Donald Armstrong - Cook County States Attorney's Office

proceedings. Moreover, petitioner ignores the fact that the Illinois Supreme Court, which carefully
examined the proceedings in petitioner’s case, determined that they were fundamentally fair and
that he was not unduly prejudiced in any manner.
In his “statement of facts,” petitioner asserts that a witness described seeing “two white or
light men with a large filled garbage bag near the time of the murder” and that neither was petitioner.
(Petition at 8) He also asserts that his brother, Ronald Armstrong, is a fair skinned African
American with reddish hair and that reddish hairs were found under the victim’s fingernails.
(Petition at 8,9) However, the jury at petitioner’s trial heard the testimony of Viola Cannon (the
defense witness petitioner is now referring to) and rejected it after she expressly stated that on the
night of February 3, 1992, it was very dark and she could not tell what the object was that the men
were pushing, nor could she give a specific height or weight for either of the two men. (R. J98-99)
She also stated that she was full a block away from the men and could not be certain if the men were
white, black or Hispanic. (R. J99-101) Finally, when shown a picture of petitioner, she stated that he
may have been the second man she saw on the night in question. (R. J101) Thus, there is absolutely
no question that petitioner beat 86 year old Marion Smigiel to death with her own cane and that he
was properly convicted.
Also, in regard to petitioner’s implication that the “reddish hair” in the victim’s fingernails
was his brother’s, a simple review of the photograph taken by the evidence technician after Marion
Smigiel’s body was found lying in a pool of blood in her garage reveals that the hair was her own
and it is red because it is soaked with her own blood. (See Exhibit K). Therefore, it is obvious that
the hair in the elderly victim’s fingernails was there simply because she was grasping her head in a
vain effort to protect herself from the relentless blows inflicted by petitioner.
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