People v. Ayala

2022 IL App (1st) 192484

219 N.E.3d 10

467 Ill.Dec. 412

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Respondent-Appellee,

v.David AYALA, Petitioner-Appellant.

The People of the State of Illinois, Respondent-Appellee,

v.James Soto, Petitioner-Appellant.

Nos. 1-19-2484

1-20-0722

1-20-1175 (cons.)

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

Filed June 29, 2022

Rehearing Denied August 2, 2022

Debra Loevy, of The Exoneration Project, of Chicago, and Jennifer Bonjean, of Bonjean Law Group, PLLC, of New York, New York, for appellants.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Enrique Abraham, Joseph Alexander, John E. Nowak, and Paul E. Wojcicki, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

PRESIDING JUSTICE GORDON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The consolidated appeals of defendants James Soto (Soto) and David Ayala (Ayala) present a host of issues arising from defendants’ convictions and sentences for a crime commonly referred to as the Pietrowski Park shootings. On August 16, 1981, 16-year-old Julie Limas (Limas) and 18-year-old Hector Valeriano (Valeriano), a United States Marine home on leave, were standing with a group of young people in Pietrowski (formerly Keeler) Park, located at 31st Street and Keeler Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Juan Padilla (Padilla), a member of the Latin Kings street gang, was also in the park. At trial, the State's witnesses described a dark blue van approaching the park and two gunmen firing from a gangway beside the park—one armed with a rifle and one armed with a handgun. Limas and Valeriano were both killed. Padilla was struck by a bullet in the buttocks but survived his injuries.

¶ 2 Soto and Ayala were jointly tried before a single jury and convicted of the murders of Limas and Valeriano, the attempted murder of Padilla, and conspiracy to commit murder. Ayala was convicted on an accountability theory, based on testimony that he ordered the "hits" from a meeting of the Two-Six street gang in the basement of his home. Soto, Ayala's cousin, was convicted for his alleged role as the handgun shooter. There was no physical evidence linking either defendant to the crimes. Indeed, only one trial witness, Wally "Gator" Cruz (Cruz), testified to both Soto's and Ayala's involvement in the shooting. Cruz, who admitted to driving the dark blue van that carried the shooters to Pietrowski Park, was originally indicted for the murders with Soto and Ayala but entered into an agreement with the State whereby he would plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and the State would recommend a five-year sentence, to be served at 50% time, in exchange for his testimony against his codefendants. Both Ayala and Soto were sentenced to two life-without-parole sentences, plus 30 years for attempted murder and 7 years for conspiracy to commit murder. Defendants timely filed direct appeals of their convictions and sentences, which this court affirmed.

¶ 3 In 2015, pursuant to the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) ( 725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2014)), defendants filed the postconviction petitions that are the subject of the instant appeal. In his petition, Ayala alleged, among other things, that he is actually innocent of the murders of Limas and Valeriano and that his trial counsel labored under a prohibited conflict of interest where defense counsel simultaneously represented an alternate suspect who was later named as a state witness. Like Ayala's initial petition, Soto's 2015 petition, which was a successive petition, alleged that he is actually innocent of the murders of Limas and Valeriano. Soto also adopted Ayala's claim that his trial counsel labored under a prohibited conflict of interest.

¶ 4 Separately, in 2020, Ayala sought leave to file a successive petition pursuant to the Act, alleging that, as applied to him, his natural life sentence for a crime committed when he was only 18 years old violates the proportionate penalties clause of our Illinois Constitution ( Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 11 ).

¶ 5 Soto and Ayala supported their 2015 petitions with affidavits from numerous individuals attesting to defendants’ lack of involvement in the Pietrowski Park shootings. The petitions also alleged significant misconduct on the part of the police, the State, and defendants’ own trial counsel. Specifically, Soto and Ayala alleged that after their trial and convictions, they learned that, unbeknownst to them, their trial counsel also represented an individual, Victor Rodriguez (V. Rodriguez), where at least three disinterested eyewitnesses told investigators V. Rodriguez was the handgun shooter. V. Rodriguez was indicted for the murders in juvenile court, but the charges were ultimately dismissed, and V. Rodriguez was named as a prosecution witness in the defendants’ case. In addition, since the time of trial, several witnesses have either recanted their testimony, averred that they only failed to testify on defendants’ behalf at trial out of fear of retribution from the State, or attested that Cruz's trial testimony was false.

