. However, in order to reverse, the majority needed to make another unwarranted assumption; namely, that it was prejudicial error to have considered that testimony because it “established that Mayfield implicated the defendant Jones in Brooks’ murder, the motive for defendant to kill Mayfield — -to avoid apprehension, prosecution and punishment therefor.” In his decision the trial judge does not mention the name of Kwilos or his testimony, but the majority attempts to justify its assumption that he considered this testimony from a portion of his decision which is set forth in its opinion as follows: “If the police are telling the truth then the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There are admissions, and those admissions are corroborated by the statements as to the types of weapons used, the number of shots fired, the place of the crime and a motive. has been established.” (Emphasis added by the majority.) 157 Ill. App. 3d at 1015. Relying solely upon the underlined portion of the quote together with comments by the prosecutor and the trial judge when the testimony of Kwilos was admitted, the majority makes the assumption that the judge relied on the Kwilos-Mayfield inadmissible hearsay conversation in his finding that “a motive has been established.” However, in this quote and throughout his lengthy decision, the trial judge refers only to the admissions of defendant to the police with no mention whatsoever of either Kwilos’ testimony or of the comments made by the prosecutor concerning it. What the majority avoids seeing is that the motive mentioned by the trial judge in the above underlined portion of his decision is clearly shown in those admissions of defendant. Officer McGuire testified that defendant admitted that he and Cambria had killed May-field “because he was going to testify against a man by the name of Michael Johnson, also known as Dice, in the homicide of Charles Brooks” and Officer Flood testified that defendant admitted to him that he had told Officer McGuire that he and Cambria had shot Johnson. The majority, however, in order to reverse defendant’s conviction completely disregards this testimony and accepts the testimony of defendant that he did not make such an admission to the police. The majority provides no support for concluding, contrary to the trial judge’s finding, that defendant was more credible than the police officer. That this admission by defendant to Officer McGuire was unquestionably the basis for the trial judge’s statement in his decision that “a motive has been established” should be obvious in any fair reading of the record, not only because neither Kwilos’ name or his testimony was mentioned by the trial judge in his decision but also because there is absolutely nothing in the record even remotely indicating to the trial judge that defendant had knowledge of what May-field said to Kwilos or that defendant even knew that Mayfield had talked to Kwilos. With defendant not knowing what Mayfield said it is almost beyond belief that the majority finds Mayfield’s statement as motive for defendant to kill him. Moreover, and most significantly, there is nothing in Mayfield’s statement which could provide such a motive. Kwilos testified that Mayfield said “he had observed the shooting [of Brooks] and that an individual known to him as Dice, Michael Johnson, had actually done the shooting and that there were two other individuals in an auto by the scene, and one individual was Tyrone Cambria and the other individual was known to him as Foo Foo, Melvin Jones.” The majority does not even attempt to explain, even if defendant knew of it, how Mayfield’s simple statement that defendant was in an auto by the scene of the Brooks shooting provides a motive for defendant to kill Mayfield. Furthermore, in a bench trial there is a presumption that the trial court considered only competent evidence — a presumption that can be overcome only where the record affirmatively shows the contrary. (People v. Gilbert (1977), 68 Ill. 2d 252, 369 N.E.2d 849.) There was thus a presumption here that the inadmissible testimony of Kwilos in question was not considered by the trial judge and the majority does not find that it was overcome and it could not, because as pointed out above, the trial judge’s finding of guilt was clearly based on defendant’s admissions to the police with no indication whatsoever that any portion of Kwilos’ testimony was considered in that determination. From its unwarranted assumption that the trial judge considered the Kwilos testimony, the majority in order to reverse defendant’s conviction needed to make a second assumption, also unwarranted, that it was prejudicial error for him to have considered the testimony because it implicated defendant in the Brooks murder. Kwilos testified that Mayfield told him of seeing Johnson shoot Brooks “and that there were two other individuals in an auto at the scene, and one individual was Tyrone Cambria, and the other individual was known to him as Foo Foo, Melvin Jones [defendant here].” The majority reverses the conviction here by finding that the consideration of this testimony was reversible error because it “established that Mayfield implicated the defendant Jones in the Brooks murder, the motive to kill Mayfield — to avoid apprehension, prosecution and punishment therefor.” It is difficult to understand how the majority could possibly reach such a conclusion, not only because nowhere in the record does it appear that defendant had any knowledge that Mayfield had said anything to Officer Kwilos, but also because there is nothing in the statement itself implicating defendant in any manner, directly or indirectly, in the Brooks shooting. Mayfield said only that defendant was present in a car by the scene with no indication whatever that either defendant or the car or its other occupant were in any way involved in the occurrence. Additionally, the finding of the majority that the consideration of Kwilos’ testimony was prejudicial error because it “implicated defendant in the Brooks murder,” makes no sense in the light of defendant’s obviously incriminating admission to the police that he and Cambria shot Mayfield to .keep him from testifying against Johnson in the Brooks homicide. Even assuming the trial court considered the statement of Mayfield to Kwilos in his finding of guilt, it would be harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt in view of defendant’s own admission as to his guilt. See Parker v. Randolph (1979), 442 U.S. 62, 60 L. Ed. 2d 713, 99 S. Ct. 2132; Brown v. United States (1973), 411 U.S. 223, 36 L. Ed. 2d 208, 93 S. Ct. 1565; Schneble v. Florida (1972), 405 U.S. 427, 31 L. Ed. 2d 340, 92 S. Ct. 1056. The majority has also directed on remand that there be a new hearing on defendant’s motion to quash his arrest and to suppress evidence because of the affidavit of Deneen Murray presented in support of his motion for a new trial. It appears that information in the affidavit was not available at the time of the hearing and that it negated certain testimony given by a police officer at the hearing on the motion to quash. I agree that such a rehearing is required but since there was no prejudicial error in the admission of Officer Kwilos’ trial testimony and because the majority has made no other finding of error, its direction of a new trial is inappropriate. Thus I believe that the procedure in People v. Holiday (1970), 47 Ill. 2d 300, 265 N.E.2d 634, should be followed and, accordingly, I would vacate the judgment and remand with directions that the court conduct a new hearing on the motion to quash and suppress and to reinstate the judgment if the motion is denied but to grant a new trial if the motion is allowed.  The complete finding of the trial court is attached as an appendix to the majority opinion.