People v. Anthony

1

2024 IL App (1st) 221648-U

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HEZEKIAH ANTHONY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-22-1648

Court of Appeals of Illinois, First District, First Division

June 27, 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. 2016 CR 60263 The Honorable Joseph M. Claps Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE LAVIN delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Fitzgerald Smith and Justice Pucinski concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

LAVIN JUSTICE

¶ 1 Held: The evidence was sufficient to find defendant guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt, where the eyewitnesses provided reliable identification evidence, and this court affirmed the decision of the trial court. However, because the trial court relied on improper aggravating factors at sentencing, this court remanded the cause for resentencing.

¶ 2 Following a bench trial, defendant Hezekiah Anthony was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, contending the State's identification evidence was problematic and no physical evidence tied him to the crime. Defendant also contends the trial court relied on improper aggravating factors at sentencing and therefore he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. We affirm the trial court's judgment finding defendant guilty of murder but remand for a new sentencing hearing.

¶ 3 BACKGROUND

¶ 4 Defendant was arrested and initially charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in 2014 after he stomped on Dora Nix-Corbin, a 5' 3", 130-pound woman in her mid-to-late 70s, also known as "Momma," knocking her out of her wheelchair and her glass eye to the ground.^[1] Several people witnessed the offense which took place July 26, 2014, around the Central Arms Hotel (520 East 47th Street, near Forrestville Avenue) in Chicago a four-story building with some long-term residents. The cause proceeded to a bench trial, after which defendant was found guilty of aggravated battery to an individual 60 years of age or older and sentenced to a total of 8 years in prison.^[2] The trial court found there was insufficient evidence that "defendant intended to kill," to sustain the attempted murder charge (count 1).

¶ 5 This court affirmed defendant's conviction on appeal, but vacated the aggravated battery sentences imposed on counts 3, 4, and 5, pursuant to the one-act, one crime doctrine. People v. Anthony, 2018 IL App (1st) 160894-U, ¶¶ 1, 28-31. Thus, defendant's conviction on count 2, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a person 60 years of age or older, was upheld, and this court ordered the circuit court clerk to correct the mittimus to reflect the accompanying seven-year prison term. Id. ¶ 31.

¶ 6 Nix-Corbin subsequently died on May 21, 2016, and defendant was then charged in November 2016 with the first degree murder of Nix-Corbin, insofar as his actions created a substantial probability of death or great bodily harm. The State proceeded to trial on that charge, adducing the following evidence as to defendant's identity and the cause of Nix-Corbin's death.

¶ 7 Deborah Norwood testified that on July 26, 2014, around 9:50 p.m., she was working private security at the Central Arms Hotel and standing outside looking around smoking a cigarette while a man named Chris spoke to her and flirted. On cross-examination, she added that another security guard was also participating in the conversation, and there were about three people down the block in front of the liquor store. However, "Momma" was sitting in her chair drinking a beer across from the hotel. Norwood said, "Momma, come on over here where I'm at," but Momma responded, "I'm okay." The area where Momma sat was well-lit and there was also a light fixture on the corner of Forrestville.

¶ 8 After a while Chris directed Norwood's attention back across the street, where Norwood saw a blue pickup truck in front of Momma and someone stomping on her. On cross, Norwood stated that at that point, she could only see a leg and not the face of the attacker. Norwood ran across the street, crossing paths with "the guy that did it," and said, "come here motherfucker," but a man later identified as defendant continued walking away. On cross, she clarified that defendant was standing next to Momma and in the process of leaving when Norwood arrived. In response to the question on cross, "And you didn't actually see anyone touch her?" Norwood reiterated that she had seen defendant "stomping her." Norwood then saw Momma lying on the ground unconscious and bleeding from her head. There was a little pool of blood on the ground. Norwood shook Momma in an attempt to revive her and cried "please don't die on me." An ambulance was called. Norwood then flagged down an approaching police vehicle and told police that defendant had gone around the corner. Norwood described him as wearing a white t-shirt and khakis.

