People v. Bolanos

2022 IL App (1st) 200790

215 N.E.3d 221

465 Ill.Dec. 425

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

v.Kimberlynn BOLANOS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-20-0790

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Second Division.

Filed August 2, 2022.

James E. Chadd, Douglas R. Hoff, and Bryon M. Reina, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Enrique Abraham, Daniel Piwowarcyk, and Amari Dawson, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

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

¶ 1 Defendant Kimberlynn Bolanos pled guilty but mentally ill to the first degree murder of her five-month-old son, Isaac Bolanos. She then filed a petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) ( 725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. (West 2018)), which the trial court summarily dismissed. On appeal, defendant asserts that the trial court erroneously dismissed her petition because it stated the gist of a constitutional claim that she was unfit to plead guilty. We agree.

¶ 2 I. Background

¶ 3 On May 30, 2013, defendant, then 21 years old, killed her son by stabbing him 44 times. The State subsequently charged her with several counts of first degree murder and sought an extended-term sentence. She initially pled not guilty to the charges and raised an insanity defense. See 720 ILCS 5/6-2(a) (West 2012) (stating that "[a] person is not criminally responsible for conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or mental defect, he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct"). In addition, several doctors examined defendant over the course of this case. The only report appearing in our record, however, was made by defense expert Dr. Roni Seltzberg. Because this matter did not culminate in a trial, it is unclear whether the other doctors’ reports were ever made part of the trial court record. Accordingly, the following information is derived from Dr. Seltzberg's report and the representations made by the attorneys below.

¶ 4 As a young teenager, defendant was a good student, ranking fifteenth in her freshman class. Unfortunately, serious problems began around the same time. Her parents divorced, her grades plummeted, and she obsessed over germs and locks. She also began cutting herself, ran away from home, attempted suicide, and was admitted to the hospital for psychiatric treatment. In addition, she developed bulimia, body dysmorphia, and a recreational drug habit. She may have been a victim of sexual assault as well. Furthermore, defendant believed that other people could hear her thoughts and that Puerto Ricans were tracking her on public transportation. She believed that God compelled her to write books that would be printed to help African countries. She screamed at airplanes. On one occasion, she jumped out of a car to scream at people at a bus stop because she thought she was being followed.

¶ 5 After graduating from high school, defendant held a few jobs and entered into a marriage of convenience with a man who lacked citizenship. She moved into her father's basement when that relationship dissolved. Around this time, she received a driving under the influence charge and, according to her, engaged in prostitution. At age 20, she attempted suicide by injecting wasp poison into her heart. She believed that if she died, "everybody would stop getting tortured." Her death would "prove I'm not a spy for the wrong people." Defendant also believed that the government followed her and that she was capable of shutting down satellites. According to her mother, her family had a history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, depression, suicidal thoughts, and postpartum depression.

¶ 6 According to defendant, in July 2012, defendant went to the hospital after injecting heroin and learned she was four months pregnant by her boyfriend. While hospital records from that time indicated that defendant had already known she was pregnant, defendant apparently disputed the accuracy of those records. Additionally, defendant claimed she had believed that her lack of menstruation had something to do with lions in Africa. Upon learning of her pregnancy, she was happy, stopped using alcohol or controlled substances, and obtained prenatal care. Still, defendant thought she was killing bad people with her mind and that her baby would be the heir to her mission.

¶ 7 Isaac was born on December 12, 2012. No drugs were found in defendant's system. In addition, hospital personnel initially separated her from Isaac due to the heroin incident, causing her to fear that Isaac was being tortured, but they returned him to her. She was happy. Yet, a psychiatric consultation was requested due to certain comments defendant had made. This did not result in medication or treatment. Defendant stated that she did not tell hospital personnel that she was "a pawn" or that she was being followed because they would have thought she was "crazy."

