Opinion ID: 2241961
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: State's Failure to Preserve Exculpatory/Mitigating Evidence

Text: Defendant maintains that his appellate counsel should have argued, on direct appeal, that defendant was denied due process of law as a result of the State's failure to preserve two pieces of evidence: (i) a prescription pill bottle bearing Barbara's name, and (ii) a bag containing crushed green plant. Defendant's arguments concerning the bag of green plant were previously rejected by this court on direct appeal and, therefore, are barred by the doctrine of res judicata. See Madej, 106 Ill.2d at 214, 88 Ill.Dec.77, 478 N.E.2d 392. With respect to the pill bottle, the record shows that although several of the investigating officers had noticed a small plastic bottle on the front seat of Barbara's car, they never included the bottle in the police inventory. Defendant claims that had the police properly inventoried the bottle, his counsel could have offered the bottle into evidence and substantiated his claim that he and Barbara were intoxicated at the time of the murder. We disagree. First, the record already contained substantial evidence of Barbara's intoxication at the time of her death, not the least of which was the toxicologist's report showing significant amounts of morphine in Barbara's bile. Introduction of the pill bottle, therefore, would have only provided an explanation as to the source of Barbara's intoxication, a fact which was already accepted by the trial court. Second, introduction of the pill bottle would not have substantiated defendant's claim of his own diminished capacity. Despite the fact that defendant himself took the stand, he never testified that he had ingested any of the drugs purportedly contained in the bottle. Thus, even if the State had preserved the pill bottle, its introduction into evidence would not have changed the outcome in this case.