People v. Jackson

23 N.E.3d 430

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.Christopher JACKSON, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 1–12–3258.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

Nov. 26, 2014.

Michael J. Pelletier and Levi S. Harris, both of State Appellate Defender's Office, and Thomas C. Brandstrader, both of Chicago, for appellant.

Anita M. Alvarez, State's Attorney, of Chicago (John E. Nowak and Joan F. Frazier, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

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

¶ 1 In the early morning of September 25, 2008, defendant Christopher Jackson dislodged a bedroom air conditioner, awakening Sulee Gonzalez, his former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, and her current boyfriend, Robert White. Entering the room, Jackson shot the boyfriend in the head, killing him, and then went on to repeatedly stab Gonzalez. The trial court convicted Jackson of the first degree murder of White, the attempted first degree murder of Gonzalez, and home invasion. Jackson was sentenced to natural life imprisonment for first degree murder, 21 years for attempted first degree murder, and 26 years for home invasion.

¶ 2 Jackson raises four issues on appeal: (i) ineffective assistance of counsel for his trial attorney's alleged failure to investigate his mental health or the location of blood spatters at the crime scene; (ii) the admission of other crimes evidence as inflammatory, nonprobative, and prejudicial; (iii) the abuse of discretion in sentencing him to a term of natural life imprisonment, as both excessive and lacking in adequate consideration of the mitigating factors; and (iv) the State failed to inform Jackson of the 15–year firearm enhancement to the attempted first degree murder sentence, rendering the enhancement void.

¶ 3 We affirm Jackson's conviction and sentence. First, the omission of the DNA evidence constituted a strategic trial decision made by Jackson's counsel and does not support a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Additionally, Jackson cannot to show prejudice. Next, the other crimes evidence was proximate in time as well as factually similar to the charged conduct, and not unduly prejudicial under the circumstances. As for sentencing, the trial court properly considered the mitigating evidence, and sentenced Jackson within the statutory mandated guidelines. Finally, Jackson received pretrial notice of the sentencing enhancement because the indictment for first degree murder included the alleged fact used as a basis for the 15–year enhancement, which suffices under the statute.

¶ 4 BACKGROUND

¶ 5 Christopher Jackson and Sulee Gonzalez maintained an on-again/off-again relationship from 1999 to July 2008. In 2007, Jackson and Gonzalez lived together with their daughter at Gonzalez's mother's house, along with other family members. On February 12, 2007, Jackson came home drunk and accused Gonzalez of breaking his windows. Jackson threw items to the ground and struck her. When Jackson packed up his belongings to leave, Gonzalez attempted to remove Jackson's house keys from his keychain. Realizing this, Jackson punched her in the face. Gonzalez reported the incident to the police but did not pursue it further. Jackson and Gonzalez separated in June 2008.

¶ 6 On August 15, 2008, Gonzalez was living in a ground floor apartment with her daughter, her boyfriend, Robert White, and her brother Robert Gonzalez (Robert G.). At about 12:30 a.m., Gonzalez and White were awakened by loud banging on the back door, where Jackson was shouting Gonzalez's name. Jackson pushed aside a panel of an air conditioning unit located near the back porch and peered into the apartment. Gonzalez instructed her brother to tell Jackson she was not home. Jackson retreated; however, a half hour later he returned and rammed his truck into Gonzalez's parked car. Gonzalez reported the incident to the police and obtained an order of protection. After that, Gonzalez maintained contact with Jackson solely by phone and email.

¶ 7 State's Case

¶ 8 On September 25, 2008, White and Gonzalez were sleeping in their bedroom. Robert G. and a friend were in another room. Around 1 a.m., the sound of the air conditioner crashing onto the floor of their room woke White and Gonzalez. White went to the window, and in seconds, Gonzalez heard gunshots from outside. Gonzalez pulled the covers over her head and screamed. As she pulled back the covers, Jackson turned on the light. She saw Jackson standing at the end of her bed, and, in an instant, Jackson jumped on the bed, choked Gonzalez with one hand, and drew his gun to her head with the other. Jackson told Gonzalez that if he could not have her, no one could, and he pulled the trigger. The gun misfired. Gonzalez attempted to fight Jackson off as he choked her with both hands.

¶ 9 Robert G. and a friend entered the room and saw Jackson with a gun in his hand kneeling on top of Gonzalez. Jackson pointed the gun at the two men and they ran into the hallway. Jackson followed. Gonzalez stayed in the bedroom and kneeled by White, who was unresponsive. Jackson returned to the bedroom, this time wielding a knife, and began to repeatedly stab Gonzalez, while saying, “die, bitch, die.”

