United States District Court, N.D. Illinois
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
HON.
JORGE ALONSO, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Petitioner
David Jeans, a prisoner at the Dixon Correctional Center,
brings this pro se habeas corpus action pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his 2014 armed habitual
criminal conviction from the Circuit Court of Cook County.
The Court denies the petition on the merits and declines to
issue a certificate of appealability.
I.
Background
The
Court draws the following factual history from the state
court record, (Dkt. 14, 17, 19), including the Appellate
Court of Illinois's decision on direct appeal.
Illinois v. Jeans, No. 2016 IL App (1st) 141675-U,
2016 WL 7508127 (Ill.App.Ct. Dec. 29, 2016). The state
appellate court's judgment is the operative decision
under the Court's review because it was the last state
court to address Petitioner's claims on the merits.
Makiel v. Butler, 782 F.3d 882, 896 (7th Cir. 2015)
(citations omitted). The state court's factual findings
have a presumption of correctness, and Petitioner has the
burden of rebutting the presumption by clear and convincing
evidence. Brumfield v. Cain, 135 S.Ct. 2269, 2282
n.8 (2015) (citing 28 U.S.C. 2254(e)(1)). Petitioner has not
made such as showing.
On the
evening of December 23, 2012, a seven-person Chicago police
team conducted a surveillance of the GoLo gas station in the
3700 block of West Roosevelt Road in the North Lawndale
neighborhood of Chicago. Jeans, No. 2016 IL App
(1st) 141675-U, 2016 WL 7508127, at *2. The police considered
the gas station, which is located in the Chicago police
department's 10th District, the largest “hot
spot” for narcotics sales in the district. Id;
(Dkt. 17-2, pg. 317.) The police identify a “hot
spot” through statistical analysis of violent and
narcotics crimes. Id. at 316. The gas station has
outside pumps covered by a canopy with an inside convenience
store. Id. at 324.
Sergeant
Eric Olson, a twenty-year police veteran, led the team.
Id. at 158. He supervised the 10th District's
public violence mission team focusing on violence and
narcotics hot spots in the district. Id. at 316.
Olson established a surveillance post in an abandoned
residential building next to the gas station. Id. at
321-22. He stationed himself on the building's second
floor. Id. at 323. He observed the exterior of the
gas station while hiding himself behind a set of slated
blinds. Id. A broken window allowed Olson to hear
what was being said outside the gas station. Id.
At
approximately 8 p.m. that evening, Olson witnessed an unknown
individual standing in the gas station parking lot yelling,
“Sawbucks parts. Got that Weed. Sawbucks Parts.”
Id. at 325. Olson understood this to be street slang
advertising a ten dollar bag of cannabis. Id. Olson
is well-versed in the narcotics trade having observed
hundreds of narcotics sales through his work with the Chicago
police department. Id. at 327.
Olson
saw a blue Honda pull into the gas station. Id. at
325. A man, later identified as Angel Aranjo, got out of the
car and told the man advertising drugs that he (Aranjo)
wanted three bags. Id. at 159, 326. The man
instructed Aranjo to go into the gas station convenience
store. Id. Less than a minute later, Olson observed
Aranjo return to his car with an item in his hand.
Id. at 327. He could see Aranjo manipulating the
bag. Id. at 327-28. Olson explained that, based on
his years of experience, Aranjo was manipulating the bag in a
manner consistent with how he had seen narcotics purchasers
handle drugs in the past. Id. at 328.
Olson
radioed other members of his team instructing them to stop
the Honda. Id. The other officers pulled over the
car and arrested Aranjo for possession of suspected cannabis.
Id. at 329. Following the arrest, Chicago police
officer Nicholas Garcia, another member of Olson's team,
picked up Olson and they headed to the gas station.
Id. at 330.
Garcia
had been involved with the arrest of Aranjo before coming
back for Olson. Id. at 330. Garcia related to Olson
that Aranjo said he bought the drugs at the GoLo gas station
from a black man wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Id. Olson and Garcia went into the gas station
convenience store to continue their investigation.
Id. at 331. They encountered Petitioner in the
store. The interaction between Olson, Garcia, and Petitioner
was recorded by the gas station's security camera. The
Court reviewed the camera video provided in the record. (Dkt.
