Whitfield v. Lashbrook

HEZEKIAH WHITFIELD, (B14293), Petitioner, v. JACQUELYN LASHBROOK, Respondent.

No. 17 C 8760

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

September 12, 2018

Hon. Marvin E. Aspen

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Marvin E. Aspen, District Judge:

Petitioner Hezekiah Whitfield, a prisoner incarcerated at the Menard Correctional Center, brings this pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his 2014 murder conviction from the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court, Lake County, Illinois. (Dkt. 1.) He argues that the state court erred in: (1) its application of the harmless error standard regarding the failure to videotape his confession made to the police; and, (2) its preclusion of certain evidence that he wished to present at trial regarding James Edwards. For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Petitioner's habeas corpus petition on the merits, and declines to issue a certificate of appealability.

BACKGROUND

The Court draws the following factual history from the state court record. (Dkt. 9.) State court factual findings have a presumption of correctness, and Petitioner has the burden of rebutting the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. Brumfield v. Cain, 135 S. Ct. 2269, 2282 n.8 (2015) (citing 28 U.S.C. 2254(e)(1)). Petitioner has not made such a showing.

Petitioner was convicted of the 1994 murder of Fred Reckling. Illinois v. Whitfield, 78 N.E.3d 1015, 1018 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017). The prosecution's evidence at trial showed that on December 9, 1994, Reckling's body was discovered at the Grand Appliance store that he owned in Waukegan, Illinois. Id. at 1018, 1026. His head had been beaten in. Id. at 1018. The murder appeared to have occurred during the course of a robbery.

Reckling was last seen at his church the night before around 8:30 p.m. Id. at 1026. He left the church driving his black Lincoln Town Car. Id. Reckling's practice was to work on paperwork in the store during the evenings. Id. at 1026-27. He would also drop the day's deposits off at the bank on the way home. Id. at 1027. Additionally, one of Reckling's employees, who had borrowed $20 dollars from Reckling the day before his murder, saw that Reckling's wallet was full of cash, estimating it to be several hundred dollars. Id. at 1027.

On the day that Reckling's body was discovered, a customer and employee arrived around 8:15 a.m. Id. at 1026. They observed signs of a disturbance by the store's front door (glass from a shattered fluorescent light bulb and a ladder lying on the floor), and that Reckling's Lincoln Town Car was not in his normal parking spot. Id. at 1027. Reckling routinely arrived to work by 8:00 a.m. Id. at 1026. Reckling's car was also not at his home. Id. at 1027. It had snowed the night before, and there were no tire tracks in either Reckling's home driveway, or in his store parking spot. Id.

The store's front door was unlocked, and there was a faint alarm. Id. at 1026. The store had a security alarm, but it was not connected to the police department due to technical glitch. Id. at 1027. The alarm would sound loudly for fifteen minutes, and then switch to a quieter sound. Id. Upon entering the store, the employee and customer found a number of papers on the floor including customers' checks, credit card slips, and deposit slips. Id. The deposit slips indicated a cash deposit of $1700, but no cash was found in the store, and the bank deposit bag was missing. Id.

Reckling's body was discovered lying motionless near the refrigerators with blood pooled under his head. Id. He was wearing his clothes from the night before including his jacket as if he had been preparing to leave the store. Id. Reckling suffered scalp and head wounds. Id. There were blood splatters on a nearby refrigerator door along with gouges on the door. Id. at 1028. A forensic expert testified that the evidence suggested that Reckling was bludgeoned to death with a metal object. Id. Four blood "droplet-type" stains were recovered from the carpet by the store's front door. Id.

Reckling's Lincoln Town Car was spotted the next day parked on a residential side street on Chicago's northside. Id. A local resident would eventually call the police reporting the vehicle abandoned. Id. The police found that the spare tire was on the car, and there were grocery bags in the back of the car. Id. at 1029. The grocery bags were from Franklin Food in Waukegan, a store at which Reckling often shopped. Id. Blood stains were also discovered on the car's steering wheel, on the driver's seat, and the floor between the driver's side door and seat. Id. at 1030.

Two days after the car was recovered by police, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority workers found Reckling's wallet on Interstate 94 near an onramp at Route 60.¹ Id. at 1029. The wallet contained Reckling's driver's license. Id. Previously, on the day that Reckling's body was discovered at his store, a second tollway worker found jumper cables from Reckling's car at the southbound entrance ramp to Interstate 94 at Route 60. Id. A tire, rim, and car jack stand were also discovered at the intersection. Id. The jack was missing from Reckling's car when the police recovered his car in Chicago. Id. at 1030.

