People v. Leach

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People v. Leach

State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-07-1448 Rel

Case Date: 05/01/2009

Preview:FIFTH DIVISION May 1, 2009

No. 1-07-1448

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CURTIS LEACH, Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County. No. 04 CR 13211 The Honorable Thomas P. Panichi, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE TOOMIN delivered the opinion of the court: In this appeal, we determine whether defendant's confrontation rights were abridged by the admission of autopsy findings of a forensic pathologist who did not testify at defendant's trial. Following a bench trial, defendant Curtis Leach was convicted of first degree murder of his wife and sentenced to 28 years' imprisonment. Defendant appeals, contending that the court erred by: (1) admitting opinion evidence based upon testimonial hearsay contained in the autopsy findings of a retired pathologist in violation of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177, 124 S. Ct. 1354 (2004); and (2) finding him guilty of first degree murder, rather than a lesser grade of homicide, where the evidence failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew his acts created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm. BACKGROUND Defendant's conviction stemmed from the strangulation of his wife, 29-year-old Latyonia Cook-Leach on June 30, 2004. The evidence inculpating defendant was essentially based on his videotaped confession, corroborated by opinion evidence as to cause and manner of death, and

No. 1-07-1448 coupled with the results of the crime scene investigation. The trial evidence disclosed that on the afternoon of June 30, 2004, defendant walked into the Harvey police department and reported he had choked his wife to death in Robbins several hours earlier. In turn, he was later transported to the Robbins police department. The next day, at 3 p.m., defendant gave a videotaped confession to Assistant State's Attorney Terrence Reilly, witnessed by Robbins Detective Dion Kimple, and admitted at trial with its accompanying 65page transcription. Although the salient recitals of defendant's statement acknowledge that he performed the acts which caused the death of Latyonia, the mental state accompanying his conduct was strongly disputed at trial. Defendant related that for the past two years he lived at 13795 Grace Street in Robbins with Latyonia and their three children, Emanuel, age 11, Sakiyo, age 7, and Sakera, age 6. Defendant was 30 years old. He had left Thornton High School in 1993, after his sophomore year, and supported himself and later his family, doing temporary work and odd jobs. He was presently working at a recycling factory in University Park, where his work schedule for the week was 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. On June 30, 2004, defendant arrived home at 2:30 a.m. He removed his work shoes and, after eating in the kitchen and smoking several cigarettes, he then went upstairs to bed. The townhouse had three bedrooms and a bathroom that adjoined an upstairs hallway. The first bedroom was occupied by his son and the second by his daughters. Defendant and Latyonia slept in the last bedroom at the end of the hallway. After checking on the children and noting that they were asleep, defendant entered his bedroom and turned on the lights. Latyonia was in their bed,

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No. 1-07-1448 which was pushed up against the window. She slept in the nude, and after turning to acknowledge his presence, she immediately got up and put on a nightgown. Defendant lay down on the side of the bed nearest the door and smoked another cigarette. Latyonia lay down on the opposite side of the bed closest to the window. According to defendant, Latyonia had an "attitude." She was angry at the way he had been treating her, that he did not give her enough space to do the things she wanted to do. Defendant listened, but he just wanted to go to sleep. Latyonia complained that she was tired of being broke, living week to week, and being unable to pay the bills on time. Her voice was raised in an angry and shouting manner. She continued berating him for about two hours talking about getting out of the projects, out of Robbins and getting a house. She went on and on and would not let him respond or go to sleep. At some point Latyonia was sitting on the bed, "Indian style," with her legs folded under her and her back to the window. She was smoking a cigarette, and as she reached over him to use the ashtray, she "intentionally" put the cigarette on defendant's hand. Latyonia then said, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to do that," and then she laughed. Defendant showed the spot on his hand to the prosecutor. Latyonia continued arguing and defendant kept telling her things would be better, that he would change. They should just go to sleep and pick up on it the next day. But the argument instead went to the next level with Latyonia first accusing defendant of thinking she was cheating on him and then suggesting that he was "already probably doing stuff himself." When defendant reached out to calm Latyonia down, "she didn't want me to touch her so she pushed my hand up

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No. 1-07-1448 off her." According to defendant, Latyonia then "got to pushing me" and he "pushed her back." They got "into an altercation where we was wrestling" and Latyonia then began to hit defendant in his face, first with an open hand and then with her fist. He tried to contain Latyonia by grabbing her hands, but she was stronger and "had so much anger she broke loose." They continued wrestling on the bed until defendant managed to push Latyonia down on the bed and restrain her as she lay on her back. Defendant admitted that "a good three minutes after *** I was choking her *** she just stopped moving.' Defendant then stated: "[S]he couldn't *** actually cry out and holler because I was *** trying to *** restrain her. But all the pushing and moving and stuff it just exceeded me to do it hard. So after I'd say two minutes of just -- no, around a good minute and good 15 seconds of straight force up around her neck, she was moving and stuff and then she just stopped moving. So after that, after she stopped moving, I kind of got up and she wasn't moving. So I was in shock because I was like, well, she might have passed out, she might have passed out. So I checked her *** pulse. *** She didn't have no pulse." Defendant then put a pillow under Latyonia's head, lifted her head and attempted to resuscitate her by holding her nose and breathing into her mouth. After five minutes, he discerned no response and just sat on the bed for another five minutes. Defendant did not call 911 to request an ambulance. Believing there was no way of reviving Latyonia, he left the bedroom after putting a cover over her.

