Opinion ID: 2025227
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: additional alleged trial errors

Text: Plaintiff's next complaint relates to a reference in certain of the articles indicating that a lie detector test would be given to all policemen potentially involved, including him. Plaintiff submits that, considering such references, the circuit court erred in refusing to admit an April 6, 1979, CN article explaining the outcome of the lie detector tests and indicating that plaintiff passed the test. However, as the circuit court made clear to the jury, plaintiff's innocence or guilt was not at issue; the issue was whether CN accurately reported the contents of the grand jury report. Consequently, the results of the lie detector tests were irrelevant, and the court did not err in excluding the article. It would have diverted attention from the issues critical to the resolution of the case. Plaintiff next submits that the court erroneously refused to submit his Exhibit 2 to the jury. Exhibit 2 is a September 8, 1977, CN article stating that sources indicate that as many as seven officers were involved in the break-ins. This was not an article alleged to be libelous. Rather, plaintiff attempted to use this article to show that months before the grand jury report was issued defendants knew that only seven officers were involved in the break-ins and that plaintiff was not one of them. Initially we note that plaintiff apparently is mistaken in concluding that the jury was not given the exhibit. The transcript relates that the circuit court initially determined which exhibits would go into the jury room and did not include Exhibit 2. Thereafter, the following exchange took place: DEFENSE COUNSEL: Our position is that if they're going to have the grand jury report, they should have everything. THE COURT: Copies of newspapers? PLAINTIFF'S COUNSEL: Right, all of them. THE COURT: All right. Thus, the record suggests that this newspaper article was, in fact, given to the jury. If, however, Exhibit 2 was not given to the jury for their deliberations, plaintiff's counsel did not object and therefore the issue was not preserved for appeal. Moreover, plaintiff would not have been denied a fair trial by the failure to submit this exhibit, and therefore this would be an inappropriate case to apply the exception to the waiver rule. (See McElroy v. Force (1967), 38 Ill.2d 528, 535.) The relevance of this exhibit was extremely tenuous; even if in September 1977 the defendants knew that only seven officers were involved and that plaintiff was not among them, this fact would not be inconsistent with the conclusion that many months later plaintiff did become suspected. Plaintiff next argues that the court erroneously refused to admit into evidence, or allow interrogation regarding, articles published after the instant suit was filed (post-filing publications). Plaintiff argues that these post-filing publications were probative of whether the defendants herein published the earlier articles (the allegedly libelous articles here in issue) with actual malice. We note again that it appears from the record that all newspaper articles presented did go to the jury. However, assuming, arguendo, that these particular articles were withheld from the jury, it was within the court's discretion to do so, for these post-publication articles lack significant probative value. The reason is that there was no evidence, other than the evidence presented of knowledge preceding the publication of the articles in issue, that defendants knew or seriously questioned the truth of these post-filing publications. The cases cited by plaintiff in support of his argument indicate that any subsequent publishing of a libel with knowledge of its falsity is evidence of actual malice. However, in the instant case plaintiff showed only that CN repeated its statements after plaintiff filed suit; there is no showing that, during the interim between when the initial articles and the post-filing articles were published, CN gained any additional information which led it to question its initial newspaper accounts. Plaintiff's next complaint relates to testimony of Craig DeArmond, who during 1978 and 1979 was an assistant State's Attorney of Vermilion County. DeArmond testified during direct examination by plaintiff's counsel that during 1978 and 1979 Thomas Fahey, State's Attorney, had a policy established that all telephone calls regarding opinion matters were to be referred to him, and that such policy would encompass a phone call seeking an interpretation of a grand jury report. DeArmond then testified that he did not recall whether CN reporter Bob Wilson talked to him on December 21, 1978. Subsequently, on cross-examination, DeArmond was asked whether he did not know if such a conversation occurred on December 21, 1978, or whether he merely did not remember whether such a conversation occurred. After DeArmond indicated that he simply could not remember, defense counsel, over objection, quoted some earlier trial