¶ 9 Momma soon revived, and paramedics bandaged her, but she declined hospital treatment. She was also missing her glass eye. Norwood noted on cross that she helped Momma back to her room at the hotel. The next morning, Momma failed to respond to the knock at her door. Norwood, with the property manager's help, entered the room to find Momma lying in bed unconscious, and she was taken to the hospital.

¶ 10 Norwood stated on cross that she had seen defendant in the building before, and she did not recall testifying in 2015 to the contrary. She also made an in-court identification of defendant as the offender. Norwood acknowledged that a detective showed her a photo array in August 2014, some days after the offense, but she was unable to identify anyone pictured. It was noted on cross that these same detectives asked Norwood if she had seen the offender's face, to which she replied she had only seen "the person from the back." On cross, she confirmed this statement, adding "but he turned around."

¶ 11 The State also adduced evidence from Elbert Smith, who testified that on the day in question, he was a third-floor resident at Central Arms Hotel with a window viewing the corner of 47th street and Forrestville Avenue. Around 9:50 p.m., he heard a loud voice from his room, prompting him to look out his window. On cross, Smith clarified that he was taking a nap, but the loud noises woke him up, and while he at first denied that his eyes were blurry on waking, he later acknowledged they were blurry, and he had a rag in his hand to wipe them. He then saw defendant cross the street and stand by the pickup truck, about five feet from Forrestville Avenue. Defendant looked at Momma, who was also behind the truck, and said, "hey, hey bitch, where my $10 at bitch," then proceeded to punch her with a closed fist. He held onto the truck and stomped on her head. Defendant walked away, going to Forrestville, and he turned the corner. Smith then exited the building, and approached two security guards by Momma, who was bleeding with a gash on her head. Consistent with Norwood's testimony, Smith reported that Momma said she was fine and they walked Momma to her room, but the next morning she was taken to the hospital. Smith visited her there that day, but she was unable to talk.

¶ 12 On cross, Smith stated that he saw defendant's face and testified on direct that in fact he had seen defendant many times around the hotel. He identified defendant in court as the offender. On cross, Smith acknowledged he spoke with police officers at the station on August 5, 2014, and he "could have told" police that he didn't see "Momma being stumped," but he did not remember. He insisted at trial, however, that he saw Momma "getting stumped."

¶ 13 Chicago police lieutenant Ronald Kimble testified that he was working as a sergeant between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the evening in question. He was driving in an unmarked police vehicle westbound on 47th Street, near Forrestville, when three or four people on the north side of the street frantically waved him down, and he stopped his vehicle. Lieutenant Kimble saw an elderly woman lying on the ground between the sidewalk and the curb with injuries to her head, blood on her face, and an eye injury of some sort. There was also blood on the ground, and she was not moving at all. Those present pointed to a man walking away from them (on the same side of the street as Lieutenant Kimble) and said that he had just beaten and stomped on the woman. While still in his vehicle, Lieutenant Kimble followed the man, who turned the corner and walked very slowly as if "he hadn't done anything." Within a block, Lieutenant Kimble stopped and detained the man, whom Lieutenant Kimble identified in court as defendant. Once defendant was detained, Lieutenant Kimble returned to the scene, and by then other officers had arrived. Nix-Corbin also was by that point awake and moving but incoherent and "kind of combative."

¶ 14 On cross, Lieutenant Kimble stated that defendant did not possess any weapons when detained. Defendant was wearing a light pale-colored shirt, but he could not remember the pants' color, and Lieutenant Kimble did not see any blood on defendant.

¶ 15 Dr. Matthew Brandon Maas, a neurologist at Northwestern Hospital, testified next that he was a treating physician for the victim Nix-Corbin and had reviewed her medical records. Nix-Corbin arrived at the hospital on July 27, 2014 unresponsive and comatose, and a team of physicians, including a neurologist, neurosurgeon, trauma specialists, and emergency medicine specialists, examined...