People v. Reynolds

2021 IL App (1st) 181227

184 N.E.3d 344

451 Ill.Dec. 757

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

v.Ernest REYNOLDS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-18-1227

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

Opinion filed March 11, 2021

Modified upon denial of rehearing May 20, 2021

James E. Chadd, Patricia Mysza, and Ashlee Johnson, of State Appellate Defender's Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Gina DiVito, and Elizabeth Dibler, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

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

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, defendant Ernest Reynolds was convicted of one count of attempted first degree murder, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and one count of aggravated battery, all arising from an attack on his then-girlfriend, T.J.¹ The trial court sentenced defendant to consecutive prison terms of 12 years on the attempted murder conviction and 16 years on each of the aggravated criminal sexual assault convictions, with a concurrent term of four years on the aggravated battery conviction.

¶ 2 On appeal, defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he intended to kill T.J., as required to support a conviction for attempted first degree murder. He also argues that the trial court erred in admitting audio recordings of two jail calls attributed to him because the State failed to lay an adequate foundation to authenticate the recordings, and that the trial court usurped the jury's factfinding role by instructing the jury that defendant made the calls. Finally, defendant argues that the trial court erred when, in response to the jury's request to listen to the jail calls during deliberations, it brought the jurors back to the courtroom and played the calls for them in the presence of the judge and the parties.

¶ 3 For the following reasons, we vacate defendant's attempted first degree murder conviction and affirm his remaining convictions.²

¶ 4 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 5 At trial, T.J. testified that she had gone to Elkhart, Indiana, on October 13, 2016, to look for housing in anticipation of relocating for work. She was accompanied by her friend, Randy. When she and Randy returned to Chicago around 5 p.m., Randy dropped her off at her mother's house near 95th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue. While there, T.J. received two phone calls from defendant, whom she had been dating for about two months. Defendant later came to T.J.’s mother's house and knocked on the door, but T.J. did not answer, and defendant left. About 20 minutes later, defendant returned and knocked again, and this time T.J. came outside to talk to him. She asked defendant to drive her to a liquor store, which defendant did. Defendant and T.J. then returned to T.J.’s mother's house, and defendant parked his truck in the garage behind the house.

¶ 6 Defendant and T.J. stayed in the garage and talked for several hours, while drinking and smoking marijuana. T.J. also smoked crack cocaine. During their conversation, defendant asked T.J. if she was cheating on him, and T.J. said she was not. Around 10 p.m., T.J. decided to call it a night. She told defendant she was going inside, but defendant told her to get back in the truck. T.J. got in the passenger seat as directed, and defendant drove away.

¶ 7 As defendant drove, T.J. began to doze off and eventually fell asleep. When she woke up around 3 a.m., defendant was on top of her and had his penis in her mouth. T.J. told defendant to get off and tried to push him away. Defendant got off of T.J. for a brief moment, retrieved a box cutter from the truck's center console, and got back on top of her. T.J. tried to look around to see where they were, but defendant told her to look at him. Defendant then spit on and smacked T.J.’s face several times. He told her he was going to torture her, slit her throat, and kill her. Defendant then hit T.J. in the face numerous times using the blunt end of the box cutter. While doing so, he said that T.J. had been cheating on him with Randy and Deondra, her roommate. T.J. testified that defendant hit her with the box cutter close to 100 times, causing her face to go numb.

¶ 8 Defendant then grabbed T.J.’s neck with one hand and began to choke her, as he held the box cutter in his other hand. T.J. told defendant she could not breathe, and defendant simply said, "I know." After a minute or two, defendant let go of T.J.’s neck. He asked her if she had cheated on him and whether she "was going to take the lie to the grave with [her]." About two minutes later, defendant began to choke T.J. again. He repeated this process three times. While being choked, T.J. was gagging and could not breathe, and her neck and throat hurt. Defendant again told T.J. that he was going to kill her.

¶ 9 Defendant then grabbed T.J. by the hair, pulled her head back, and held the blade of the box cutter to her neck. He pressed the blade against T.J.’s neck and dug into her skin, cutting her. He told T.J. he was going to slit her throat. Fearing for her life, T.J. exclaimed "wait, wait, wait." Defendant then removed the blade from T.J.’s neck and again asked if she had cheated on him. When T.J. did not respond, defendant put the blade back to her neck.