testimony of Bob Wilson, and asked whether such testimony refreshed DeArmond's memory. The Wilson testimony quoted was: I believe I first asked the State's Attorney, Thomas Fahey, and he referred me to Craig DeArmond, since Craig DeArmond conducted the grand jury and authored the report. Plaintiff submits that quoting this prior testimony was an improper means of refreshing DeArmond's recollection. However, we agree with the numerous appellate decisions holding that the manner and mode of refreshing a witness' recollection is largely within the discretion of the circuit court. (See, e.g., People v. Black (1980), 84 Ill. App.3d 1050, 1054; People ex rel. Raines v. Price (1976), 37 Ill. App.3d 921, 925; People v. Van Dyk (1976), 40 Ill. App.3d 275, 279; Kerz v. Arkin (1971), 2 Ill. App.3d 1057, 1061.) While it clearly would be a better practice to have the prior testimony recounted outside the jury's presence, so as not to unduly emphasize certain testimony, we cannot say that the circuit court abused its discretion in permitting this verbatim recitation of an extremely brief portion of Wilson's testimony, testimony with which the jury was already familiar. Plaintiff's final argument is that he was unfairly prejudiced when Les Smith, a reporter for CN from 1972 through 1978, refused to disclose a source of some information which he obtained relating to the burglary ring. Les Smith testified that in the late winter or early spring of 1977, another CN reporter (Dan) received some information from a confidential source that burglaries were being conducted by police officers. Smith and this other reporter checked into those allegations and found no evidence that any such burglaries were then occurring but did come across allegations that some had occurred in the early 1970's. These sources were trusted police officers, and some of these sources gave the reporters names of officers allegedly involved in the burglaries. Smith testified as to five names which he specifically recalled hearing at the time, but he could not recall whether other names were also mentioned. He did, however, state that at no point prior to reading Wilson's December 21, 1978, article did he hear plaintiff's name mentioned in connection with the burglary. Despite a court ruling requiring disclosure of Smith's sources, Smith refused during discovery to disclose those sources, and at trial he again refused. At no point did the court impose sanctions for this noncompliance. Rather, outside the presence of the jury, the court again listened to arguments of counsel on this issue and concluded that the names of these sources were not relevant. For reasons explained below, we believe that the court did not abuse its discretion in reaching this conclusion. It is important to emphasize that Les Smith was not a defendant and that the article which he wrote was not one of the allegedly libelous ones; rather, it was published over 15 months prior to the earliest allegedly libelous article. It is also important to note that Smith did not claim that his sources had implicated plaintiff. Plaintiff nevertheless attempts to establish relevance on the theory that these sources not only failed to mention plaintiff but also told Smith that only the officers whom they mentioned were involved. Plaintiff then argues that the conclusion which Smith must have drawn is that plaintiff was definitely not involved. It of course strains reasonableness to argue that the sources would have purported to be sure that only certain individuals were involved and no others. However, plaintiff reaches this conclusion and then submits that perhaps the authors of the allegedly defamatory articles also talked to these same sources and were given the same definitive list of the only officers involved  a list not mentioning plaintiff. This conclusion is also highly speculative. Plaintiff then further submits that the authors of the allegedly defamatory articles would have been contemplating this conversation some 15 months later when they were writing the articles and that recollection of this conversation would have caused them, when reading the grand jury report, to seriously doubt whether the report actually implicated plaintiff. Plaintiff's line of reasoning fails to take account of the possibility that during the 15-month time span evidence of additional participants might have been discovered and presented to the grand jury. This possibility would surely have been apparent to the authors of the allegedly libelous articles. Plaintiff apparently believes that had the names of these confidential sources been disclosed prior to trial, he could have obtained the testimony of these sources and perhaps established that the above scenario occurred. Considering the long and tenuous nature of the chain purportedly linking these sources to any relevant issue in this case  the state of mind of the allegedly defamatory authors  we find that the court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the identity of these sources was irrelevant.