People v. Mays

2023 IL App (4th) 210612

217 N.E.3d 482

466 Ill.Dec. 655

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

v.Sydney Tyrone MAYS, Defendant-Appellant.

NO. 4-21-0612

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Filed January 3, 2023

James E. Chadd, Catherine K. Hart, and Austin Wright, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Springfield, for appellant.

Don Knapp, State's Attorney, of Bloomington (Patrick Delfino, David J. Robinson, and Douglas Malcolm, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.

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

¶ 1 In February 2021, after a bench trial, the trial court found defendant guilty of nine counts of first degree murder, one count of attempt (first degree murder), and one count of aggravated battery. On October 15, 2021, the trial court sentenced defendant to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment followed by an additional consecutive term of 50 years. Defendant appeals, making the following arguments: (1) the trial court violated his right to due process by (a) improperly relying on People's exhibit No. 48 to impute a motive to defendant and (b) misremembering Randy Nesby's testimony; (2) defendant was denied a fair trial because the State was allowed to introduce prior inconsistent statements made by Navarro Howard and Cheonte Hinkle without the State satisfying the statutory requirements of section 115-10.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Criminal Procedure Code) ( 725 ILCS 5/115-10.1 (West 2020) ) to admit the evidence; (3) defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney failed to object to Cheonte Hinkle's unsworn testimony and other hearsay testimony; (4) defendant is entitled to a new trial because the continuum of error denied him his due process right to a fair trial; (5) the trial court erred by failing to appoint him new counsel after a preliminary Krankel ( People v. Krankel , 102 Ill. 2d 181, 80 Ill.Dec. 62, 464 N.E.2d 1045 (1984) ) inquiry; and (6) the trial court erred in imposing three consecutive terms of natural life imprisonment. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On June 18, 2018, Nathaniel (Nate) Pena, Corey Jackson, and Juan Carlos Perez were shot and killed, and N.P., a minor, was shot and paralyzed at an apartment complex in Bloomington, Illinois. Pena and Jackson were found dead inside of apartment No. 9 at 311 Riley Drive. N.P. was found in the same apartment. Perez was found shot in a stairwell and died from his wounds.

¶ 4 On July 25, 2018, a grand jury indicted defendant on nine counts of first degree murder ( 720 ILCS 5/9-1 (West 2018) ), one count of attempt (first degree murder) ( 720 ILCS 5/8-4 (West 2018) ), and one count of aggravated battery (discharge of a firearm) ( 720 ILCS 5/12-3.05(e)(1) (West 2018)). Defendant waived his right to a jury trial.

¶ 5 In January 2021, defendant's bench trial commenced. Officer David Williamson testified he was dispatched to the apartment building at 311 Riley Drive on June 18, 2018, at approximately 2:43 p.m. Williamson found Perez in the stairwell and then came into contact with Officer Eric Yamada on the way to the third floor of the building. Williamson and Yamada entered apartment No. 9 and found Pena, Jackson, and N.P. No one else was in the apartment, but Williamson heard reports someone might be hiding in the basement laundry room.

¶ 6 Gabrielle Sweeney testified Pena was her brother. Sweeney, Pena, and N.P. ran some errands the morning of the shooting. She dropped Pena and N.P. off at apartment No. 9 around noon. She heard Pena speaking with defendant on FaceTime while they were running errands. Pena asked defendant what time he was coming to the apartment. Defendant said he was waiting on a few guys and would then come over. Sweeney testified Pena had access to cash from selling shoes and marijuana. She stated the back door to the apartment building was always unlocked but Pena kept the door to apartment No. 9 locked.

¶ 7 Kearra Heard testified Jackson was her boyfriend in June 2018. On June 18, 2018, she and Jackson went to Pena's apartment and saw Pena and N.P. While there, Jackson and Pena smoked a marijuana blunt, and she played with N.P. She did not see any other marijuana. While at the apartment, Jackson made a Snapchat video with her and Jackson playing with a large stack of $100 and $20 bills that belonged to Pena. Jackson shared the video on his Snapchat account, but she did not know with whom he shared the video. The State introduced the video as evidence (People's exhibit No. 48). She did not know where the money had been before Jackson had it. She eventually left the apartment to pick up her daughter and came back later when she heard something had happened.

