People v. Beard

2023 IL App (1st) 200106

221 N.E.3d 636

468 Ill.Dec. 808

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

v.Keith BEARD, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-20-0106

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

Filed March 30, 2023

Rehearing Denied April 21, 2023

Ian M. Barney and Madison N. Heckel, of Barney & Hourihane, LLP, of Evanston, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Enrique Abraham, Brian K. Hodes, and Susan Wobbekind, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

JUSTICE MARTIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Keith Beard appeals the circuit court's denial of his motion for leave to file a successive postconviction petition. He argues that affidavits supporting his proposed petition made a colorable claim that he is actually innocent of the aggravated kidnappings of a woman and her two children for which he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. We find that the affidavits fail to make a colorable claim of actual innocence and affirm the judgment of the circuit court.¹

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 A. Beard's Statement

¶ 4 After his arrest on May 18, 2002, Beard agreed to allow Assistant State's Attorney (ASA) Nina Ricci to transcribe his statement regarding the kidnapping of Chanzia Nathan and her two minor children, Brandon and Teighlor (collectively, the Nathans). Beard signed the resulting 8-page statement.

¶ 5 In his statement, Beard reported that he lived at 6729 South Maplewood Avenue in Chicago with his girlfriend, Latoya Joshua, and their two daughters. In the afternoon of May 17, 2002, Beard was at the house of his cousin, Alonzo Brown, when he heard his friend, Leslie Dysart, honking a car horn. Beard went outside and observed Dysart in the driver's seat of a maroon Oldsmobile Cutlass. Dysart said he was searching for Ronald Helegar, who is Beard's uncle, and Micah Mannie. After Beard told Dysart he was unaware of their whereabouts, Dysart exited the Oldsmobile and joined Beard in his black Chevy Monte Carlo to search for them.

¶ 6 Dysart informed Beard that Helegar and Mannie had "old girl and them," which Beard understood to mean they had kidnapped Chanzia, Brandon, and Teighlor. The previous day, Dysart told Beard that he, Helegar, and Mannie had a "lick up on a guy named Spook who had a lot of money and a lot of weed." Dysart said that Spook (Rodney Nathan) owned a restaurant and record store. Beard understood "lick" to mean "money scam."

¶ 7 Eventually, Beard and Dysart located Helegar, who then joined them in the Monte Carlo and stated that they "had old girl and them" in Beard's garage. Beard drove Helegar to Beard's garage and then drove Dysart to retrieve the maroon Cutlass. Beard then went to meet Latoya at the hospital where she worked. Beard and Latoya planned to go shopping for new shoes for their daughters. Latoya's friend, Constance Hodges, accompanied them. After Latoya complained that Beard was driving too fast, he told her that he needed to get home since Helegar and Mannie were stripping parts from a stolen truck in the garage. Latoya was angered by that news and began arguing with him. They continued with their shopping trip and went to a restaurant afterward.

¶ 8 Beard returned to his house on South Maplewood Avenue, where Helegar emerged from the garage and informed Beard that the Nathans were still inside. Beard then drove to a gas station with Latoya and Constance. They returned to the house sometime after 11 p.m. and went inside. Thirty minutes later, Beard went to the garage, where he found Helegar, Mannie, and Dysart. They told Beard they would "take care of him," which Beard understood to mean give him part of the ransom money. Helegar related that Spook had offered a ransom of $30,000, but they were demanding more.

¶ 9 Later, Mannie and Dysart left, intending to meet Rodney to exchange the ransom. The two returned a short time later and reported that "Spook was bulls***ing." Mannie and Helegar entered the garage and Helegar started screaming that "Spook" must not love his family. Helegar handed Chanzia a mobile phone, which was on the line with Rodney, and instructed her to tell Rodney to meet their ransom demands. After the call, the three others left and directed Beard to watch the garage. Beard entered the garage and picked up his shotgun. Chanzia, who was sitting on the floor with something covering her head, asked to join her children who were sitting in a car parked in the garage. Beard allowed her to do so. The others returned and Beard put the shotgun in his basement. Chanzia's cell phone battery was dead, so Beard retrieved Hodges's cell phone. Mannie used Hodges's phone for several calls with Rodney, until that phone's battery died. Beard went inside around 5 a.m. and slept.

