People v. Adams

1

2024 IL App (1st) 230048-U

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LEIVANTE ADAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-23-0048

Court of Appeals of Illinois, First District, Third Division

September 25, 2024

This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County. No. 03 CR 13790 Honorable Stanley Sacks, Judge, presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE LAMPKIN delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Martin and D.B. Walker concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

LAMPKIN, PRESIDING JUSTICE

¶ 1 Held: The judgment of the trial court denying leave for defendant to file a successive petition for postconviction relief is affirmed.

¶ 2 Defendant Leivante Adams was convicted in 2004 of first degree murder and sentenced to a 45-year term of imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal and he has since filed numerous pleadings pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (the Act), 725 ILCS 5/1221 et seq. (West 2018). Each of those efforts was unsuccessful in obtaining defendant a new trial. On December 16, 2019, defendant filed a motion for leave to file a successive postconviction petition based on a claim that he was innocent of the crime. On December 2, 2022, the trial court denied defendant leave to file his successive petition. Defendant now appeals, arguing that he made a sufficient showing to be granted leave to file his successive petition.

¶ 3 For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.^[1]

¶ 4 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 5 A. Trial and Direct Appeal

¶ 6 On July 1, 2003, the State charged defendant with the first degree murder of Raama Baker, alleging that he beat and killed Baker with a baseball bat. On December 18, 2006, this Court affirmed defendant's conviction and we summarize the pertinent trial evidence from that order. Larry Lewis and his girlfriend, Baker, went to the His and Hers Lounge every Thursday. On March 20, 2003, Lewis was at the lounge with Baker when he heard that Baker and defendant were outside fighting. Lewis went outside and saw defendant punching Baker in the face. Baker sustained injuries to her face.

¶ 7 On May 15, 2003, Terrence Whisby, defendant's brother was at home with his girlfriend, Kim Washington, and his brother, Anthony Oliver. Defendant and the mother of his son, Toni Washington, were visiting. Around 11:30 p.m., Terrence heard arguing and found defendant and Baker outside, yelling at each other. A fight ensued and defendant repeatedly hit Baker with a stick he was holding. By the time Terrence pulled defendant away from Baker, she was lying on the ground motionless. Terrence acknowledged making multiple different statements to law enforcement on May 19, 2003. In his final statement to officers and his grand jury testimony, he stated defendant hit Baker with a bat rather than a stick. He also claimed that unspecified officers threatened him and refused to let him leave the station until he provided a signed statement. They also told him that they would "plant something" on him or charge him with Baker's murder if he did not tell them what he knew. It was at that point that Terrence told police that defendant had killed Baker. Terrence also testified that, during his grand jury testimony, he said no promises or threats were made to get him to make a written statement about the murder.

¶ 8 Anthony testified at trial that on May 15, 2003, defendant left the house at 11 p.m., and returned saying that Baker "shouldn't be walking down the block." Anthony called the police, informing them that there had been a fight in the alley. He testified that he spoke to defendant the following day, but he could not recall the content of the conversation. However, during his grand jury testimony, he testified that defendant told him that "he snapped and starting hitting [Baker] with the bat" because he warned her not to walk down his street and because she called him a "bitch" and said she would walk wherever she wanted. During his grand jury testimony, he also testified that on May 15, 2003, he saw Baker lying on the ground and then saw defendant leave the scene in a car.

¶ 9 Kim testified that she saw Baker walking down the street and heard defendant give Baker a "warning" before following her with a bat in his hands. Kim went inside and heard a thump. When she went back outside, she saw Baker lying on the ground and defendant standing over her. Kim also testified that unspecified detectives told her that if she did not cooperate with them, they would charge Terrence and he would get "years." She later signed a statement that detectives provided to her in an effort to help Terrence. However, in her grand jury testimony, Kim testified that she watched defendant grab a bat from inside the house and saw defendant hit Baker two or three times with the bat and that no one made any threats or promises to her to compel her testimony.

¶ 10 Barbara Oliver, defendant's mother, testified that around 11 p.m. on May 15, 2003, defendant entered her room and told her that Baker was on their block and that she was going to try to have him arrested. Barbara testified that she told defendant to leave the house, and that defendant got in his car and drove away. However, her grand jury testimony maintained that defendant was in his car, quickly entered the house, and then left again. Shortly after, she heard noises that sounded like someone being hit with a bat. She walked down the street and saw Baker lying on the ground. Defendant drove away but called his mother later that night to apologize. She also testified that Detective Robert Lenihan told her the only way they would release Terrence was if she came to the police station.

¶ 11 Toni testified that she and defendant were in defendant's car talking. When they saw Baker, defendant exited the car and talked to Baker in front of the house before walking down the street with her. After that, defendant drove away in his car and Toni drove home in her own car. When she returned to defendant's house, Terrence gave her defendant's gym bag, which contained a black garbage bag. Toni threw it away without looking inside it. However, Toni was impeached with her grand jury testimony in which she said that defendant and Baker argued before she saw defendant hit Baker with a bat six or seven times.

¶ 12 Toni testified that Lenihan threatened her when she was first interviewed and told her that if she did not cooperate, she would never see her son again. According to her, Lenihan gave her a statement to read that was given by someone else, which she said was not correct. But Lenihan kept insisting that she cooperate and she finally assented.

¶ 13 During her grand jury testimony, Toni stated she saw defendant and Baker arguing, and that she saw defendant hit Baker with a bat six or seven times. Afterward, Terrence retrieved the bat, washed it off, and gave it to Toni, who threw it away. During her grand jury testimony, Toni stated no threats or promises had been made to her. But at trial, she testified that officers promised not to charge her and that she could see her son again if she cooperated. Toni's own attorney testified at trial that he accompanied her to her grand jury testimony, that no one from the State threatened Toni or mistreated her, and that he reached an arrangement with the State that Toni would not be charged with hiding the murder weapon if she told the truth.

¶ 14 Defendant testified that he and Baker previously had sexual relations, but denied ever being in a relationship with her or having a child with her. He admitted that the two of them got in a fight on March 20, 2003, and hit each other. However, he denied killing Baker or hitting her with a bat on May 15, 2003. He testified that he and Baker talked while walking down the street and, when they reached a vacant lot, he turned around and went home.

¶ 15 The jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder, and the trial court subsequently sentenced defendant to a prison term of 45 years. On December 18, 2006, this court affirmed defendant's convi cti on.

¶ 16 B. Previous Postconviction Proceedings

¶ 17 On June 5, 2007, defendant filed a petition for postconviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to introduce evidence that defendant was provoked and argue for second-degree murder and for failing to seek dismissal based on a violation of defendant's speedy trial right. That petition was summarily dismissed on July 8, 2007. While that petition was pending, on June 28, 2007, defendant filed a supplement which alleged that he was subject to prosecutorial misconduct, the trial court abused its discretion in making certain evidentiary rulings, and that he was denied the effective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. The trial court treated defendant's filing as a supplemental filing, rather than a successive petition, and summarily dismissed it in a written order on August 13, 2007.

¶ 18 On January 20, 2010, defendant filed a petition for relief from judgment pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-1401 (West 2008). The trial court summarily dismissed that petition on March 10, 2010. This court affirmed that dismissal, but corrected defendant's mittimus to reflect 31 additional days that defendant spent in custody. People v. Adams, 2011 IL App (1st) 101034-U.

¶ 19 On February 7, 2011, defendant filed a motion for leave to file a successive postconviction petition, which alleged his actual innocence on the basis of three eyewitnesses Bridgette Rush, Muhammad Williams, and Tijatta Williams, who all averred that they witnessed Baker's murder and that defendant was not the perpetrator. The...