People v. McAtee

1

2024 IL App (1st) 220842-U

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CHRISTOPHER MCATEE, Petitioner-Appellant.

No. 1-22-0842

Court of Appeals of Illinois, First District, Sixth Division

September 27, 2024

This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County. No. 03 CR 15688 Honorable Michael McHale, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE C.A. WALKER delivered the judgment of the court, and Justice Oden Johnson concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

C.A WALKER JUSTICE

¶ 1 Held: Petitioner made a substantial showing of a constitutional violation with respect to his claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel for failure to investigate and call three witnesses at the second stage proceedings, and his actual innocence claim surpassed directed verdict at the third stage proceedings. We therefore reverse and remand those claims for a new third stage evidentiary hearing.

¶ 2 Petitioner Christopher McAtee appeals from the circuit court's denial of his claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel at the second stage postconviction proceeding and from the court's granting of the State's motion for a directed finding following a third stage evidentiary hearing on his claim of actual innocence. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand for a new third stage evidentiary hearing.

¶ 3 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 4 The record shows that Christopher was indicted for six counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon following the June 24, 2003 fatal shooting of Racquel Torres on the northwest side of Chicago.

¶ 5 Trial was set for June 19, 2006, but was continued. On September 6, 2006, defense counsel filed a pretrial motion in limine seeking to admit the audiotaped statement of Fred McAtee (Fred), Christopher's brother, who confessed to Raquel's murder. The recorded statement was obtained by Christopher's attorneys on December 17, 2003 while Fred was living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Trial was reset for October 23, 2006.

¶ 6 On October 19, 2006, defense counsel filed a motion requesting a three-week continuance, along with a request for issuance of a "certificate under seal" to compel Fred's attendance at trial. The court denied the motion for a continuance but granted Christopher's request for the issuance of the certificate.

¶ 7 On October 23, 2006, the circuit court heard argument on Christopher's motion in limine seeking the admission of Fred's hearsay confession. The circuit court ultimately denied the motion because the confession did not fall within the hearsay exception for statements against penal interest. Christopher renewed his request for a continuance to secure Fred's attendance. The court denied the request, ruling that Christopher had not been diligent in attempting to procure Fred's attendance.

¶ 8 At trial, Morris Williams testified on June 23, 2003, he Christopher, Fred, and friends Anthony Lorenzi and Carmello Cabrera, were all riding in a van when they passed up "Mex," the chief of the Maniac Latin Disciples (MLD) gang. Christopher told Mex to "get a new jersey," and Mex replied, "fuck you." When the group arrived at Christopher and Fred's apartment on the 1600 block of North Maplewood Avenue, they exited the van and Christopher argued with Mex, and two other MLD members named "Axel" and "P.T." After the argument, Chistopher left to get liquor with his girlfriend Eliana Lorenzi and Morris. Anthony and Carmello went up to the second-floor apartment. Christopher and Fred's sister Nicole McAtee and her friend "J-Lo" were up there. Fred remained outside. When gunshots were fired through the front of the home, Fred ran inside screaming that Axel was shooting.

¶ 9 When Christopher returned, Fred explained what happened. Morris, Christopher, Fred, and Carmello went outside and stood in the gangway. Fred used part of a gun to break out the lights on the side of the house so no one could see them. Christopher and Morris went over to a group of people sitting in Maplewood Park and asked which gang they belonged to. One of the girls told them that her child's father was a "Motor D," which Morris knew to be a type of Disciple gang. Morris and Christopher then left in a car driven by Eliana to look for Axel. Christopher was armed with a .357 revolver, the same gun Fred used to break the lights.

¶ 10 Although Morris knew where Axel lived, he did not say anything when they drove past Axel's house. They then drove to P.T.'s house. When they got to P.T.'s block, Eliana dropped Morris and Christopher off so they could walk to where P.T. was staying. Morris encouraged Christopher to "forget about it, it ain't worth it" and they eventually returned to Christopher's apartment.