¶ 8 Brianna Watkins testified she lived in apartment No. 9 at 311 Riley Drive on June 18, 2018. Pena, who was her boyfriend of approximately two years, stayed with her four or five times a week. Pena's children, N.P. and K.P., also stayed there occasionally. On June 18, she left for work around 6 a.m. and dropped her son off at daycare. Pena was at the apartment when she left. She got off work at 2 p.m. and went straight home, arriving around 2:10 p.m. On the way to her apartment, she did not see anyone in the hallway or stairwell. The door to her apartment was locked, so she used her key to open the door. She had to push a black duffel bag on the floor out of the way of the door. She saw Pena, N.P., Jackson, and defendant in the apartment. She did not lock the door. She had seen Jackson and defendant around Pena before and thought defendant was an associate or friend of both Pena and Jackson. Pena was watching Jackson play a game, and defendant was on his phone. Pena, Jackson, and N.P. were on a sectional sofa, and defendant was in a stadium chair by the window. She went to her bedroom and lay down for a couple of minutes and then went into the bathroom and changed her clothes. She then went back to her bedroom and grabbed her keys and phone. Around 2:30 p.m., she left the apartment to pick up her son from daycare and did not lock the apartment door. While at the apartment, she did not hear anyone come in or leave. When she left, Pena, N.P., Jackson, and defendant were still in the apartment. She did not remember seeing the black bag when she left and did not see anyone in the hallway, stairwell, or parking lot. She also testified the earbuds found by police in her bedroom did not belong to her or Pena. According to her testimony, the back door into the apartment building was unlocked about half the time, and her apartment building was connected to another apartment building through the laundry room in the basement.

¶ 9 Brianna indicated things were out of place in the apartment after the shooting. She testified Pena did not keep money or drugs at her apartment. On redirect examination, the State pointed out she told Detective Tim Power that Pena kept money and drugs in a nightstand in the bedroom, which Brianna said she vaguely remembered.

¶ 10 Robert Schrand from Joe's Towing responded to a white Chevy Trailblazer broken down on the interstate on June 18, 2018. Three people were in the vehicle. He had contact with the driver and one of the passengers. The other passenger, who was shorter and heavier than the other two men, avoided him. The driver's behavior seemed normal. He towed the vehicle to an address around Morris and Seminary Avenues but did not remember the exact address. Jahquan Howard owned the vehicle. Before he towed the Trailblazer away, a gray four-door hatchback picked up the three men. He did not notice anything odd about the Trailblazer, but it did smell like marijuana. Schrand did not see any of the three men with a pistol, nor did it appear they were concealing one in their clothes. He also did not see a gun, any blood, a black duffel bag, or the men remove anything from the Trailblazer.

¶ 11 Travis Brady testified he lived in apartment No. 3 at 311 Riley Drive and heard gunshots on June 18, 2018. He initially thought a tree had fallen before hearing screaming. He left his apartment and saw a woman, who was screaming in Spanish, in the hallway. Brady walked to where the lady was and saw a man's body lying on the stairway platform. He then went back to his apartment and called 911. The 911 dispatcher directed Brady to go back to where the body was and see if he could see any injuries on the person and look for any weapons. Brady did not see any weapons. The dispatcher then told Brady to go back to his apartment. Brady stayed in his apartment until his father picked him up.

¶ 12 Maria Sanchez testified she was living at 311 Riley Drive, apartment No. 5, which is on the second floor of the building, on June 18, 2018. She heard three big noises, which sounded like they came from upstairs, after 2 p.m. Water started coming into her apartment from upstairs by her window. Her husband, Juan Carlos Perez, started recording the water with his cell phone. The cell phone recording was admitted into evidence and showed the water coming into the apartment at 2:35:39 p.m. He then left the apartment approximately five minutes after she heard the first three loud noises, leaving open the door to the apartment. Maria was in the kitchen and heard three more noises louder than the first three. She left her apartment and found her husband, who had been shot, on the steps leading to the third floor. Someone with gray tennis shoes was standing behind her at some point, but she did not see the person. A police officer arrived and got her out of the building. While she was outside, she and other people saw a black man with braids looking out the window of apartment No. 9 about 10 minutes after the second round of shots. After the shooting, she saw a lighter skinned black man with braids walking around the building. She told the police she was scared of the man. She did not think this was the same man she...