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No. 1-07-1448 Defendant recalled it was then 6:25 or 6:30 a.m., time to wake up the children for summer school. After they were dressed he told them that their mother was asleep in the bedroom and he would be driving them to school. Actually, he was taking the children to Latyonia's mother's house in Hazel Crest, which is right behind the school they attended. They left the house around 7:25 a.m. and he took Latyonia's cell phone as well as her mother's keys to let the children into the house. Although defendant entered with the children, nobody was awake and he left them to watch television until school began. Defendant then returned to his house. When he looked into the bedroom he saw that Latyonia was "still in the same position that he had left her in." He left with the intention of going to his mother's house in University Park, but enroute called his sister Tiffany Leach. Although he told Tiffany about his fight with his wife, in response to her inquiry he expressly denied he had killed Latyonia. Upon arrival at his mother's home, defendant was crying and initially admitted, "I killed her." But then he lied and said, "No, I didn't, we was just fighting." Defendant explained that his mother had health issues of her own and his intention was to calm her down. He left, telling the family he was going to McDonald's to get something to eat. In turn, defendant drove to a lake in University Park where he contemplated taking his own life. Instead of jumping into the water, defendant called another sister, Sharon, and told her Latyonia was dead and he was "fitting to die too." Sharon convinced him that God would forgive him for what he had done to Latyonia, but would not forgive him if he killed himself. Defendant then left the lake and returned to his car. While driving, defendant's brother-in-law, Napolean Fisher, called on Latyonia's cell

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No. 1-07-1448 phone. After telling Fisher that he had "messed up real bad," defendant was advised to stop running and turn himself in. Later, they met at a local gas station, after which Fisher took defendant to the Harvey police department, where he surrendered into custody. Upon being informed of his Miranda rights, defendant told the same story to the police that he later recounted to Assistant State's Attorney Reilly. Several hours later, defendant was taken to the Robbins police department, where he repeated the story to the police. That evening, while being housed at the Robbins jail, defendant attempted to commit suicide. He told the State's Attorney that he kept seeing Latyonia, who told him that both she and God would forgive him for what he had done to her. He did not want to live without her. Defendant then removed his pants and hung himself from the cell bars until he passed out. When defendant awoke, he was on the ground. Sandra Cook, defendant's mother-in-law, testified and confirmed that on the morning of June 30, 2004, defendant dropped the children off at her house. Later that morning, Mrs. Cook received an alarming telephone call from defendant's mother, Mary Leach, which caused her to call the Robbins police department to request a wellness check on Latyonia. Additionally, although Mrs. Cook acknowledged that Latyonia was an "on again, off again smoker," she denied that her daughter was smoking at the time of her death. Robbins police officer Reginald Harris testified that at 10:53 a.m. he was assigned to do the wellness check on Latyonia. On arrival, he found the front door was locked, but he was able to gain entry with the help of an on-site manager for the project. Officer Harris found Latyonia in an upstairs bedroom, lying mostly covered in a bed. Determining she was unresponsive, Harris

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No. 1-07-1448 called for an ambulance. Upon arrival of the medical team, he escorted the officers to the bedroom and Latyonia was pronounced dead at about 11:40 a.m. Officer Harris further testified he saw no signs of any disturbance or fight. Nothing was knocked over or broken. Evidence technician Lilliebridge processed the scene with her partner. She observed some blood on the pillow beneath Latyonia's head as well as on the bedding underneath her hand. The bedroom was pretty neat; nothing looked out of place or thrown about. Additionally, the bed had a wooden headboard containing toiletry items which "were upright and undisturbed." After processing the scene, Officer Lilliebridge later photographed defendant at the Robbins police department. Defendant had a cut on one of his fingers and a "discoloration with raised skin" on his right hand. The officer observed no bruising on his body. The State's final witness, Dr. Valarie Arangelovich, a Cook County deputy medical examiner, presented expert testimony in the field of forensic pathology. Latyonia's autopsy was actually performed by Dr. Eupil Choi, who had retired in 2004. In turn, Dr. Arangelovich was assigned the case and provided the autopsy protocol, the toxicology report, the body diagram, the investigator's report and photographs. The doctor relied on these materials to form her opinion as to cause and manner of death. Dr. Arangelovich recounted what Dr. Choi observed and recorded in the protocol. His external examination revealed that Latyonia was clothed in a house shirt and underwear, and her body was accompanied by an elastic bandage. Latyonia was 5 feet 9

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