People v. Alfaro

SUPREME COURT CASES

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People v. Alfaro

State: Illinois

Court: 2nd District Appellate

Docket No: 2-06-1146 Rel

Case Date: 10/02/2008

Preview:No. 2--06--1146 ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Kendall County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) No. 04--CF--489 v. ) ) Honorable MARCELINO ALFARO, JR., ) James M. Wilson and ) William H. Weir, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judges, Presiding. _________________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE O'MALLEY delivered the opinion of the court: Following a jury trial before the circuit court of Kendall County, defendant, Marcelino Alfaro, Jr., was convicted of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9--1(a) (West 2004)) and obstructing justice (720 ILCS 5/31--4(a) (West 2004)) in the shooting death of Jorge Badillo. Defendant received concurrent prison sentences of 25 years for the murder conviction and 2 years for the obstructing-justice conviction. Defendant appeals, contending that the December 15, 2004,

statements he made should be suppressed because they were elicited in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966); that his plea agreement should be reinstated because the State improperly repudiated the agreement; and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial attorneys, Brian Hiatt and Francis Weinert, failed to facilitate the plea agreement and failed to advise defendant to withdraw his plea of guilty to the obstructing-

No. 2--06--1146 justice charge after the plea agreement was terminated. We agree with the suppression issue and vacate defendant's convictions and remand for further proceedings. I. BACKGROUND We summarize the facts relevant to our consideration of defendant's appeal. On December 4, 2004, at about 9 p.m., the body of the 16-year-old victim was discovered on a gravel road in rural Kendall County. The victim had been shot four times--three times in the head and once in the right shoulder. Two .22-caliber and two .45-caliber bullet casings were found at the scene. The Kendall County sheriff's police investigated the offense. Through their investigation, they learned that, on December 4, defendant, then 19 years of age, had been seen with the victim. On December 14, 2004, two detectives went to defendant's place of employment, Eby-Brown in Montgomery. They met defendant as he was leaving his third-shift job and interviewed him in a conference room at Eby-Brown. The interview lasted for several hours. Defendant denied that he knew anything about the victim's death. Later in the day of December 14, 2004, detectives interviewed Isabel Ocon, a former girlfriend of defendant. Ocon provided a written statement to police. Ocon wrote that, on December 5, 2004, defendant had stopped by the store where she worked. Defendant told her that the victim was dead, but that the victim was supposed to have been only beaten up. Defendant also told Ocon that his job was to gain the victim's trust so that others could beat him. The others, however, shot and killed the victim. A. Defendant's December 15, 2004, Videotaped Statement Early in the morning of December 15, 2004, after having obtained Ocon's statement, detectives again returned to Eby-Brown at the end of defendant's shift. They asked defendant if he

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No. 2--06--1146 would come to the sheriff's office for a videotaped informational interview. They represented that, after the interview, they would provide defendant with a ride to wherever defendant wished to be taken. Defendant agreed. Defendant was not handcuffed and was not told that he was under arrest. Defendant was not wearing a coat or jacket when he was taken to the sheriff's office. (Defendant explained that he generally did not wear a jacket, even during the winter.) Defendant was questioned for more than three hours in an interview room at the sheriff's office. At the end of this time, Detective Joseph Jasnosz read defendant his Miranda rights, and a further interview with Assistant State's Attorney Jean Fletcher occurred. During the course of these interviews, defendant gave several different versions of the events on December 4, eventually admitting that he was present when the victim was killed. Beginning at about 7 a.m., Detective David Ratkovich interviewed defendant in the interview room. For the first 20 minutes, Ratkovich asked general background questions. Ratkovich then questioned defendant about his activities on December 4. Defendant told Ratkovich that he had been driving around with the victim during the afternoon and early evening of December 4. During this time, the victim purchased and used some cocaine from "Musto." Later, defendant and the victim had an encounter with some Vice Lords. When the Vice Lords began to pursue them, the victim jumped out of the car and ran off between some houses and through the yards. Defendant did not know what happened after that, and defendant learned about the victim's death a few days ago. A break was taken. Defendant left the interview room by himself to go to the restroom. Shortly after this, defendant returned by himself to the interview room and sat down. An officer, who was out of the camera's range, talked to defendant about matters unrelated to the case.

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No. 2--06--1146 Ratkovich returned to the interview room. He began this round of questioning with the phrase, "not to be accusatory," and asked defendant a number of questions, like, "did you do this" and why would defendant be named as a suspect. At around the hour-and-a-half mark, Ratkovich confronted defendant and told him that the investigation showed that defendant had been present when the victim was killed. Ratkovich stated that defendant was not being truthful in his statement. Defendant then changed his story, telling Ratkovich that several guys in a Suburban pulled up and took the victim away to beat him. Ratkovich also admonished defendant that "it will [all] come down on you" if defendant persisted in refusing to tell police what happened. Defendant maintained that he did not know that the beating had turned into a shooting. Ratkovich told defendant that his story did not agree with the evidence the police had collected so far. At around 1 hour and 50 minutes into the interview, Ratkovich left and was replaced by Jasnosz. Ratkovich explained to defendant that he had to attend to something else and that Jasnosz would question him for a while. Jasnosz indicated that the police believed that defendant had been with the victim at the scene of the killing. Jasnosz told defendant that he "was accountable for what has taken place" and that, even if he did not answer the questions, his problems and the investigation were "not going away." Jasnosz then showed defendant a picture of an electric chair, telling defendant that he was in the same position as Scott Peterson, who had lied to the police. After Jasnosz spoke in this vein for about half an hour, defendant became more forthcoming. At about the 2-hour-and-17-minute mark of the interview, Jasnosz said, "I don't think you thought Jorge was going to die. You just thought Jorge would get a beating?" Defendant agreed. After this, defendant asked Jasnosz, "If I tell you who pulled the trigger, will you let me leave?" Defendant also asked, "My name never comes up?" Jasnosz replied, "If you are 100% truthful, I will be on the phone. You

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No. 2--06--1146 don't have to leave. I'll be on the phone with Aurora and the State's Attorney's Office and protect you." With this assurance, defendant described how "Musto," a gang leader, ordered the victim's beating. Defendant said that "Danny" and a "big guy," who was unknown to defendant, got into defendant's car with the victim. They told defendant to drive out to rural Kendall County. As defendant drove up to the scene of the offense, the "big guy" in the backseat began to punch or to pistol-whip the victim. Defendant skidded to a sudden stop, ending up partially in the ditch alongside the roadway. The victim jumped out of the car, and the scuffle continued. The victim tried to pull out a gun, and Danny shot him. Defendant explained that the victim, who belonged to the Latin Kings, was supposed to get his "outs" from the gang, meaning a severe beating, as punishment for "flip-flopping," or going back and forth between gangs. Defendant stated that he was a friend of one of the leaders of the Maniacs, so the Latin Kings thought defendant was a Maniac. When the victim was seen with defendant, the Latin Kings believed that the victim was flirting with the Maniacs. At about 2

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