People v. Blair

2011 IL App (2d) 070862

952 N.E.2d 62

351 Ill.Dec. 689

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

v.Ricky G. BLAIR, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 2–07–0862.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

May 26, 2011.

Patricia Unsinn (Court-appointed), Jonathan D. Krieger (Court-appointed), Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, for Ricky G. Blair.Joseph P. Bruscato, Winnebago County State's Attorney, Lawrence M. Bauer, Deputy Director, Stephanie Hoit Lee, Algonquin, for People.

OPINION

Justice HUDSON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Winnebago County, defendant, Ricky G. Blair, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated domestic battery (one count based on great bodily harm and one count based on permanent disfigurement) (720 ILCS 5/12–3.3(a) (West 2006)). The trial court vacated the permanent-disfigurement-based conviction on one-act, one-crime principles and sentenced defendant to seven years' imprisonment. Defendant appealed, urging the reversal of his conviction on two grounds. First, he asserted that the trial court failed to comply with Illinois Supreme Court Rule 431(b) (eff. May 1, 2007) in that it did not ask each prospective juror during voir dire if he or she understood and accepted each of four key principles governing criminal trials. Second, defendant contended that the State violated Illinois Supreme Court Rule 412 (eff. May 1, 2001) by calling a doctor to provide testimony without first disclosing, via a statement of his qualifications, the doctor's status as an expert. In an opinion filed on September 29, 2009, we rejected defendant's second contention but agreed that the trial court's failure to comply with Rule 431(b) required the reversal of defendant's conviction, and we remanded the cause for a new trial. People v. Blair, 395 Ill.App.3d 465, 334 Ill.Dec. 446, 917 N.E.2d 43 (2009). On January 26, 2011, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a supervisory order directing us to vacate our September 29, 2009, judgment and reconsider our decision in light of People v. Thompson, 238 Ill.2d 598, 345 Ill.Dec. 560, 939 N.E.2d 403 (2010). People v. Blair, 239 Ill.2d 558, 346 Ill.Dec. 543, 940 N.E.2d 1147 (2011) (table). Having done so, we now affirm the judgment of the trial court in its entirety.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Defendant was charged by superseding indictment with one count of aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12–4(b)(1) (West 2006)), two counts of aggravated domestic battery based on permanent disfigurement (720 ILCS 5/12–3.3(a) (West 2006)), and one count of aggravated domestic battery based on great bodily harm (720 ILCS 5/12–3.3(a) (West 2006)). The charges stemmed from a March 2006 altercation between defendant and Joya Scott at the Brewington Oaks apartment complex. The aggravated battery count and one of the aggravated domestic battery (permanent disfigurement) counts related to a knife wound sustained by Scott in her arm. The remaining counts alleged that defendant punched Scott in the face, causing permanent disfigurement (a laceration) and great bodily harm (a broken nose). Jury selection commenced on June 11, 2007. Once the jury was seated, the following evidence was presented.

¶ 4 Scott and defendant began dating in the spring of 2005. Scott had cohabited with defendant in the past, but was not living with him at the time of the altercation. Nevertheless, Scott allowed defendant to spend the night of March 17, 2006, at her apartment. To that end, Scott prepared a “pallet” on her living room floor for defendant to sleep. Scott normally slept on a couch in her living room because she did not have a bed in her apartment.

[351 Ill.Dec. 693] ¶ 5 Scott testified that she and defendant had been using cocaine on the night in question. After they ran out of cocaine, she and defendant got into an argument because defendant wanted more drugs and Scott would not buy them. Initially, the argument was verbal, with defendant repeatedly telling Scott to “shut up” whenever she spoke. Scott eventually went to lie down on the couch, and defendant lay down on the makeshift bed on the floor. Scott testified that she placed a “little steak knife” under her pillow because of a prior incident in December 2005 during which defendant gave her a black eye and beat her with a belt. The March 2006 fight became physical when defendant hit Scott repeatedly in the face. As defendant was striking Scott, she reached for the knife. A struggle ensued for control of the knife. The blade of the knife broke off while it was stuck in Scott's arm. As Scott explained, she “broke the knife off in [her] wrist.” At some point, defendant also began choking Scott. According to Scott, defendant then hit her in the nose and she lost consciousness.

