People v. Martin ( 2020 )

2020 IL App (1st) 181217FIRST DISTRICT,
FIRST DIVISION
September 21, 2020
No. 1-18-1217
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County, Illinois.
)
v. ) No. 17 CR 2736
)
ARTHUR MARTIN, ) Honorable
) Vincent M. Gaughan,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE COGHLAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Presiding Justice Fitzgerald Smith and Justice Lavin concurred in the judgment and
opinion.
OPINION
¶1 Following a bench trial, defendant Arthur Martin was convicted of being an armed
habitual criminal and possessing a defaced firearm. On appeal, he argues that his trial counsel
was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress statements made to the police while he
was being detained in his home and subjected to the functional equivalent of police interrogation,
in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). We disagree and affirm the judgment of
the trial court.
¶2 BACKGROUND
¶3 On January 26, 2017, at around 6:50 p.m., police executed a search warrant at
defendant’s house in Chicago. Defendant, who was 60 years old, lived there with his wife
Jacqueline and his adult son, all of whom were at home that evening.
¶4 The police team consisted of seven plainclothes officers plus FBI Special Agent Dennaris
Coleman. Initially, the officers tried to gain entry to defendant’s house via a ruse: they called to
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Jacqueline through the kitchen window, telling her that someone had hit her car in an attempt to
lure her outside. When that failed, they began forcing their way into the house by prying open
the steel security gate on the door. Defendant opened the door for them, asking, “What’s up?”
According to defendant, the police then “bum-rushed with their guns.” Officer Nick Zattair
testified that he did not draw his gun and did not believe his fellow officers drew their guns,
although they were “of course” armed.
¶5 Once inside, the police “secured” the residents, handcuffed defendant and his son, and
directed the two of them, plus Jacqueline, to sit on the living room couch. Officer Paul Kirner
presented defendant with the search warrant. Officer Damen Balesteri then had a brief
conversation with defendant. According to Balesteri, he asked defendant if he had ever been
involved when police executed a search warrant on a house. Defendant said no, and Balesteri
explained “what was to transpire.” During this conversation, the other officers were all nearby,
either in the living room or in the adjacent kitchen. They had not yet begun searching the house.
Less than two minutes after the officers had secured defendant in the living room, he told
Balesteri, “Come on,” and led him upstairs to the bedroom he shared with his wife. Defendant
then directed Balesteri to a black handgun under a dresser. The gun’s serial number was defaced.
Balesteri testified the gun was not in a lockbox, nor did he see a lockbox in the house.
¶6 Defendant gave a different version of events at trial. He said that while he and his family
members were sitting on the couch, the officers were “running around the house” and threatened
to “tear this motherf*** up” if he did not tell them where the gun was. (Balesteri denied
personally making such a threat.) He further testified that Jacqueline owned a gun that she
typically kept in a lockbox. Defendant did not have a key to the lockbox and, in fact, did not
know where the lockbox was normally kept. As defendant sat on the couch, Jacqueline
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whispered to him the location of the gun, which happened not to be in the lockbox. She was
“[c]onfused, scared, [and] discombobulated.” Defendant then spoke to the officers and directed
them to his wife’s gun under their bedroom dresser.
¶7 Defendant was brought to the police station, where Kirner and Coleman spoke with him.
Coleman advised defendant of his Miranda rights, and he signed a form acknowledging that he
understood. According to Kirner, defendant then told them that around nine months ago, he
purchased the gun from someone in the neighborhood for protection for his family. He denied
defacing the gun’s serial number. Kirner acknowledged that he did not memorialize defendant’s
alleged statement in writing, nor did he have any audio or video recording of their conversation.
¶8 Defendant, for his part, denied telling Kirner and Coleman that the gun belonged to him
or that he purchased it nine months ago. He testified, “I didn’t tell them anything.”
¶9 The parties stipulated that defendant had previously been convicted of unlawful use of a
weapon by a felon, as well as manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance.
¶ 10 The trial court found defendant guilty of being an armed habitual criminal and possessing
a defaced firearm. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on the armed habitual
criminal conviction and three years’ imprisonment on the possession of a defaced firearm
conviction, to run concurrently.
¶ 11 ANALYSIS
¶ 12 Although defendant received Miranda warnings at the police station, he had not yet
received those warnings when he directed officers to the gun in his home. He contends that his
trial counsel was ineffective for not filing a motion to suppress pursuant to Miranda, 384 U.S.
436.
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¶ 13 To prove ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show that (1) counsel’s
performance was objectively unreasonable and (2) defendant was thereby prejudiced. People v.
Patterson, 2014 IL 115102, ¶ 81 (citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694 (1984)).
For the performance prong, counsel’s decision not to file a motion to suppress is typically “ ‘a
matter of trial strategy, which is entitled to great deference.’ ” People v. Bew, 228 Ill. 2d 122,
128 (2008) (quoting People v. White, 221 Ill. 2d 1, 21 (2006)). For the prejudice prong,
defendant bears the burden of showing “that the unargued suppression motion is meritorious, and
that a reasonable probability exists that the trial outcome would have been different had the
evidence been suppressed.” People v. Henderson, 2013 IL 114040, ¶ 15. A reasonable
probability is one that undermines confidence in the result of the trial. People v. Pollards, 367 Ill.
