2018 IL App (1st) 153355
Ill. App. Ct.2019Background
- In 1999 Darryl Green was kidnapped from his Broadview, Illinois beeper store, held for ransom, and later found shot to death in Lake County, Indiana.
- Kevin Mitchell and three co-defendants were indicted on multiple counts; the State nol-prossed all but one count and proceeded to trial on felony murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(3)) predicated on aggravated kidnapping.
- At trial Mitchell proceeded pro se; two codefendants (Winters and McAfee) testified for the State in exchange for plea deals. Their testimony described planning and committing the kidnapping in Illinois, holding Darryl at defendant’s mother’s house, making ransom calls, and transporting him to Indiana where he was killed.
- Physical evidence tied Mitchell to the van used in the abduction and to a bloodied steering-wheel lock recovered from the vehicle.
- The jury convicted Mitchell of felony murder; he was sentenced to 60 years. On appeal he challenged (1) sufficiency/notice in the indictment, (2) Illinois’ geographical jurisdiction to try a murder that occurred in Indiana, and (3) failure to give a jury instruction defining kidnapping.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adequacy of indictment/notice | Indictment provided sufficient notice; Carey no longer controls. | Indictment failed to identify which aggravated-kidnapping count served as predicate, leaving inadequate notice. | Rejected — defendant concedes Carey was overturned; notice challenge not viable. |
| Geographical jurisdiction (can IL prosecute felony murder when death occurred in another state) | Illinois may prosecute because the predicate forcible felony (aggravated kidnapping) was committed in Illinois, and statute treats such conduct as an element of the offense. | Mitchell argued the indictment didn’t allege the predicate conduct occurred in Illinois and that kidnapping ended at a “place of safety,” so IL lacks jurisdiction over an out-of-state killing. | Affirmed — evidence (accomplice testimony, phone calls, confinement, armed transport) proved aggravated kidnapping occurred in Illinois; statutory amendment after Holt permits prosecution. |
| Jury instruction omission (failure to give kidnapping definition) | Jury received IPI murder instruction naming aggravated kidnapping and the definitional instruction for aggravated kidnapping; ordinary jurors understand "kidnapping." | Failure to give the separate "kidnapping" instruction and omission in paragraph wording created risk jurors misunderstood the law. | No plain error — term "kidnapping" is common and instructions, read as a whole, fairly advised jury; omission did not seriously risk an incorrect conviction. |
Key Cases Cited
- People v. Carey, 2018 IL 121371 (supreme court decision overturning prior appellate authority on indictment notice)
- People v. Holt, 91 Ill. 2d 480 (1982) (pre-amendment limit on jurisdiction when killing occurs outside Illinois and not in furtherance of predicate felony)
- People v. Belk, 203 Ill. 2d 187 (2003) (purpose of felony-murder statute explained)
- People v. Hickman, 59 Ill. 2d 89 (1974) (escape and place-of-safety principles bearing on whether predicate felony continues)
- People v. Bongiorno, 358 Ill. 171 (1934) (felony-escape rule and continuity of crime during attempted escape)
- People v. Edwards, 343 Ill. App. 3d 1168 (2003) (no plain error where common-term predicate was not separately defined)
- People v. McClendon, 197 Ill. App. 3d 472 (1990) (terms used in nontechnical sense need not be statutorily defined for jury)
- People v. Piatkowski, 225 Ill. 2d 551 (2007) (preservation and plain-error framework for jury-instruction claims)
- People v. Herron, 215 Ill. 2d 167 (2005) (plain-error doctrine described)