¶ 10 Helegar and Mannie woke Beard around 8 a.m., saying they needed Beard to drive them somewhere. Helegar and Mannie, who was holding Brandon by the arm, met Beard outside his garage and entered his Monte Carlo. Mannie stated they needed to find a pay phone. Beard drove Helegar to the maroon Cutlass, which Helegar began driving. Mannie and Brandon remained in Beard's Monte Carlo. Both cars drove to a pay phone near a Burger King restaurant, where Helegar parked behind Beard. Mannie took Brandon to the pay phone. Police officers arrived a short time later. Beard ran but was eventually tackled, placed in handcuffs, and brought to a police station.

¶ 11 Before trial, Beard filed two unsuccessful motions to suppress his statement. The first motion argued that police lacked probable cause to arrest him. The second motion alleged that Beard was not advised of his Miranda rights before giving his statement and that police coerced him by threatening to charge Latoya in the case. Following separate evidentiary hearings, the trial court denied both motions to suppress Beard's statement.

¶ 12 B. Trial and Direct Appeal

¶ 13 Beard's case proceeded to a bench trial, which was conducted simultaneously with the jury trial of codefendant, Leslie Dysart.

¶ 14 Chanzia Nathan testified that on May 17, 2002, she was working at the restaurant she owned with her husband, Rodney, eponymously named Rodney's. That afternoon, Leslie Dysart entered the restaurant and ordered soup. While ordering, Dysart asked Chanzia about Lisa, Rodney's aunt, who also worked at the restaurant. Chanzia told Dysart that she did not know where Lisa was but was waiting for her. Chanzia explained that Lisa typically relieved her at the restaurant when Chanzia went home with her children.

¶ 15 Chanzia's 7-year-old son, Brandon, and 2-year-old daughter, Teighlor, were both at the restaurant, after spending the day in school and day care, respectively. Around 5 p.m., Chanzia and the children drove in her vehicle to their home, so Brandon could prepare for his baseball practice. After Chanzia parked in front of their house, she noticed a maroon or burgundy colored vehicle park about two houses behind them. As she was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for the children to exit her vehicle, two men approached her, one with a bat in hand. When the men got near, one said to Chanzia, "you got to come with us." She tried to run but stumbled, dropping her keys in the process. The men grabbed her, shoved her onto the back floor of her vehicle and placed a sweatshirt or jacket over her head. The men grabbed the children and shoved them into the vehicle as well. The men entered the vehicle and drove for about an hour.

¶ 16 Eventually, the vehicle came to a stop. The men directed Chanzia to exit and sit on the concrete floor of a garage with her head still covered. The children were placed inside a different vehicle that was inside the garage. About an hour later, Chanzia's cell phone rang. Her kidnappers told her to answer, since Rodney was calling. After she spoke to Rodney, one of the kidnappers took the phone and demanded money from him. Later, the kidnappers tied Chanzia's hands together. While held in the garage, the kidnappers told Chanzia they would kill her and threatened to beat Brandon "until he was retarded" and to sever Teighlor's fingers. At one point, Chanzia was struck in the head and face with a bat. Other times, the kidnappers poked her with the barrel of a gun and made a clicking sound.

¶ 17 The kidnappers told Chanzia that she and Rodney must think "this is a game." They refused to let Chanzia speak with Rodney any further but later took Brandon to speak with him by phone. After several hours, the kidnappers allowed Chanzia to join her children in the vehicle. In the morning, Chanzia heard police officers announce themselves as they entered the garage.² She removed the cover from her head. Initially, police asked her to stay put, but later told her it was safe to exit the vehicle. Upon exiting the garage, Chanzia observed police officers detain Dysart in the backyard of the house adjacent to the garage. Later, Chanzia identified Micah Mannie and Ronald Helegar in photo arrays as the two men who abducted her in front of her home. She identified Beard as looking familiar, but not one of the men who abducted and confined her.

¶ 18 Brandon Nathan testified that he went to his father's restaurant after school on May 17, 2002. There, he overheard Dysart ask his mother when Lisa would be working. Later, as he rode in his mother's vehicle, he noticed a car following them. Consistent with Chanzia's account, Brandon described being apprehended by two men in front of their home. He, too, identified the two men as Mannie and Helegar. After being held overnight in a garage, Beard, Mannie, and Helegar took Brandon to a pay phone to call his father. Brandon specifically identified Beard as one of the people who drove with him to the pay phone. Upon arriving at the pay phone, Brandon exited the car with Mannie, while Beard remained in the driver's seat. After speaking with his father, police arrived on the scene and arrested Mannie and Beard. Officers then transported...