¶ 6 The next thing Scott remembered was waking up in the bathroom, where she saw defendant cleaning up. Scott testified that her clothes had been changed. Scott asked defendant to call an ambulance, but whenever she spoke, defendant started choking her. At some point, defendant left the bathroom, and Scott ran to the building security office. She told the security guards that her boyfriend tried to kill her. Subsequently, Scott was transported to a hospital and treated, receiving six stitches in her right arm and four stitches on her nose. Scott testified that around Father's Day 2006 she saw defendant in Chicago and asked him to turn himself in.

¶ 7 During her testimony, Scott identified clothing worn by her and defendant during the March 2006 altercation. Scott acknowledged, however, that she did not turn those articles over to the police until shortly before the trial and that she did not inform the police that defendant had changed her clothes. With respect to the December 2005 incident, Scott testified that in response to defendant's conduct she grabbed a knife and stabbed defendant in the arm. Scott also admitted that she was on probation and that, at the time of her testimony, a petition to revoke her probation was pending. Nevertheless, Scott denied that her testimony was being provided in exchange for a deal with the State.

¶ 8 Cecilia Lindley worked security at Brewington Oaks in March 2006. Lindley testified that around 2:20 a.m. on the night in question, she and Christopher Goldberg, another guard, were in the building security office when a tenant began pounding on the door. Lindley opened the door and saw Scott. Lindley testified that Scott was “scared and crying” and had a “swollen and busted eye,” a bloody nose, and a cut on her right arm. After Scott entered the security office, she stated that her boyfriend had held her hostage for about an hour. As Goldberg tended to her injuries, Scott began “blacking in and out.” Lindley called 911.

¶ 9 Officer Bill Donato of the Rockford police department testified that he was dispatched to the Brewington Oaks apartment complex. Upon entering the building security office, Donato observed a black female, later identified as Scott, with a “gash” on the bridge of her nose. A security guard was holding a towel over Scott's right forearm. Donato testified that Scott appeared to be in shock. Donato had a brief conversation with Scott, during which she stated that her boyfriend, whom she identified as defendant, had stabbed her and punched her in the face. Scott also told Donato that she believed that defendant was still in her apartment. After Scott was transported to SwedishAmerican Hospital, Donato and several other officers went to her apartment. Donato inspected the apartment and saw blood and a knife, but defendant was not present. After members of the Rockford police department identification unit arrived, Donato went to the hospital to speak with Scott. Scott provided Donato and Officer Spencer Burke a couple of addresses within her apartment complex where she thought defendant might be. The officers returned to the apartment complex, but were unable to locate defendant at any of those addresses. Thereafter, Donato and Burke returned to the hospital and conducted a full interview with Scott, during which Scott gave the officers a written statement.

¶ 10 On cross-examination, Donato testified that Scott was coherent and cooperative during the interview. Donato was unable to recall whether Scott indicated anything about defendant choking her while she was in the bathroom, but he admitted that there is nothing in his report to that effect. Donato also stated that nowhere in his report is there any indication that Scott told him that defendant changed her clothes during the March 2006 incident. Donato testified that, as part of his interview with Scott, he asked about her relationship with defendant. Scott told Donato that she had been dating defendant for about eight months. Scott mentioned a prior altercation during which defendant had punched her, causing a black eye. Scott also acknowledged stabbing defendant on a previous occasion. Donato could not recall Scott telling him that defendant had hit her with a belt.

¶ 11 Detective James Bowman testified that he processes and documents crime scenes and recovers physical evidence as part of the Rockford police department's identification unit. Bowman testified that he and Detective Hackbarth were dispatched to Scott's apartment in response to a report of an aggravated battery with a knife. After being briefed on what occurred, Bowman began taking digital photographs and documenting the evidence. As part of this process, Bowman recovered a knife that was broken in two pieces. Bowman then proceeded to SwedishAmerican Hospital to photograph Scott's injuries. The photographs showed a laceration across the bridge of Scott's nose and a “slashing wound” on her right forearm. On cross-examination, Bowman testified that no attempt was made to recover fingerprints from the knife found in Scott's apartment.

¶ 12 Chandra Norder–Brandli, a nurse at SwedishAmerican Hospital, testified that at...