People v. Green

2017 IL App (1st) 152513

100 N.E.3d 491

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

v.Jaron GREEN, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 1–15–2513

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

December 29, 2017

Damon M. Cheronis, of Law Office of Damon M. Cheronis, and Donna Rotunno, of Law Offices of Rotunno & Giralamo, both of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Annette Collins, John E. Nowak, and Mari R. Hatzenbuehler, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

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

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, defendant, Jaron Green, was convicted of first degree murder for the fatal shooting of the victim, Bruce Lee. After considering factors in aggravation and mitigation, the trial court sentenced defendant to 51 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). On appeal, defendant argues that his conviction should be reversed, claiming that: (1) the trial court improperly defined the reasonable doubt standard of proof prior to trial, (2) the State made inappropriate remarks during closing arguments, (3) the evidence at trial was insufficient to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and (4) cumulative errors warrant a reversal of defendant's conviction. For the following reasons, we affirm defendant's conviction.

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 I. Pretrial Proceedings

¶ 4 In June of 2013, defendant was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of first degree murder, and defendant was arraigned on July 11, 2013.

¶ 5 On January 22, 2014, defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that he was deprived of a full and complete defense because the police failed to preserve videotape evidence from the crime scene. The motion to dismiss argued that, in a supplementary report, Detective Patrick Deenihan and Sergeant Patrick McDonagh stated that they observed a camera in the rear of an apartment building on the 700 block of North Hamlin Avenue. According to the report, the detectives viewed the video and observed a man running eastbound through the south alley on Chicago Avenue shortly after the shooting. The report further states that the detectives requested an evidence technician to come to the apartment building to retrieve the videotape. However, the motion to dismiss claims that an assistant State's Attorney informed defense counsel that the police did not preserve the video because it contained "nothing of evidentiary value."

¶ 6 In response, the State argued that the police determined that the video lacked evidentiary value because the person depicted in the video was too far away to be identified. The State claimed that the police called for an evidence technician to retrieve the video anyway, but they ultimately never recovered the video due to either technical or human error. The trial court then denied defendant's motion to dismiss.

¶ 7 Defendant also filed a motion to suppress his identification, requesting that two separate physical lineups, conducted in May of 2013, be suppressed. In his motion, defendant argued that the witnesses, Christopher Roberson¹ and Darian Broomfield, mistakenly identified defendant due to the unduly suggestive nature of the lineup. During the suppression hearing on September 3, 2014, Sergeant McDonagh testified that, in addition to the physical lineups, Broomfield and a third witness, James Holmes,² were shown photo arrays in 2011, and that a both witnesses identified defendant as the shooter. Detective Rolando Rodriguez also testified that he conducted two physical lineups and that Roberson and Broomfield both identified defendant as the shooter. The trial court considered the totality of the facts in the case and determined that the photo arrays and physical lineups were not unduly suggestive, and it denied defendant's motion as a result.

¶ 8 On January 12, 2015, Darian Bloomfield signed an affidavit claiming that he did not observe defendant shoot the victim and that his previous statement, given on May 17, 2013, was the result of police coercion.

¶ 9 II. Preliminary Jury Instructions

¶ 10 On May 8, 2015, the trial court began voir dire by welcoming the venire and checking that none of the potential jurors had a relationship with the parties or potential witnesses. The trial court then instructed the venire on basic principles of law, stating that its comments are "not final or complete instructions" but those necessary to assist the eventual jurors to "follow the law and evidence in this case." The trial court described the charges against defendant, the nature of the indictment, the presumption of innocence, and the State's burden of proof. Specifically, the trial court stated:

"These are not your final or complete instructions. Those will come after you've heard all the evidence and the final arguments of the attorneys. When the time for giving instructions come [sic ], I will first read them to you, and then you'll get them in writing * * *

* * *

The next constitutional principle I want to talk to you about is the burden of proof. In a criminal case, the burden of proof is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Some of you may have sat on civil juries, there the burden of proof is preponderance of evidence, and if you look at a scale, all you have to do is tilt it. And the definition is it's more likely than not that the event occurred, that's preponderance of the evidence.

