Court Opinion

ID: 9716160
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:29:11.439279+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:58:54.569319
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE JIGANTI dissenting: The defendant, Donald Shannon, was convicted and sentenced for the attempted murder of John Vohs. Vohs was riding a motorcycle when a man in a car began firing at him, hitting him twice. Vohs testified that the man in the passenger’s seat was the man who shot him. Vohs stated that he saw the man’s arm, which had several tattoos on it. The man was wearing a black T-shirt. Less than a half hour later a police officer stopped the defendant’s car. The defendant exited from the passenger side. The defendant had on a black T-shirt and tattoos on both arms. The driver of the car, Michael Ivanov, also was wearing a black T-shirt and had tattoos on both arms. The defendant testified that at the time of the occurrence Ivanov was the passenger in the car and defendant the driver. He did not know Ivanov was going to shoot the victim. After the shooting they went to an alley where the defendant and another passenger got out of the car and walked away. Ivanov then began driving the car and the defendant reentered the car, on the passenger side. He was in that position when the car was stopped a short time later by the police. The victim was a member of a motorcycle club called Hell’s Henchmen. The defendant attempted to show that Ivanov had a desire to get revenge on the Hell’s Henchmen because Ivanov believed that Hell’s Henchmen were responsible for Ivanov’s brother’s death. To do this the defendant sought to call as a witness a person who had known Ivanov for some time. Defendant made an offer of proof that the proposed witness would testify that on 10 or 12 occasions Ivanov had expressed an intent and desire to get revenge on the Hell’s Henchmen. This testimony was excluded as hearsay. While in fact the testimony was hearsay, it was admissible in evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule because it shows the state of mind of the declarant. People v. Hampton (1969), 44 Ill. 2d 41, 46, 253 N.E.2d 385; E. Cleary & M. Graham, Illinois Evidence sec. 803.4, at 554 (4th ed. 1984). The majority concedes that the exclusion of this evidence was error. However, it concludes that there was overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt, citing the fact that the defendant was in the passenger seat of the car when arrested, and that there was testimony from a police officer that the defendant admitted that he shot the victim. However, the alleged admission was testified to only by one officer and it consisted of one sentence. The defendant denies that he ever made the statement. The only identification of the perpetrator was an arm with tattoos and a black T-shirt, a description that equally fits the defendant and Ivanov. Essentially, in my estimation, it is a question of credibility. It would substantially corroborate the defendant’s version if the witness had been allowed to testify that, indeed, Ivanov expressed a reason why the shooting took place. There is nothing to indicate why the defendant would wish to shoot the victim. I would reverse the conviction and remand the matter back for a new trial.