People v. Woods

2023 IL 127794

217 N.E.3d 993

466 Ill.Dec. 717

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee,

v.Caroline WOODS, Appellant.

Docket No. 127794

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed March 23, 2023

James E. Chadd, State Appellate Defender, Douglas R. Hoff, Deputy Defender, and Matthew M. Daniels, Assistant Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Katherine M. Doersch and Michael L. Cebula, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

JUSTICE O'BRIEN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant Caroline Woods was convicted of four counts of aggravated battery of a child ( 720 ILCS 5/12-3.05(b)(1) (West 2016)). The jury also concluded that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravated battery was accompanied by exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty. Defendant's paramour and codefendant, Andrew Richardson, was found guilty of the same offenses. Defendant was sentenced to an aggregate term of 50 years in the Department of Corrections. On appeal, defendant challenged her convictions on the basis that, inter alia , the jury instructions on accountability and parental accountability were directly conflicting instructions. The appellate court affirmed defendant's convictions. 2021 IL App (1st) 190493, 451 Ill.Dec. 886, 184 N.E.3d 473. On appeal to this court, defendant argues that (1) jury instructional error on an essential element cannot be harmless error and (2) even if it could be harmless error, it was not in this case. We find that any conflict in the required knowledge element in the accountability instructions was harmless error because defendant's knowledge was not an essential element when defendant was proven guilty of aggravated battery of a child beyond a reasonable doubt as a principal. Thus, we affirm defendant's convictions.

¶ 2 BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Defendant and Richardson were jointly charged in a 27-count indictment for the abuse of defendant's son, Z.W. The State elected to proceed to trial on four counts. Count II alleged that both defendants committed aggravated battery of a child in that defendants, knowingly and without legal justification, caused Z.W. great bodily harm by striking Z.W. about his body. Count IV alleged aggravated battery of a child against both defendants but alleged that the battery caused permanent disfigurement. Counts V and VI alleged that both defendants committed aggravated battery of a child, knowingly and without legal justification causing Z.W. great bodily harm and permanent disfigurement, respectively, by burning Z.W. about the body. Defendant and Richardson were tried separately and simultaneously, with defendant by a jury and Richardson by the court. The State argued that defendant was guilty as both a principal and under the doctrine of accountability.

¶ 4 Around 10 a.m. on October 2, 2016, Z.W. was found, alone, on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago by Mason Arion. Arion testified that he was walking his dog that morning when he observed a young male child "sort of jogging" and "sort of limping" north along Lake Shore Drive. Arion approached the child, whom Arion identified in court from a photograph as Z.W., and chatted with the child until a police officer arrived. Arion observed visible scars and bruises on the child.

¶ 5 Sergeant Troy Williams, an officer with the Chicago Police Department, responded on October 2, 2016, to a report of an approximately seven-year-old boy running northbound on Lake Shore Drive. Williams arrived at a park in that area and found Arion talking to a young boy. The boy identified himself as Z.W. Williams observed facial scars and bruises on Z.W. and observed that Z.W. had a limp. Z.W. was dressed in a gray shirt and blue jeans, with what appeared to be a diaper protruding from Z.W.’s waistband. Z.W. told Williams that he wanted to go to the park. When asked about his injuries, Z.W. told Williams that they were punishment wounds from his parents. Z.W. also showed Williams a wound or scar on Z.W.’s back, which Z.W. stated was from being held on a stove by his father. Due to Z.W.’s physical condition, an ambulance was sent to the scene. After paramedics initially examined Z.W., Williams and the ambulance proceeded to the apartments where Z.W. indicated he lived, 4800 South Chicago Beach Drive.

¶ 6 Lieutenant Jacob Alderden arrived at 4800 South Chicago Beach Drive after talking to Williams. Alderden observed obvious injuries on Z.W.’s face. Alderden spoke with Z.W. in the ambulance. Z.W. stated that he had been routinely beaten by his mother and his father, and he proceeded to tell Alderden about the various weapons used to inflict the injuries. At that point, Alderden halted the interview so that he could document the interview. After two officers with body-worn cameras joined them in the ambulance, Alderden continued the interview with Z.W.