The police passed out flyers at the intersection of Interstate 94 and Route 60 in an attempt to locate eyewitnesses. Id. at 1029. The police located three eyewitnesses. The first, Jason Howell, worked at a local mall on the evening of Reckling's murder. Id. He drove past the intersection of Interstate 94 and Route 60 around 11:30 p.m. or midnight that evening. Id. He witnessed two cars on the side of the road, one in front of the either. Id. A red compact car was in front, and the black Lincoln was in the rear. Id. A person wearing black clothes and a white hat was bending over the rear of the Lincoln, but Howell could not make out the person's features. Id. Howell saw a second man, who was white and in his 30s, getting out of the red compact car. Id. Petitioner is African American. Id. at 1035. (The other two witnesses, Michael and Holly Wales, were presented in the defense case discussed below).

Regarding the recovered blood evidence from the store and victim's car, the crime laboratory during that period could only perform tests identifying blood type and certain genetic markers for blood enzymes. Id. at 1030. The lab did not perform DNA testing at that time. Id. Beyond the blood evidence, the police also recovered various fingerprints from the store, car, and items recovered on the highway. Id. at 1033.

A little more than a year after Reckling's murder, James Edwards was arrested for a series of robberies in the Waukegan area. Id. at 1018. He also confessed to murdering Reckling. Id. Edwards was convicted with the confession being the sole source of evidence against him. Illinois v. Edwards, 704 N.E.2d 982, 985 (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). In 2011, Edwards was cleared of the crime after it was shown that neither his fingerprints, nor his DNA matched the recovered fingerprint and blood evidence. Whitfield, 78 N.E.2d at 1018, 1031, 1033.

Following the dropping of the charges against Edwards, the blood evidence was compared to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System ("CODIS") database, which revealed a probable match to Petitioner. Id. at 1018. The Waukegan police procured a warrant to obtain aDNA sample from Petitioner. Id. at 1030. In June 2011, the Waukegan police stopped Petitioner while he was driving, and took him to the hospital to obtain the sample. Id. at 1030-31.

Testing later revealed that all fifteen loci from the car DNA matched Petitioner, and that the odds of this match occurring randomly would be one in 22.3 sextillion African Americans. Id. at 1031. The DNA from the store's carpet only had fourteen loci, however, and although the store carpet DNA was consistent with Whitfield's DNA, the expert only used the term "match" when all fifteen loci could be compared. Id. (the expert nonetheless noted the chance of this match occurring randomly as "astronomical"). There was no innocent explanation as to how Petitioner's blood could end up in the store and car as he did not live or work near the store, and had never been a customer or employee of the store. Id. at 1039.

Shamiya Mathis, a woman Petitioner had begun dating a few months earlier, was riding with Petitioner when he was stopped by the police for the collection of the DNA sample. Id. at 1018. The police returned Petitioner to his vehicle after securing the sample, and he and Mathis drove away. Id. at 1032. Mathis testified that Petitioner was shaking, smoking cigarettes, and crying when he returned following the police taking his DNA sample. Id. at 1031. She asked him what was wrong, and he confessed to Reckling's murder. Id. Petitioner related that he was on heroin at the time, and was looking for someone to rob. Id. He hit Reckling over the head three times with a gun, and then took his wallet, car, and some money from the register. Id. Petitioner explained the he got a flat tire as he drove towards to Chicago, and flagged down someone to help him change the tire. Id.

A few days after the police took Petitioner's DNA sample, he called Mathis asking that she search the Internet to see if he was wanted for murder. Id. She told him no. Id. Petitioner contacted Mathis a few weeks later to repeat the Internet search, and again she said there was no indication he was wanted. Id.

In July 2011, Petitioner called Mathis and told her he was in Indonesia. Id. She then went to the Waukegan police telling them what Petitioner had told her. Id. She learned about the crime on the Internet during this period. Id. It also appears that Mathis's relationship with Petitioner soured after she learned that Petitioner married a woman while in Indonesia. Id. at 1033.

Despite this, Petitioner and Mathis saw each other again in Chicago in April 2012. Id. at 1032. Mathis claims she attacked Petitioner with a pipe...