People v. Palmer

2021 IL 125621

182 N.E.3d 672

450 Ill.Dec. 860

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee,

v.Charles B. PALMER, Appellant.

Docket No. 125621

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Opinion filed April 15, 2021.

Jon Loevy, Steven Art, Alison Leff, and Rachel Brady, of Loevy & Loevy, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Michael M. Glick and Garson S. Fischer, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

John R. Robinson, Corporation Counsel, of Decatur, and Thomas G. DiCianni and Mary Jean Dolan, of Ancel Glink P.C., of Chicago, for amicus curiae City of Decatur.

Joel A. Flaxman and Kenneth N. Flaxman, of Chicago, for amici curiae First Defense Legal Aid et al.

Laura H. Nirider and Andrea L. Lewis, of Bluhm Legal Clinic Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, David M. Shapiro, of Roderik and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and Steven J. Horowitz, Orlando Cosme Jr., André P. Rouillard, and Christopher Shoup, of Sidley Austin LLP, all of Chicago, for amici curiae exonerees Jonathan Barr et al.

OPINION

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

¶ 1 In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether the legislature intended section 2-702(g)(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) ( 735 ILCS 5/2-702(g)(3) (West 2018)) to require a petitioner seeking a certificate of innocence to prove that he or she was innocent of the offense only as it was originally charged or innocent of every conceivable theory of criminal liability for that offense. For the following reasons, we conclude that subsection (g)(3) requires a petitioner to prove innocence only of the offense as it was charged in the underlying criminal proceeding. We reverse the judgments of the appellate court and circuit court of Macon County that reached the opposite conclusion and remand to the circuit court with directions to issue petitioner a certificate of innocence.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On August 26, 1998, the victim, William Helmbacher, reported a burglary of his apartment to police officers in Decatur, Illinois. The next night, around 10:30 p.m. on August 27, the victim was found beaten to death inside his apartment.

¶ 4 Two weeks after the murder, a garbage bag that contained items stolen from Helmbacher's apartment was recovered less than a mile from the apartment. Investigators recovered a fingerprint from the garbage bag that was determined to belong to Ray Taylor, who lived in Helmbacher's apartment building. When Taylor was questioned by police officers, he claimed that petitioner, who is Taylor's cousin, confessed to killing Helmbacher during a robbery on August 27.

¶ 5 Ultimately, the State charged petitioner with five counts of first degree murder in connection with Helmbacher's death. In relevant part, the State alleged that on August 27, 1998, petitioner (1) "with the intent to kill or do great bodily harm to [the victim], repeatedly struck [him] on the head, thereby causing the death of [the victim]"; (2) "without lawful justification, repeatedly struck [the victim] on the head, knowing said act would cause the death of [the victim], thereby causing the death of [the victim]"; (3) "without lawful justification, repeatedly struck [the victim] on the head, knowing such act created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to [the victim], thereby causing the death of the [the victim]"; (4) "without lawful justification, while committing or attempting to commit a forcible felony, robbery, *** repeatedly struck [the victim] on the head and thereby caused the death of the [the victim]"; and (5) "without lawful justification, while committing or attempting to commit a forcible felony, residential burglary, *** repeatedly struck [the victim] on the head and thereby caused the death of [the victim]." The State also charged petitioner with a single count of residential burglary, alleging that petitioner knowingly and without authority entered the dwelling place of the victim with the intent to commit a theft therein on August 26, 1998.

¶ 6 A. Trial Proceedings

¶ 7 At petitioner's jury trial, the State argued that on August 26, 1998, petitioner and Taylor burgled the victim's apartment. The next night, August 27, petitioner returned and killed the victim with a hammer.

¶ 8 Joseph Moyer testified that, on the night of the murder, he and Douglas Lee were collecting rent at several apartment buildings owned by Lee, including the victim's building. At around 9:45 p.m., they arrived at the victim's apartment and knocked at the door, but no one answered. The two men left to collect rent at other apartments and returned to the victim's apartment approximately an hour later. Moyer looked inside the apartment's window and saw a partially eaten sandwich on a table and shoes on the floor. According to Moyer, Lee decided to use his owner's key to open the victim's apartment door. When Lee opened the door, he discovered the deceased victim on the floor. After discovering the victim's body, the two men went to the neighboring apartment and asked the occupants to call for emergency personnel and law enforcement.