19.) The video in the record does not have sound.
The
Court draws the following freeze frame images from the video
in the record. The first is the opening scene when the video
begins. The second is Petitioner entering the store
approximately one minute and fifty seconds into the video.
Olson and Garcia enter approximately two minutes later.
(Image
Omitted)
Petitioner
walks over and stands by the store counter where he remains
while making a telephone call.
(Image
Omitted)
He
gives what appears to be a friendly fist bump to the store
clerk, who is out of camera view, while continuing his call.
Following the fist bump, Petitioner is standing facing the
store entrance in close proximity to the store counter.
(Image
Omitted)
Several
other customers come and go through the store while
Petitioner is on the phone. None of the other customers speak
to Petitioner. Other than the apparent fist bump with the
store clerk, Petitioner does not interact with anyone else
besides the police officers. He spends his time on the phone
while in the store. There is nothing on the video suggesting
that Petitioner sold drugs directly to Aranjo.
A
second African American man also wearing a bluejacket, a
white t-shirt and jeans enters the store at the video's
three minute and fifteen second mark. Petitioner finishes his
call around the three minute and thirty second mark. The
other man wearing a blue jacket is visible in the first image
below. In the second image, he is still in the store, but has
walked down the far merchandise aisle beyond the camera's
view.
(Image
Omitted)
Petitioner
makes a second call. The second man in a blue jacket remains
in the store out of camera view. Approximately three minutes
and forty-five seconds into the video, the second man
reappears from the merchandise aisle and walks over to the
store counter, while Petitioner ends his phone call.
(Image
Omitted)
At
approximately four minutes and five seconds into the video,
the second man has walked back towards the merchandise
shelves while Petitioner is again on his phone. Olson enters
the store and can be seen in the doorway. Petitioner is
facing towards the door with his body at an almost 90-degree
angle to the store counter. Olson immediately confronts the
second man in a blue jacket. The tan support pole blocks the
camera's view of Olson.
(Image
Omitted)
The
second man in a blue jacket appears to move his head back to
the right in apparent frustration when confronted by Olson.
The man then raises his hands while Olson places both hands
inside the man's coat pockets. According to the video
time stamp, Olson has been in the store for a total of two
seconds by this point. Petitioner moves closer to the store
counter and turns himself closer to the counter while Olson
continues his search of the second man. Petitioner continues
his call.
Finding
nothing in the second man's jacket, Olson reaches into
the second man's left and right front pants pockets.
Olson has been in the store for eight seconds at this point.
Petitioner continues to move himself closer to the counter,
now standing directly in front of the cashier with his right
hand on the counter. He continues to hold his phone with his
left hand to his left ear.
(Image
Omitted)
Garcia
enters the store fourteen seconds after Olson. Petitioner now
has his phone cradled between his left shoulder and ear,
while both hands are on the store counter. Petitioner has
moved himself close to the counter. His waist is either
touching the counter or in very close proximity to it.
Olson
moves toward Petitioner while Garcia is with the second man.
Petitioner turns his head, but the rest of his body remains
at ¶ 90-degree angle to Olson and he remains next to the
counter.
(Image
Omitted)
Olson
and Petitioner engage in a discussion for approximately six
seconds. Petitioner turns his head to speak to Olson, but the
remainder of his body is facing the store counter.
Petitioner's waist appears to be touching or in very
close proximity to the counter. Petitioner is at ¶
90-degree angle to Olson throughout their conversation. The
image below is representative of Olson and Petitioner's
relative positions to each other during the six-second
discussion.
(Image
Omitted)
Following
the six seconds of discussion, Olson places his hand on the
exterior of Petitioner's clothing by Petitioner's
lower back. Petitioner's right hand is now by his right
side.
(Image
Omitted)
Olson
removes his hand from Petitioner. Petitioner and Olson
continue to talk for another eight seconds. Petitioner
continues to stand at ¶ 90-degree angle to Olson. Garcia
walks over from the other man and stands behind Olson while
he is speaking to Petitioner during the eight seconds.
(Image
Omitted)
Garcia
then walks around to Petitioner's other side while he and
Olson begin physical contact ...