¶ 6 After advancing defendants’ 2015 petitions to the second stage of postconviction proceedings, the trial court granted the State's motions to dismiss both petitions. The trial court also denied Ayala leave to file his successive petition alleging a violation of the proportionate penalties clause. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the trial court's order dismissing defendants’ 2015 petitions and remand for a third-stage evidentiary hearing on defendants’ claims of actual innocence and their trial counsel's conflict of interest. However, we affirm the trial court's order denying Ayala leave to file his successive petition raising a youth-based proportionate penalties clause claim.

¶ 7 BACKGROUND

¶ 8 In September 1982, Soto and Ayala were jointly tried before a single jury and convicted of the murders of Valeriano and Limas, the attempted murder of Padilla, and conspiracy to commit murder. Both Ayala and Soto were sentenced to two life-without-parole sentences, plus 30 years for attempted murder and 7 years for conspiracy to commit murder, to be served concurrently. Soto and Ayala were indicted with their codefendants, Cruz, and Ruben Palomo (Palomo).¹ Palomo was tried simultaneously by a second jury and found guilty of attempted murder. The jury was hung as to the murder charges against Palomo. Palomo thereafter pled guilty to one charge of murder and received a sentence of 30 years, to run concurrently with a 25-year sentence for the attempted murder.

¶ 9 Because Soto and Ayala have raised claims of actual innocence, we describe the evidence presented at trial and contained in the affidavits submitted with their postconviction petitions in detail in this opinion.

¶ 10 I. The State's Case at Trial

¶ 11 In sum, the State posited that Soto and Ayala were high ranking members of the Two-Six street gang and that the Latin Kings were their rivals. According to the State, beginning on the afternoon of August 16, 1981, Ayala hosted a Two-Six meeting in the basement of his home at which "making hits" on Latin Kings was discussed. At some point in the evening, Ayala received a phone call and learned that there were Latin Kings in Pietrowski Park. Ayala then provided weapons to Soto and Palomo, who left Ayala's home with Cruz in Ayala's dark blue van. According to the State, Cruz was the driver of the dark blue van, while Palomo sat in the passenger seat and Soto sat in the rear. The State alleged that after parking the van in an alley near the park, Palomo and Soto walked into a gangway beside the park and fired into a crowd that had gathered in the park, with Palomo firing the rifle and Soto firing the handgun. After the shooting, Cruz, Palomo, and Soto returned to Ayala's home, where Ayala received another phone call informing him that three people had been shot in the park and two had died.

¶ 12 As noted, the only State witness to testify from personal knowledge that either Soto or Ayala was involved in the crime was their alleged accomplice, Cruz. Cruz testified that on August 16, 1981, he attended a Two-Six gang meeting in the basement of Ayala's home in Westchester, Illinois, at which the Two-Sixes discussed "making hits" on their rival street gang, the Latin Kings. The meeting lasted from around 12:00 or 12:30 p.m. until around 6:00 p.m. that evening. According to Cruz, he attended the basement meeting with Ayala and six other Two-Sixes: Robert "Shy" Jacquez (R. Jacquez), Vince "Demon" Hodge (V. Hodge), Randy "Little Demon" Hodge (R. Hodge), Tom Gutierrez (Gutierrez), Alex "Little Al" Valle (Valle), and Sal Guzman (Guzman). Cruz testified that, although both Soto and Palomo were also present in Ayala's home at the time, they were upstairs and did not attend the basement meeting. According to Cruz, Tyrone Ayala (T. Ayala), Theodore "Sweetwine" Ordonez (T. Ordonez)² and Martha Ordonez (M. Ordonez) were also in the house at the time but remained upstairs with Soto and Palomo.

¶ 13 On cross-examination, Cruz admitted that he previously told investigators that several other individuals were at Ayala's house that day. Specifically, Cruz previously told investigators that Javier Jacquez (J. Jacquez), Victor "Fat Victor" Rodriguez (V. Rodriguez), and John "JJ" Rojas (Rojas) attended the basement meeting.³

¶ 14 Cruz testified that by 6:00 p.m. all the Two-Sixes had departed Ayala's home except for Cruz, Soto, and Palomo. Around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., Ayala received a phone call and summoned Soto and Palomo into Ayala's bedroom on the second floor of the house. Cruz heard someone yell out "Kings," and Palomo instructed Cruz to start a van. Cruz went outside, to the driveway, and started Ayala's van that was parked there. He then returned to the house and observed Ayala walk down the stairs, into the basement, and return with a handgun and a rifle, which Ayala began cleaning. After "a while," Soto came into the living room from the second floor of...