People v. Eubanks

2017 IL App (1st) 142837

124 N.E.3d 977

429 Ill.Dec. 467

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

v.Ralph EUBANKS, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 1–14–2837

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, SECOND DIVISION.

Filed December 26, 2017

Rehearing denied March 30, 2018

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

¶ 1 Defendant Ralph Eubanks was arrested after a hit-and-run accident that killed Maria Worthon and injured her six-year-old son, Jeremiah Worthon. Witnesses estimated Eubanks to have been driving at 60 to 90 miles per hour. After his arrest, Eubanks was forcibly subjected to blood and urine tests, the latter of which tested positive for cannabis, ecstasy, and cocaine metabolite.

¶ 2 Following a jury trial, Eubanks was found guilty of first degree murder, failure to report a motor vehicle accident involving death or injury, and aggravated driving under the influence. On appeal, he argues (i) the trial court erred by not instructing the jury on reckless homicide as a lesser-included offense of first degree murder, (ii) his conviction for failure to report an accident must be reversed where the State failed to prove that he did not report the accident at a police station within half an hour, (iii) the statute authorizing warrantless, nonconsensual blood and urine tests is unconstitutional, both on its face and as applied in Eubanks's case, and (iv) improper comments by the prosecutor denied Eubanks a fair trial.

¶ 3 We agree with Eubanks on the first three points and, therefore, need not reach the fourth. Accordingly, we (i) reverse Eubanks's conviction for first degree murder and remand for a new trial on that charge, (ii) reduce his conviction for Class 1 failure to report an accident to the Class 4 version of the offense in the same statute ( 625 ILCS 5/11–401(a), (c) (West 2008)), and (iii) reverse Eubanks's conviction for aggravated driving under the influence.

¶ 4 BACKGROUND

¶ 5 Suppression Hearing

¶ 6 Before trial, Eubanks moved to suppress the result of his blood and urine tests, arguing that the tests were an unconstitutional search because Eubanks did not consent to be tested, the police did not have a warrant, and there were no exigent circumstances excusing the failure to obtain one. Eubanks also filed a motion to declare unconstitutional section 11–501.2(c)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code ( 625 ILCS 5/11–501.2(c)(2) (West 2008)), the statute under which the testing was performed:

"[I]f a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that a motor vehicle driven by or in actual physical control of a person under the influence of alcohol, other drug or drugs, or intoxicating compound or compounds, or any combination thereof has caused the death or personal injury to another, that person shall submit, upon the request of a law enforcement officer, to a chemical test or tests of his or her blood, breath or urine for the purpose of determining the alcohol content thereof or the presence of any other drug or combination of both."

¶ 7 At the hearing on Eubanks's motions, the parties did not present evidence but proceeded by way of stipulation to the following facts. On December 21, 2009, at 9:05 p.m., Eubanks was arrested in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed Maria and injured Jeremiah. The police had probable cause to arrest Eubanks for driving under the influence. At the police station, Eubanks refused to take a breathalyzer test or to submit to blood and urine tests. At 2:53 a.m., an officer took Eubanks to the hospital, telling him that he was required by law to submit to blood and urine tests. Eubanks was physically restrained by hospital security and a blood sample was taken at 4 a.m. The nurse then asked for urine, but Eubanks refused to urinate. The nurse threatened to catheterize him. As she approached him with a catheter, he urinated, and a sample was collected at 5:20 a.m. The samples were sent to the crime lab for analysis. Eubanks's blood produced negative results for alcohol or any illegal substance, but his urine tested positive for cannabis, ecstasy, and cocaine metabolite.

¶ 8 The trial court denied Eubanks's motions to suppress his test results and to declare section 11–501.2(c)(2) unconstitutional.

¶ 9 Trial

¶ 10 Shortly before 9 p.m. on December 21, 2009, in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Felix Worthon was walking home with his wife Maria and their son Jeremiah near the intersection of Greenview and Greenleaf Avenues. Maria and Jeremiah stopped to talk to Maurice Glover, a man from their church. Felix crossed the street ahead of them. As he was crossing, he heard a sound behind him; he turned around and was nearly hit by a car. The car struck Maria and Jeremiah and kept going without stopping. The force of the impact knocked Maria's body a block away. Maria died immediately, and Jeremiah suffered permanent injuries.

¶ 11 Madeline Moratto and Alex Montejo were walking down the sidewalk when they witnessed the collision. Moratto estimated the car's speed to be 80 miles per hour, and Montejo estimated it at 60 miles per hour. Both testified that the car's headlights were off, and it did not stop or slow down after the collision. Glover, who also witnessed the collision, estimated the car's speed at 80 to 90 miles per hour.