App. 3d 17, 21 (2006) (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694).
¶ 14 We begin by determining whether the unargued suppression motion is meritorious. The
fifth amendment provides that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness
against himself.” U.S. Const., amend. V. To safeguard this right, any person subjected to
custodial interrogation “must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he
does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an
attorney, either retained or appointed.” Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444. If a defendant undergoes
custodial interrogation without being advised of his Miranda rights, any resulting statement
cannot be used against him at trial. Id. at 479. Our supreme court has held that the act of leading
officers to a gun’s location is “conduct of a testimonial nature” that is subject to Miranda. People
v. Hoffman, 84 Ill. 2d 480, 490 (1981).
¶ 15 For Miranda’s protections to apply, a defendant must be both (1) in custody and
(2) subjected to interrogation. Miranda, 384 U.S. at 467-68. “Absent the interplay of custody and
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interrogation, an individual’s privilege against self-incrimination is not threatened.” People v.
Villalobos, 193 Ill. 2d 229, 239 (2000). A defendant is “in custody” when there is either “a
formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with formal arrest.”
(Internal quotation marks omitted.) J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. 261, 270 (2011). A
defendant is subject to “interrogation” not only when expressly questioned by police, but when
police use words or actions that are “reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response” from
the defendant. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301 (1980); see also People v. Tayborn, 2016
IL App (3d) 130594, ¶ 18. By contrast, “preliminary on-the-scene questions” do not constitute
interrogation and will not trigger Miranda’s protections. People v. Kilfoy, 122 Ill. App. 3d 276,
288 (1984).
¶ 16 Here, we find that defendant was not being subjected to interrogation when he directed
Balesteri to the gun in his bedroom. According to Balesteri, whose testimony the trial court
chose to accept, the only question he asked defendant was whether he had previously been the
subject of a search warrant, which is not a question to which one would expect an incriminating
response. Balesteri explicitly denied threatening defendant. Additionally, Balesteri had been
speaking with defendant for less than two minutes before he volunteered the location of the gun.
See People v. Columbo, 118 Ill. App. 3d 882, 936 (1983) (“Volunteered or spontaneous
statements, as opposed to admissions elicited by custodial interrogation, are expressly excepted
from the requirements of Miranda.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)).
¶ 17 The circumstances under which defendant was questioned in this case were “[not]
characterized by the compulsion, danger of intimidation, or trickery which the Miranda rule was
designed to eliminate” (Kilfoy, 122 Ill. App. 3d at 288). We find that the inquiry made here
“appears to fall within the category of preliminary on-the-scene question[ing] which do[es] not
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necessitate that Miranda warnings be given.” Id. We further find that defendant has not met his
burden of showing that the unargued suppression motion is meritorious. Henderson, 2013 IL
114040, ¶ 15; see People v. Bowen, 2015 IL App (1st) 132046, ¶ 28 (“Counsel is not required to
make futile motions in order to provide effective assistance.”).
¶ 18 Additionally, based on the facts adduced at trial, we find no reasonable probability that
the trial outcome would have been different had defendant’s act of leading the police to the gun
been suppressed. Cf. People v. Maiden, 210 Ill. App. 3d 390, 396-97 (1991) (Miranda violation
was harmless error because there was sufficient other evidence to convict defendant); People v.
Hannah, 2013 IL App (1st) 111660, ¶ 48 (same). Even without this testimonial act, it is
undisputed that a gun with a defaced serial number was, in fact, found in defendant’s bedroom.
Furthermore, there was testimony at trial that, after being brought to the police station and given
proper Miranda warnings, defendant confessed his ownership of the gun and gave additional
details as to how he came to acquire it. Although he denied making such a confession, the
resolution of conflicting testimony was for the trial court to determine. People v. Siguenza-Brito,
235 Ill. 2d 213, 228 (2009) (“[I]n a bench trial, it is for the trial judge, sitting as the trier of fact,
to determine the credibility of witnesses, to weigh evidence and draw reasonable inferences
therefrom, and to resolve any conflicts in the evidence. [Citations.] A reviewing court will not
reverse a conviction simply because the evidence is contradictory ***.”)
¶ 19 Thus, because defendant suffered no prejudice from trial counsel’s decision not to file a
motion to suppress, we find his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel to be without merit.
Patterson, 2014 IL 115102, ¶ 87 (ineffective assistance claims may be decided on Strickland’s
prejudice prong alone).
¶ 20 CONCLUSION
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¶ 21 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
¶ 22 Affirmed.
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No. 1-18-1217
Cite as: People v. Martin, 2020 IL App (1st) 181217Decision Under Review: Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 17-CR-2736;
the Hon. Vincent M. Gaughan, Judge, presiding.
Attorneys James E. Chadd, Patricia Mysza, and Anna C. Carlozzi, of State
for Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.
Appellant:
Attorneys Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J.
for Spellberg, Whitney Bond, and Nyshana Sumner, Assistant State’s
Appellee: Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
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