Preview:

FOURTH DIVISION FILED:  November 22, 2006
No. 1-04-2084
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,  )  Appeal from the  
)  Circuit Court of Cook County.  
Plaintiff-Appellee,  )  
)  
v.  )  No. 04 CR 4762  
)  
LEVITA WATKINS,      )  Honorable Joseph M. Claps,  
)  Judge Presiding  
Defendant-Appellant.  )  

JUDGE MURPHY delivered the opinion of the Court:
Following a bench trial, defendant Levita Watkins was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.  On appeal, defendant contends that: (1) the trial court improperly admitted two witnesses' prior inconsistent statements as substantive evidence, and (2) the extraction and storage of her DNA violates her fourth amendment rights.  We affirm.
Defendant and five other individuals were charged with and jointly tried for, in relevant part, the aggravated battery of Shirley Brooks on August 24, 2003, in a parking lot behind Rockwell Gardens in Chicago during an altercation involving, among others, defendant and Shirley. At trial, Shirley testified that she was in a car with five female companions, including Felicia Foy and Valerie Harris.  Defendant, who was accompanied by several other people, approached and hit the driver's side of the car with a golf club.  The passengers in the car emerged, and an argument ensued.  Shirley acknowledged that she had a history of altercations with defendant.
Defendant sprayed Felicia with mace.  Defendant subsequently charged at Shirley and swung the golf club at her, but missed.  Shirley turned around, and a codefendant, Latonya Jefferson, sprayed mace at her.  Defendant then hit Shirley in the back with the club, causing a bruise. Although Shirley admitted on cross-examination that she had trouble seeing after being sprayed with mace and that she was struck from behind, she still consistently identified defendant as her attacker. Shirley reasoned that defendant was "standing in [her] face with the golf club before [she] got maced," and then, immediately after she turned around, she was struck from behind. Shirley testified before the grand jury that defendant was her attacker.
Felicia and Valerie corroborated Shirley's testimony.  In particular, they stated that they were in a car with Shirley and Sharonda Foy when defendant came up and hit the car with a golf club.  However, they did not see defendant strike Shirley.
Sharonda, who was identified as one of the occupants of the car with Shirley, and her brother Fedell Foy, who apparently saw the altercation in the parking lot, were also called to testify. They initially refused to testify, so the trial court appointed counsel to advise them of the consequences of such a refusal. They subsequently agreed to testify but stated that "they no longer remember anything that occurred during these incidents *** [or] the statement that they made to the police or the grand jury."  Fedell and Sharonda answered "I don't recall," "I don't remember," or "I can't remember" to virtually every question that was asked.  However, Fedell admitted that his vision was impaired as a result of being shot with a BB gun in 2000.  Sharonda noted that Shirley and defendant had a history of fighting.  Both Sharonda and Fedell admitted remembering that they testified before the grand jury.
The State moved to admit Sharonda

Download 1042084.pdf

Illinois Law