Opinion ID: 2020324
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procedural Default and Forfeiture

Text: As noted above, the State never argued in the appellate court, or raised as an issue in its petition for leave to appeal, that the admission of Von's out-of-court statements to Weber and Officer Cure, though improper, was harmless error. Nor did the State argue below, or in its petition for leave to appeal, that respondent should be precluded from raising a confrontation clause claim pursuant to the doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing. The State concedes that by raising these issues for the first time in its brief before this court, the issues may be deemed forfeited and we need not consider them. The State, however, asks that we excuse the forfeiture and consider the issues on their merits. Respondent does not contend that we should forgo addressing the State's alternative claims because they have been procedurally defaulted due to the failure to raise them below. Nor does respondent object to reaching the merits of the State's claims on the ground that the issues were not included in the petition for leave to appeal and are being raised for the first time in the State's brief before this court. Thus, respondent has forfeited any procedural default or forfeiture by the State. Nevertheless, in recently filed opinions of this court, the failure to include a claim in a petition for leave to appeal has been raised sua sponte by this court and relied upon to deny consideration of the claim. See, e.g., People v. Whitfield, 228 Ill.2d 502, 321 Ill.Dec. 233, 888 N.E.2d 1166 (2007); People v. Robinson, 223 Ill.2d 165, 308 Ill.Dec. 19, 860 N.E.2d 1101 (2006). Accordingly, one could interpret these cases as suggesting that the failure to include an issue in a petition for leave to appeal stands as an absolute bar to review by this court. Such an interpretation of these cases, however, would be incorrect. This court has long held that the failure to raise an issue in a petition for leave to appeal is not a jurisdictional bar to this court's ability to review a matter but, rather, a principle of administrative convenience. See Dineen v. City of Chicago, 125 Ill.2d 248, 265-66, 126 Ill.Dec. 52, 531 N.E.2d 347 (1988). In other words, this court always has the authority to review a matter not properly preserved, or may decline to do so, as a matter of discretion. Although that discretion should not be exercised arbitrarily, review of an issue not specifically mentioned in a petition for leave to appeal will be appropriate when that issue is inextricably intertwined with other matters properly before the court. Hansen v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 198 Ill.2d 420, 430, 261 Ill.Dec. 744, 764 N.E.2d 35 (2002). In a situation, such as here, where a court of review determines that certain evidence was improperly admitted at trial, it is entirely appropriate to consider whether any exceptions to inadmissibility apply and whether the admission of evidence, though error, was harmless. These matters are inextricably intertwined with the determination of whether the error that occurred requires reversal. Thus, we consider the State's alternative claims despite its failure to present them in the petition for leave to appeal.