People v. Chatman

238 N.E.3d 1055

2024 IL 129133

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee,

v.Micheal D. CHATMAN, Appellant.

(Docket No. 129133)

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed January 19, 2024.

Appeal from the Appellate Court for the Fourth District; heard in that court on appeal from the Circuit Court of Champaign County, the Hon. Randall Rosenbaum, Judge, presiding.

James E. Chadd, State Appellate Defender, Douglas R. Hoff, Deputy Defender, and Christofer R. Bendik, Assistant Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Katherine M. Doersch and Katherine Snitzer, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

JUSTICE HOLDER WHITE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 In January 2020, the State charged defendant, Micheal D. Chatman, with four counts of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1)-(3) (West 2018)) in connection with the shooting death of Ricky Green. Prior to trial, the State sought to introduce statements made by Dominique "Dee" Collins, who was unable to be located, under the forfeiture by wrongdoing exception to the hearsay rule (Ill. R. Evid. 804(b)(5) (eff. Jan. 1, 2011)) and the sixth amendment confrontation clause (U.S. Const., amend. VI). The Champaign County circuit court allowed Collins’s statements to be introduced, finding him unavailable and that the State had made reasonable, good-faith efforts to secure his presence at trial. A jury found defendant guilty of felony murder, and the court sentenced him to prison. The appellate court affirmed. 2022 IL App (4th) 210716, ¶ 1, 461 Ill.Dec. 302, 203 N.E.3d 456.

¶ 2 Now on appeal, defendant argues the State was required to demonstrate goodfaith efforts to procure Collins’s presence at trial but failed to do so. We affirm.

¶ 3 BACKGROUND

¶ 4 Not long after midnight on March 23, 2018, Ricky Green was shot twice and killed in Champaign. Shortly before his death, Green was in a car with defendant, codefendant Michael Simmons, and Kotia Fairman. After police officers followed their car, Green, defendant, and Simmons ran because they had guns and drugs in the car. While they fled, an altercation ensued between Green and defendant, during which defendant shot Green. Items tied to defendant and Simmons were later found in the car, including a .357 Magnum revolver, which was not used to shoot Green.

¶ 5 Based on this incident, the State charged defendant with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and obstruction of justice. In August 2018, defendant pleaded guilty and received a sentence of probation. The State did not charge him with Green’s murder until January 2020. This occurred after the State on December 30, 2019, secured a video-recorded statement from Dee Collins, wherein he related to Detective Jeremiah Christian that defendant had confessed to Collins shortly after the shooting.

¶ 6 In October 2020, the State filed a motion in limine to admit Collins’s statements due to forfeiture by wrongdoing. The motion alleged Collins was interviewed on December 30, 2019, after his arrest on a traffic warrant. Collins said he had been with defendant the morning after the shooting when defendant bragged about killing Green. Defendant told Collins that he, Simmons, and Green were in the back seat of a vehicle and defendant had planned to rob Green of a gun. As they fled from the police, defendant grabbed Green’s gun. When Green later tried to retrieve it, defendant feared for his safety and shot Green.

¶ 7 The motion claimed defendant talked in recorded Jailhouse phone calls about Collins speaking to the police and making sure he did not testify. Although defendant did not give specific orders during the calls to prevent Collins from testifying, defendant’s father and brother indicated they would ensure Collins would not cooperate with the police or appear at trial. On February 16, 2020, Collins sent an officer a text message that read, "Everybody think I told on Mikey [(Defendant)] idk how they getting this Information I’ve been getting threats from a lot of people." Collins fled to Iowa. On March 12, 2020, Collins met with a detective in Iowa and stated he had been receiving threatening text messages and social media posts from people associated with defendant and Simmons. The motion claimed Collins had moved out of state because he feared for his life. On October 9, 2020, Detective Christian sent a text message to Collins’s phone number. Collins initially did not respond, but a later response said Christian had the wrong number.