¶ 10 Meanwhile, Robert G. and his friend ran across the street to the home of Gonzalez's aunt, Pilar Santillanes, and told her what happened. Santillanes entered the apartment, grabbed a skillet from the kitchen, entered the bedroom, and, while Jackson continued to stab Gonzalez, Santillanes beat Jackson about the head with the skillet. After receiving several blows from the skillet, Jackson got on his knees, proclaimed he would kill himself and plunged the knife into his chest. Santillanes told Jackson to shut up and again hit him with the skillet. Jackson stabbed Gonzalez once more in the stomach and left the knife embedded there. Santillanes removed the knife from Gonzalez and tossed it toward the bedroom doorway.

¶ 11 While Santillanes hit Jackson with the skillet, Robert G. and another friend entered the bedroom and tried to stop the attack on Gonzalez. The friend removed her shirt, used it to pick up the bloody knife from the doorway, and tried to stab Jackson. The police arrived and Gonzalez and Jackson were taken to a hospital.

¶ 12 In the kitchen, the police recovered a handgun from atop the stove, with five spent cartridges and one empty cylinder. In the bedroom, there was a skillet and air conditioner on the floor, a bloody knife in the doorway, and four holes in the wall over the bed, as well as a metal fragment in the baseboard.

¶ 13 Blood found on the knife blade revealed a major human female DNA profile matching Gonzalez's DNA profile, and a minor partial DNA profile from which Jackson could not be excluded. Blood from the knife handle revealed a major human female DNA profile matching Gonzalez's DNA profile and a minor DNA profile that matched Jackson, but not White.

¶ 14 The chief medical examiner at the Cook County medical examiner's office testified that White died from two gunshot wounds to the back of his head. There was no evidence of close range firing. A bullet and two bullet fragments were recovered from the body. A forensic scientist testified that the two bullets were fired from the handgun recovered from Gonzalez's apartment. Gunshot residue tests performed on Jackson's hands revealed he discharged a firearm, or had his hands near a discharged firearm.

¶ 15 The State offered evidence regarding the February 12, 2007 and August 15, 2008 incidents, as tending to show motive, lack of accident, and intent to commit the specific offense charged.

¶ 16 Jackson's Testimony

¶ 17 According to Jackson, on September 25, 2008, Jackson and Gonzalez agreed he would stop by the apartment that evening to get his belongings and give Gonzalez some money. The two agreed he would come around 9 p.m.; however, Jackson listened to the Cubs/Dodgers game and arrived at the apartment closer to 1 a.m. Jackson entered the apartment through the front door, and saw Robert G. awake on the couch, with his friend sleeping nearby. Jackson looked into his daughter's room but did not see her. Jackson moved to the kitchen and announced he was there to get his stuff.

¶ 18 Suddenly, the front door opened and three men, Joseph Green, Vincent Patitucci and Clyde Watkins, burst into the apartment and began punching and kicking Jackson. As they were stomping him, the bedroom door opened, and White came out. White grabbed a skillet from the stove and hit Jackson over the head. White took the skillet to the bedroom and came back with a small revolver. The three men encouraged White to shoot Jackson, but the gun did not fire.

¶ 19 Seizing the opportunity, Jackson grabbed the gun and pushed White into the bedroom and onto the bed. Jackson pulled the trigger and fired without aiming. Meanwhile, the three men were beating on him from behind and Jackson fired several more times. The three men left the room, and Jackson dropped the gun. Jackson tried to lift himself up from the floor by leaning on the air conditioning unit, causing the unit to fall from the window. Jackson, covered in blood, staggered to the kitchen. He saw Gonzalez standing by the stove and grabbed a towel to wipe the blood from his face. He asked Gonzalez, “Why?” as she picked up a knife and attacked him, slicing his forearm and stabbing his chest. Jackson grabbed the knife and swung it wildly towards Gonzalez. He felt someone hit him in the head with a blunt object and passed out. He awoke in a hospital cuffed to the bed.

¶ 20 State's Rebuttal

¶ 21 In rebuttal, the State presented evidence that Joseph Green was in jail in Wisconsin on the night of the incident. Additionally, Vincent Patiticci was out with friends during the incident, and never entered Gonzalez's apartment nor saw Jackson the night of the murder.

¶ 22 Posttrial

¶ 23 The trial court found Jackson guilty of first degree murder, attempted first...