Opinion ID: 3134725
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Court’s Response to the Jury’s Question

Text: Defendant also claims prejudice from the circuit court’s refusal to answer a question the jury presented to the court during its deliberations on eligibility. The jury asked: “Do we unconditionally accept the previous judgments of guilty for murder, attempted murder and two counts of armed robbery as fact when evaluating this case or can we apply reasonable doubt to the prior guilty verdicts?” The circuit court asked the State and defense counsel for their recommendations for answering this question. The State asked the court to respond: “[Y]ou have evidence before you that the defendant has been convicted of armed robbery, attempt murder and murder. You are to consider that evidence in the eligibility phase.” Defense counsel recommended that the court respond: “You are required to deliberate solely based on the evidence you have heard in this case in accordance with my instructions.” The circuit court decided to provide the jury with the following answer: “You have received the evidence and jury instructions. Please continue to deliberate.” Neither party objected to the wording of the circuit court’s response. Now, defendant claims that the circuit court failed to respond to the jury’s question and that this failure requires that he receive a new sentencing hearing. According to defendant, the circuit court was required to respond to the jury’s question because it demonstrated the jury’s confusion regarding the legal effect of his prior convictions. Defendant contends that, as a result of the circuit court’s failure to respond to the jury’s question, there is a “strong likelihood” that the jury failed to make its own determination at eligibility as to whether defendant had actually killed Byrd because it assumed that this issue had already been determined at trial. We agree with the State that defendant has waived this issue for review. “Where a defendant acquiesces in the circuit court’s answer to the jury’s question, the defendant cannot later complain that the circuit court abused its discretion.” People v. Reid , 136 Ill. 2d 27, 38 (1990). In this case, we are unable to discern any significant difference between the answer suggested by defense counsel and the answer the circuit court provided to the jury. Accordingly, we find the issue waived.