¶ 11 Once they were back at the apartment, Christopher gave Morris his hooded sweatshirt and the gun and told him to go across the street to the park and shoot the guy in the face. Morris put the sweatshirt on and went downstairs with Christopher, Fred, and Carmello. As they were standing on the porch of the building, Morris saw P.T. coming "out with a gun" on the other side of Maplewood with two guys behind him. Fred repeatedly told Morris to shoot, but Morris just raised and lowered the gun because he did not intend to fire the weapon. P.T. and his friends left in a car.

¶ 12 Christopher was angry and took the gun from Morris, telling Morris to "whoop his ass" and to "move on him." Carmello had a bat and walked behind Morris as they headed across the street to the park. When Carmello chased the guy with a bat, one of the females ran after Carmello and the other female got into the passenger side of a car that was parked nearby. The car headed northbound on Maplewood. Morris went back across the street towards the house. While he was walking across the street, Christopher grabbed Morris by the shirt, leaned up against him, lifted his arm and began firing the .357 at the car. Christopher fired the gun four or five times. Morris heard a window break, and the car crashed into a pole.

¶ 13 Before Christopher went back to the upstairs apartment, he told Fred to hide the gun. Morris and Fred entered the building and went to a vacant apartment on the first floor. Once inside, Morris put the gun in a vent in the floor. Fred left the apartment, but Morris stayed and hid in a closet. Morris testified that he fell asleep in the closet and was awakened later by police officers who handcuffed him and transported him to a police station.

¶ 14 Morris provided a handwritten statement and grand jury testimony that Christopher fired the weapon inches away from his face and after doing so, gave the gun to Fred with orders to hide it. At trial, Morris identified Christopher, as well as the gun used in the commission of the offense. At the time of the trial, Morris was incarcerated at Shawnee Correctional Center for aggravated robbery.

¶ 15 Anthony testified that on June 23, 2003, he was driving with Christopher, Fred, Morris, and Carmello to celebrate Christopher's birthday. They eventually went to Christopher's apartment.

¶ 16 Anthony and Fred were outside the apartment when two Disciple gang members, "Axel" and "Mex," Confronted them. Anthony testified that the Disciples had a problem with Fred because he was a former Disciple member. Christopher left to go to the liquor store with Eliana. Fred was outside the building arguing with a Disciple. A few minutes later, Fred ran into the upstairs apartment screaming, "get down." Anthony heard shots fired and Fred yelled, "they're shooting at us."

¶ 17 When Christopher returned to the apartment, he spoke with Fred and then left again with Eliana and Morris. They were gone for about 15 to 20 minutes and when they came back Christopher, Fred, Morris, and Carmello went to the front of the apartment building. Anthony, who stayed inside, heard arguing, looked out of the window, and saw some people across the street. He heard Fred screaming and then he heard the people from across the street. Anthony saw Fred throw a bottle and heard a car door slam before the car took off heading northbound on Maplewood. Soon after, Anthony heard three to four gunshots coming from the front of the house, so he ran to the back of the house and told Eliana someone was shooting. Anthony and Eliana left the apartment through the back and went to her car. Christopher came from the alley and got in the car with them, and they left and drove to a hotel. The next morning, Christopher, Eliana, and Anthony returned to the apartment to pack boxes for a move that Anthony testified was planned prior to the shooting. At some point Anthony took Christopher's dog for a walk and when he returned, Nicole told him that the police arrested Christopher and Eliana. Anthony resumed packing boxes into a storage truck, but the police arrived and took him to Area 5 police headquarters.

¶ 18 Anthony met with Detective Arthur Young at about 4 p.m. on June 24, 2003. Anthony told the detective that he saw Christopher fire the gun and that he saw Morris and Fred near Christopher, but they did not have a gun. Anthony also provided a handwritten statement to an assistant state's attorney stating, "Anthony was focused on the car when he heard the first shot. Anthony looked and saw Pete [Christopher] holding a gun fire a second shot. Neither Juju [Fred] nor Moe [Morris] had a gun at that time. Pete [Christopher] was the only person Anthony could see shooting."

¶ 19 Anthony testified before the grand jury on June 25, 2003 that he saw Christopher fire the gun...