¶ 9 On cross-examination, Moyer acknowledged that he had a prior felony conviction for burglary. Moyer confirmed that when he and Lee arrived at the victim's apartment the door was locked and there were no signs of forced entry. When asked why Moyer and Lee were collecting rent around 10 p.m., Moyer explained that the victim was responsible for collecting rent from Lee's tenants, but the victim failed to do so in a timely fashion. Consequently, Lee and Moyer were working together that night to collect the unpaid rent. Moyer confirmed that Lee was "upset" with the victim for not collecting the rent.

¶ 10 Ray Taylor testified that he was petitioner's cousin. Taylor lived in an apartment upstairs from the victim's apartment. At the time of petitioner's trial, Taylor was charged with the August 26 burglary of the victim's apartment. Taylor agreed to testify in petitioner's murder case, but he was not made any specific promises in connection with his testimony. Taylor acknowledged that he had a prior felony conviction for aggravated battery.

¶ 11 Taylor testified that on August 26, 1998, petitioner told Taylor that he was going to break into the victim's apartment. Taylor saw petitioner enter the victim's apartment through a window, and then petitioner came out the front door. Petitioner asked Taylor to "look out for him." Taylor claimed that he "stood there" outside the victim's apartment and then returned to his upstairs apartment. Shortly thereafter, petitioner arrived at Taylor's apartment with beer and "some items like some cards, [and] some change in a jar." Petitioner kept the change and beer but discarded the other items in a garbage bag that Taylor gave him. Petitioner and Taylor drank the beer, and then they discarded the garbage bag in a dumpster a few blocks away.

¶ 12 The next day, August 27, Taylor saw petitioner "early in the day" and talked to him briefly outside Taylor's apartment. Taylor did not see petitioner again until "later that evening" when Taylor saw petitioner at another apartment. Taylor noticed that petitioner was wearing different clothes and shoes that appeared too small and did not fit properly. According to Taylor, petitioner claimed that he "had to beat the dude to death." When Taylor asked petitioner who he was talking about, petitioner told Taylor that he killed the victim and took $11. Taylor also asked petitioner about his shoes, and petitioner replied that "blood was everywhere."

¶ 13 On cross-examination, Taylor admitted that on both the night of the murder and a few days later Taylor denied to police officers that he had any information about the victim's murder. Taylor further admitted that he did not implicate petitioner in the murder and burglary until after police discovered Taylor's fingerprint on the discarded garbage bag containing items taken from the victim's apartment.

¶ 14 Michael Callaway testified that he lived in the victim's apartment building and petitioner was at Callaway's apartment on the night of the murder. At some point in the evening, Callaway left his apartment and went to a liquor store for about 45 minutes. When Callaway returned, petitioner was in his apartment. Callaway noticed that petitioner was wearing one of Callaway's shirts inside out. Callaway told petitioner to wash his own clothes and put them back on. Callaway later saw petitioner washing clothes in the bathtub.

¶ 15 On cross-examination, Callaway stated that petitioner arrived at his apartment around 10 p.m. and it was "about dark" outside but Callaway could not remember the exact time of petitioner's arrival. Callaway did not see any blood on petitioner, and petitioner did not make any statements about the victim's murder. Callaway did not know whether petitioner ever left his apartment. Callaway conceded that he could not remember whether petitioner was wearing his shirt the night of the murder or the following day.

¶ 16 The State also called several detectives and police officers who worked on the victim's murder investigation and provided the following information. The victim's body was on the floor approximately three feet from the front door, and there was no evidence of a forced entry into the apartment. A large amount of blood was on the floor near the victim's body, and blood was also splattered on the door. A hammer was recovered a short distance from the victim's body. Investigators placed bags over both of the victim's hands to preserve forensic evidence.

¶ 17 The victim's autopsy demonstrated that he died as a result of brain trauma compatible with multiple strikes from a hammer. The forensic examiner collected from the victim fingernail scrapings, fingerprints, and a blood standard that was sent to the Illinois State Police crime laboratory.

¶ 18...