Opinion ID: 2093466
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Trial Court's Answer to Jury Question

Text: The jury was initially instructed on the meaning of the phrase permanent deprivation according to Illinois Pattern Jury Instruction, Criminal, No. 13.33B (4th ed.2000), which is virtually identical to the statutory definition of the term (720 ILCS 5/15-3 (West 2000)). During deliberations, the jury sent out a note asking, In this case, what exactly does `deprive the owner permanently' mean? Defense counsel did not object when the trial court indicated its intent to utilize the dictionary definition of permanently to fashion its response: The intent to deprive the owner permanently means the intent to not pay back or the intent not to return. However, the trial court's written response that was actually given to the jury did not contain the definition to which defense counsel had agreed. Instead, the trial court's written response said only: The intent to `deprive the owner permanently' means the intent to deprive. Defendant's pro se motion alleged that the trial court erred in rendering a definition of the meaning of `permanently deprive' in response to a jury question. Defendant did not claim that defense counsel was ineffective with regard to the court's response to the jury question. This issue could be deemed procedurally defaulted for failure to preserve it in a posttrial motion. Defendant now argues that defense counsel was responsible for and complicit in the trial court's giving a meaningless incomplete response to the jury's question. We conclude that defendant cannot prevail on this claim because, even if the trial court's written response to this jury question introduced error, the error is attributable to the trial court, not to ineffective assistance by defense counsel. Similarly, even if the response that defense counsel agreed to would have been improper, his agreement to the court's proposed answer cannot have prejudiced defendant because that answer was never given to the jury.