¶ 7 Z.W. told Alderden that his bedroom was the closet that was to the left in the hallway of the apartment. There was a camera in the closet and also cameras outside the closet. Z.W. said the cameras were to protect him and keep him safe. Defendant, Richardson, and Z.W.’s sister, H.R., would strike Z.W. with a black baseball bat that was by the front door, on all areas of Z.W.’s body. Defendant and Richardson would strike Z.W. with Richardson's black belt and a white wire cord. Defendant would strike Z.W. with the black pole for the vacuum cleaner on his head, arms, hands, back, legs, and neck. The cuts on Z.W.’s face were caused when Richardson struck Z.W. with a metal spray bottle. Defendant and H.R. were home at the time. Z.W. said that the last time he left the apartment was last year, to go to the store. The last time Z.W. had been struck was the day before, by defendant. Alderden then asked Z.W. what caused the scab on his back. Z.W. stated that Richardson held Z.W. against the burners on the stove. Defendant was home at the time but in the bedroom asleep with H.R. Z.W. did not tell defendant about the burn, but Z.W. heard Richardson tell defendant. Z.W. said "she didn't care"; "[s]he never does." Z.W. left the apartment that day because the front door was unlocked. He put on pants, a shirt, and shoes and ran for the elevator. Z.W. was trying to go play at the playground. Defendant would know Z.W. left the apartment because the cameras were connected to both her phone and to Richardson's phone.

¶ 8 Bodycam footage of defendant and H.R. entering the lobby on October 2, 2016, was played for the jury. Upon entering the lobby and seeing police officers, defendant calls out that she was just about to call the police. She then tells police officers that, when she left her apartment to throw something away downstairs, her son, Z.W., was not feeling well and was asleep in bed. After defendant returned about 10 minutes later, he was gone. Defendant stated that this was the first time that Z.W. had ever left the apartment alone but it was also the first time she ever left him alone. Defendant also stated that, about four years earlier, her aunt had molested Z.W. and also "beat on him and hurt him." Defendant went on to say that Z.W. was accident-prone, he tripped a lot, and he blamed the injuries on other people. When asked what happened to Z.W.’s face and body, defendant stated that Z.W. had been in a few accidents. Defendant and Z.W. had been in a motor vehicle accident five or six years earlier, and defendant and Z.W. had recently fallen down the stairs together. Defendant did not seek medical attention for either of them because she did not feel the injuries were that serious. The scar on Z.W.’s back was from the motor vehicle accident. Defendant stated that she lived alone with her two children; her former fiancé had moved to California. When asked if the former fiancé was abusive, defendant stated that the fiancé was not abusive toward her or Z.W. and the fiancé treated Z.W. very well. Defendant reported that Z.W. had a disability.

¶ 9 Marsha Byndom testified that she resided at 4800 South Chicago Beach Drive in 2015 and 2016. Byndom would see defendant out walking almost daily, pushing a little girl in a stroller. Byndom never saw any other children with defendant.

¶ 10 Ronnie Rush testified that he began working at the Newport Condominiums, 4800 South Chicago Beach Drive, in December 2015 and he was still employed there on October 2, 2016. Rush was employed as the chief engineer and was responsible for the maintenance work on the buildings. Rush identified defendant and Richardson as residents of the condominiums. Rush would see defendant almost every morning; defendant would leave the building with a baby girl in a stroller. Rush often opened the door for defendant. Rush saw Richardson less often, possibly once or twice a week. Rush never saw defendant or Richardson together, or with any other children, other than on one occasion when Rush went to their apartment in response to a leaking bathtub in the late summer of 2016. On that day, when Rush arrived at the apartment, there was initially no response to his knock. Richardson was contacted, and Rush returned to the apartment to meet Richardson in the hallway. Richardson did an irregular knock on the door that Rush believed was a code for defendant to open the door. Defendant answered the door; she was holding the little girl that Rush had observed defendant pushing in the stroller. Rush observed a little boy on the couch in the front room that Rush had never seen before. Rush identified the little boy as Z.W. Rush noticed scratches and marks on Z.W.’s face, neck, and part of his chest. Rush testified that he did not report Z.W.’s injuries because Richardson told Rush that Z.W. was defendant's nephew and Richardson had just picked Z.W. up that morning because Z.W. was being sexually...