¶ 10 At some point, defendant removed the box cutter from T.J.’s neck and told her to perform oral sex on him. He placed the box cutter on the center console and got into the driver's seat. T.J. complied with his demand and began to perform oral sex on him. After a few minutes, defendant told her to stop because he was not getting aroused. He then said he wanted to have sex, so T.J. pulled down her pants and defendant climbed on top of her in the passenger seat. He inserted his penis into her vagina and "grind[ed] on top of [her]." He stopped after about five minutes because he again was unable to get an erection.

¶ 11 After defendant returned to the driver's seat, T.J. realized that she had urinated on herself during the ordeal and told defendant that she had to use the bathroom. Defendant exited the truck and walked around to the passenger side. As he did so, T.J. climbed across the seats and escaped through the driver's side door. At that point, T.J. realized that they were in a church parking lot. Defendant chased T.J. around the truck and eventually caught her. He told T.J. to get back in the truck, and she complied. When defendant got back in the driver's seat, he said "It's about time." He told T.J. that he was going to take her to an alley and leave her body there. He said he had to kill her because if he let her go, she would call the police.

¶ 12 Defendant pulled out of the church parking lot and drove away. As he started to turn into an alley, T.J. opened the passenger door and tried to jump out. Before she made it completely out, however, defendant grabbed her by the arm. As she dangled halfway out of the truck, she was dragged down the alley. She was able to slip out of defendant's grasp when her jacket came off. She fell out of the truck, hit the ground, and had her leg run over by the truck. Despite intense pain, T.J. was able to get up and run away limping. In the process, one of her shoes came off, but she continued without it. She made it to a nearby fire station and knocked on the door. When a man responded, she told him that her boyfriend was trying to kill her.

¶ 13 T.J. was then taken by ambulance to a hospital. She had a fractured nose, multiple cuts and bruises on her face, neck, and behind her ears, and multiple bruises and abrasions on her legs and stomach. Her face and neck were swollen, and she had two black eyes. She received stitches to her arm and the inner part of her upper lip. She remained at the hospital for three to four hours and was given pain medication upon release. She testified that her throat hurt for three weeks after the attack, making it difficult for her to talk or swallow. She received follow-up care for an infection to her foot and ankle. She also testified that she has permanent scars on her hip, stomach, and leg.

¶ 14 While she was at the hospital, T.J. spoke with a police officer, who photographed her injuries. On October 15, 2016, the following day, T.J. informed the police that defendant's truck had been spotted in the vicinity of the church parking lot. On October 16, 2016, T.J. spoke with a detective. That same day, defendant contacted T.J., and they arranged to meet at a grocery store. Police officers accompanied T.J. to the store and took defendant into custody.

¶ 15 T.J. also testified about a prior incident involving her and defendant, which was admitted to show defendant's intent and state of mind. T.J. testified that defendant was at her apartment on October 6, 2016, when he made a comment about her cheating on him and told her that he would "smash [her] body through [the] wall and put [her] body inside the alley."

¶ 16 Dwayne Holder, a firefighter, testified that he was on duty around 4 a.m. on October 14, 2016, when someone began pounding on the fire station door. When he opened the door, he saw T.J. She had a swollen eye and "busted," swollen lips. Her shirt was disheveled, her pants were partially open and unzipped, and she had only one shoe. T.J. told Holder that she had been beaten and thrown from a car by her boyfriend. Holder called the police, and paramedics at the fire station attended to T.J. before she was transported to the hospital.

¶ 17 Detective Jerome Malkowski testified that, when he spoke with T.J. on October 16, 2016, he observed marks on her face and neck and a cut on her arm. Her eyes and lips were swollen and one eye was bloodshot. He also noticed that T.J. walked slowly and with a limp and had difficulty speaking. Detective Malkowski testified that during a search of defendant's truck, officers found T.J.’s wallet, one of her shoes, and a key fob for her mother's car. They also recovered a box cutter in the...