In a criminal case, again, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest burden of proof at law.

Does anybody have any problems understanding the burden of proof being beyond a reasonable doubt? Please raise their hand.

Indicating no one raised their hand."

The trial court also explained that the burden of proof never shifts from the State to defendant, that defendant is not required to testify, and that no negative inference can be drawn from defendant's decision not to testify. The trial court concluded its opening remarks by telling the jurors that it is their duty to find defendant guilty if, only after hearing all of the evidence against him, they are convinced he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

¶ 11 III. Evidence at Trial

¶ 12 At trial, the State presented testimony from nine witnesses: (1) Antoinette Monique Butler, the victim's fiancée; (2) Willie Patterson, a delivery driver who was near the shooting; (3) Sergeant Nellie Harb, the first police officer to respond to the crime scene; (4) Larue Bey, a local resident who heard gunshots the night of the crime; (5) Darian Broomfield, an eyewitness to the shooting; (6) Sergeant Patrick McDonagh, a Chicago police officer who interviewed Broomfield; (7) Officer Victor Rivera, a police officer who processed the crime scene; (8) Lisa Gilbert, a forensic fingerprint examiner with the Illinois State Police; and (9) Detective Rolando Rodriguez, a detective who had Broomfield view the physical lineup. The defense presented testimony from one witness: Detective Patrick Deenihan, a detective who interviewed Broomfield. Defendant exercised his constitutional right not to testify at trial.

¶ 13 A. Antoinette Monique Butler's Testimony

¶ 14 The State's first witness, Antoinette Monique Butler, testified that she was the victim's fiancée and that she had known him for four years until his death. She identified a photo of the victim in court. On cross-examination, she testified that the victim revealed that he been shot before and that, on May 18, 2011, the day of the shooting, he told her "kiss my baby for me, but I won't be back." The victim then left the house but she did not know where he was going. She also testified that the victim knew defendant.

¶ 15 B. Willie Patterson's Testimony

¶ 16 Next, Willie Patterson testified that he is a delivery driver and that he conducted a delivery to a grocery store on the 3800 block of West Chicago Avenue on May 18, 2011. Patterson and his delivery partner, Jimmy Puckett,³ arrived at the grocery store at approximately 10 a.m. and parked on the south side of Chicago Avenue facing east. After dropping off the delivery inside the store, Patterson returned to his vehicle. While standing by the driver's side of his vehicle, he heard between two to four gunshots coming from the direction of the store, so he ran into the cargo hold of his vehicle to seek shelter. Once the shooting stopped, he exited his vehicle and observed the victim holding his stomach while crossing Chicago Avenue to the north side of the street. The victim approached a vehicle parked on the north side of the street and bent down by the passenger side away from Patterson's view. A couple seconds later, the victim ran back across Chicago Avenue. Patterson then checked to determine that his partner was unharmed. Patterson never observed who shot the victim.

¶ 17 The parties then stipulated that (1) the manager of the grocery store, Iaad Hamat, would testify that there were surveillance cameras inside and outside of the store and that they were functioning properly on the day of the shooting, (2) Hamat would testify that, between 9 and 10 a.m. on May 18, 2011, a shooting occurred outside the store while he was receiving a delivery to the store and that he did not observe the shooting, (3) Hamat would testify that the State's Exhibits Nos. 3A and 3B were videos recorded on the surveillance cameras during the shooting. The videotapes were then placed in evidence and published to the jury. Patterson testified that the videos showed him and his partner enter the store, complete the delivery, and then Patterson exit the store. The video outside the store showed Patterson then walk to the driver's side of his vehicle, and later showed the victim running across Chicago Avenue after being shot.

¶ 18 On cross-examination, Patterson testified that, after the shooting, he observed a person who he did not know walk to the area near the passenger side of the parked vehicle where the victim had previously bent over, and that there were a "bunch of people" outside...