¶ 12 Calvin Tanner was a passenger in the car with Eubanks when the collision occurred. Tanner and his cousin, Dennis Jeter, were friends with Eubanks. Jeter owned a green Pontiac, which he loaned to Eubanks a few days before the accident occurred. On December 21, 2009, Tanner and Jeter were at their grandmother's house with Eubanks. The three had earlier purchased vodka together. Tanner and Jeter both drank, but neither could remember whether Eubanks had anything to drink.

¶ 13 That night, Eubanks took Jeter's car to drive Tanner to pick up a futon. Officers Brian Murphy and Chris Wertepeny, on patrol in an unmarked squad car, observed Eubanks shortly before 9 p.m. driving at high speed with no headlights. The officers curbed his vehicle, but when they exited their squad car and approached, Eubanks drove away southbound at a high rate of speed. He sped through the next intersection—a "busy intersection," according to Murphy—without stopping at the stop sign. The officers lost sight of his car within seconds.

¶ 14 At the intersection of Greenview and Greenleaf, after speeding by a church with a U–Haul truck parked in front, Eubanks struck Maria and Jeremiah. The impact knocked out the car's entire front windshield; Tanner had glass in his mouth and was bleeding. Fearing that they had struck a person, Tanner said to Eubanks, "I hope you didn't do what I thought you did." Eubanks told him, "It's too late," and continued driving without slowing or stopping.

¶ 15 After driving the car down an alleyway, Eubanks finally stopped and both men got out. Tanner called Jeter and told him, "Your car's been wrecked." Tanner also told Eubanks that he should return to the site of the collision, but Eubanks refused. Eubanks got back in the car without Tanner and drove away.

¶ 16 Jeter arrived and Tanner brought him to the scene of the accident, where they saw a body on the ground covered by a blanket. Both men spoke to police. Tanner told them that he was a passenger in the vehicle involved in the collision and that Eubanks was the driver. He denied telling police that the vehicle was going 60 to 70 miles per hour and that nothing was obstructing their view. Jeter told the police that he had loaned his vehicle to Eubanks.

¶ 17 Meanwhile, officers Jennifer Escher, Scott Pierson, and Patrick McHugh were on patrol when they received a radio call about a hit-and-run accident involving a green Pontiac with license plate H37583. Escher saw the Pontiac in an alleyway and approached it at 50 miles per hour, but the Pontiac sped away, and she lost sight of it. Escher, Pierson, and McHugh all saw the Pontiac on Newgard Avenue. Pierson drove his squad car in front of the Pontiac. The Pontiac went into reverse, lost control, and, in Pierson's words, "started ping-ponging off parked cars." Eubanks jumped out of the Pontiac and attempted to flee on foot, but he was apprehended by Officer John Ventrella and taken into custody at 9:05 p.m.

¶ 18 At 10:30 p.m., Ventrella interviewed Eubanks at the police station. Eubanks appeared carefree and "relatively unaffected by the whole incident." Ventrella testified that he could smell alcohol on Eubanks but did not offer any opinion as to whether he was intoxicated. At the time the case was being directed by officers from the major accident unit, other officers were conducting various aspects of the investigation, such as interviewing witnesses to the hit-and-run accident.

¶ 19 At 12 a.m., Ventrella informed Eubanks that he was under arrest for driving under the influence, and he read him his motorist rights. Ventrella asked Eubanks to take a breathalyzer test, but Eubanks refused; Eubanks also refused to submit blood and urine for testing. At that point, Ventrella "basically stood by and waited for instruction" from the major accident unit.

¶ 20 Later, Ventrella was instructed to bring Eubanks to the hospital to obtain blood and urine samples from him, which he did at 2:57 a.m. When a nurse approached Eubanks to draw blood, Eubanks became combative and pulled his arm away. Security officers entered and restrained him, allowing the nurse to draw his blood at around 4 a.m. Eubanks also refused to give a urine sample, claiming that he could not urinate. A catheter was ordered for him; as the nurse approached to insert the catheter, Eubanks urinated on his own at 5:20 a.m.

¶ 21 Eubanks was taken back to the police station, and Ventrella again spoke with him at 5:54 a.m. A video of this conversation was played for the jury in which Eubanks asked to go to the bathroom, explaining that he earlier drank a quart of Hennessy.

¶ 22 Forensic scientists with the Illinois State Police laboratory testified that Eubanks's...