¶ 8 Defendant and Isaac lived in her father's basement. According to family members, she was a good mother but did not let others take care of Isaac. She brought him into the shower rather than allow her father to watch him. Defendant's mother, who had watched Isaac only twice, was concerned that something was wrong but found nothing amiss when checking his body. Defendant stated that Isaac was her best friend and her joy, and she never thought she would be better off without him.

¶ 9 Meanwhile, defendant continued checking locks and engaged in excessive handwashing. She worked on a cure for cancer. She believed that family members were being tortured by "People at the Top," and she heard people walking around upstairs and screaming in the night. One day, a man whom defendant mistakenly believed to be a detective came to the house. She thought he was "looking for her because they thought she was a prostitute and used crack." She also feared that Isaac would be raped and tortured "to get stronger" and thought that "they" were coming to take him. As a result, defendant moved herself and Isaac into a motel. She continued to hear screaming at night and slept with a knife. According to defendant, "buff" people at the top knew she was thinking of killing herself and wanted to torture her for answers first. They intended to torture Isaac as well.

¶ 10 On May 29, 2013, defendant purchased knives and razors from the Dollar Tree. Jerry Brooks, Isaac's father, arrived at the hotel later that night to find defendant pacing with knives on each hip. She said she was not going to let anyone rape and torture her and told Brooks to try to kill her and Isaac if someone came. Upon Brooks's request, defendant gave him the knives, but they reappeared next to her in the morning. Brooks believed she had not slept, and according to defendant, she had smoked marijuana at some point.

¶ 11 Defendant reported that Brooks's phone began ringing at about 5 a.m., leading her to pray with a knife in her hand. She then brought Isaac into the bathroom with her, locking the door, and told Brooks to wait while she took a shower. She felt that she would never see Isaac again if she did not kill him before the torturers entered. Additionally, the deaths of defendant and Isaac would lead "them" to stop torturing her family and would "feed the world." Defendant told Isaac she would see him in heaven and stabbed him in the heart and lung so he would die quickly. She regretted it immediately because she wished "it didn't have to happen like that, that God would just take me." Because Isaac was coughing, she worried that "they" had already surgically moved "the part of his brain that was highly functional" down to another area "to connect it," so she stabbed him several more times. She then repeatedly cut herself in order to die and began passing out. While defendant thought that perhaps she should have killed Brooks too, as he was possibly being tortured already, she had decided to "leave him there so people will know, enough jobs for everybody, recycling."

¶ 12 Meanwhile, Brooks noted that defendant and Isaac had been in the bathroom for some time and knocked on the door. Defendant said everything was fine, but Brooks saw blood on the floor through the space under the door. When Brooks threatened to break the door down, defendant opened it. Brooks saw that defendant was standing over Isaac, who was in his car seat with severe injuries to his head. He was covered in blood and appeared to be dead. Brooks ran to the motel office and had an employee call 911. He then flagged down a squad car. Ultimately, firefighters broke down the bathroom door with an axe.

¶ 13 Defendant was found holding five-month-old Isaac in the bathtub with hot water coming from the shower. As stated, he had 44 stab wounds, including two overlapping neck wounds that went from ear to ear. At the hospital, he was declared dead on arrival.

¶ 14 Defendant sustained 25 self-inflicted stab and incise wounds to her arms and chest. She had also lost approximately three liters of blood but was alert. Before undergoing surgery, defendant refused a blood transfusion until her mother convinced her to accept one. Defendant also told her mother that Isaac was not actually dead and that defendant would "be able to feel if he was." In addition, Dr. Rajeev Panguluri, Dr. Morales, a nurse, and a social worker all found her to be psychotic. She was subsequently admitted for psychiatric treatment at Cermak Hospital, where the intake employee found her to be "disorganized and delusional." She remained under their care through October 2013.

¶ 15 During her time there, defendant would indicate that her appetite was good but then refuse food and liquids. She feared that Isaac might still be alive and subject to torture but denied that she was delusional or disorganized. On one occasion, she said she wanted her son back. On another occasion, she said that she killed Isaac and attempted to...