¶ 8 In February 2021, the circuit court held a hearing on the State’s motion. The State introduced defendant’s jailhouse phone calls pertaining to Collins and Collins’s December 2019 video-recorded statement. Following arguments, the court found the State proved by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant intended by his actions to prevent Collins, a material witness, from testifying. The court reserved the issue of whether the State had made reasonable efforts to secure Collins’s presence for a later hearing.

¶ 9 That hearing took place on May 6, 2021, and Detective Christian testified regarding his efforts to locate Collins. He tried locating Collins on February 16, 2021, through a posting on "I-Board," an intelligence-based software program that disseminates information locally to various law-enforcement agencies and all officers. He reposted it on April 28 and May 5. Christian indicated the postings had been viewed 119 times without a response. He noted Collins had not been listed as a missing person in LEADS¹ or on any list with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

¶ 10 Prior to the reasonable efforts hearing, Christian had traveled to Iowa to meet with Collins. He later communicated with law enforcement in Davenport, Iowa, in hopes of finding him. Christian testified he served a subpoena in Aurora on Demetria Chatman, defendant’s mother, who was also related to Collins, but denied any contact with Collins. In listening to defendant’s jailhouse calls, Christian indicated defendant told a third party that he and his counsel had been unable to contact Collins. Christian stated he had received information that Collins was in Indianapolis "for a show" but provided no other details.

¶ 11 Following the testimony, the circuit judge stated as follows:

"We’re looking under Illinois Rules of Evidence number 804 that indicates a witness is unavailable if the proponent of the statement has been unable to procure the declarant’s attendance by process or other reasonable means.

So the real question here is whether or not the State has made good faith efforts to present Mr. Collins as a witness at trial here. Is there something somebody could always do more? I suppose there is. I suppose the deputy—the officer could have gone back to Davenport recently, but he went there once. There is no such thing as a national database. He’s really not a missing person. I think he could best be described as Officer Christian indicated, he’s somebody who didn’t want to be found.

I’m not sure how effective putting it on tills board was when it was really just local, but he did contact law enforcement in the Davenport, Iowa, area, and they hadn't had any contact with him in a number of years. I don’t know who he spoke to, but the witness did indicate that everybody he had spoken to, nobody knew the whereabouts. And although it doesn’t—at first blush, it sounded like attorney-client information, Ms. Alferink [(assistant state’s attorney)] clarified that it appeared that Mr. Chatman made some statements to other individuals indicating that he believes that Mr. Collins is—cannot be found even by the defense. I don’t know if that’s true or not But the real question is whether or not the State has used good faith efforts and used reasonable means and effort. And based on the totality of the circumstances here, the Court is going to make that finding. And, therefore, the Court is going to show that the State has tried to get Mr. Collins’ attendance by process or other reasonable means. They’ve used good faith effort. They've been unable to do so. And, therefore, the statements will be admissible."

¶ 12 Prior to the start of defendant’s trial in September 2021, the circuit court held a second hearing on the State’s efforts to locate Collins. Detective Christian testified that the I-Board posting regarding Collins had been viewed more than 250 times since the last posting. In August 2021, Christian researched various databases in search of a recent address for Collins. He and another police detective went to an address of an apartment complex on Green Street in Champaign, but there appeared to be no one inside. They also went to a house on Springfield Avenue in Champaign that Collins had used in 2018, but Christian said the house appeared to be vacant and no one answered the door. Christian stated he went to the residence of Collins’s brother, Devonte McCormick, on Dale Drive in Champaign but, although there were vehicles in the driveway and Christian suspected people were inside, no one answered the door.

¶ 13 Christian stated he traveled out of state to a home linked to Collins but there was no one inside, and Christian had no reason to think Collins lived there any longer. Christian also stated he and a detective traveled to Kendall County to check two addresses linked to Collins, but they received no answer at either location.

¶ 14 On cross-examination, Christian testified no warrants had been issued for Collins and no request had been put into LEADS to find him. The last time Christian dialed Collins’s phone number, he heard a voice he did not recognize, and the man said he had the wrong number.

¶ 15 Following arguments, the circuit judge stated as follows:

"Well, the Court has already found that there was forfeiture by wrongdoing. The issue now is whether or not the State has

...