Opinion ID: 2094772
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Failure of Post-Trial Counsel to Present Newly Discovered Evidence of Torture Allegations

Text: Following defendant's conviction, Dosch sought to continue the date for filing a post-trial motion until after the trial transcripts were completed. The trial court denied the motion, and Dosch failed to file a post-judgment motion. Subsequently, this court remanded the action for the filing of a post-trial motion. Thereafter, in an arrangement with the office of the State Appellate Defender, Joan Kubalanza, an attorney with Foley & Lardner who normally handled commercial litigation, assumed primary responsibility for handling defendant's post-trial motion and appeal. Defendant now contends that, before Kubalanza filed her motion, she knew that (1) Burge was the red-haired officer; (2) a federal jury had found a policy and practice of torture and abuse by Area 2 detectives; and (3) the City of Chicago had held public hearings at which acts of torture and abuse by Burge had been detailed. Defendant also claims that Kubalanza had access to (1) trial counsel's file containing Wilson's proffer and information concerning Caine and Arbuckle, who could corroborate defendant's testimony; (2) an article from the Chicago Reader documenting torture by Burge and other Area 2 detectives; and (3) an OPS report finding that physical and psychological abuse was systemic and methodical in Area 2 from 1973 through 1986. Defendant asserts that, if Kubalanza had introduced this new evidence, the trial court would have granted defendant's motion for a new trial. For new evidence to be sufficient to grant a defendant a new trial, the evidence (1) must be of such conclusive character that it will probably change the result on retrial; (2) must be material but not merely cumulative; and (3) must have been discovered since trial and be of such character that the defendant in the exercise of due diligence could not have discovered it earlier. People v. Molstad, 101 Ill.2d 128, 134, 77 Ill.Dec. 775, 461 N.E.2d 398 (1984). Because defendant's claim is based upon a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, he must demonstrate that Kubalanza's failure to introduce this evidence fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that, but for counsel's error, a reasonable probability exists that the result of the proceeding would have been different. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2068-69, 80 L.Ed.2d at 698. Turning to the facts that defendant contends Kubalanza should have introduced, we can easily discard some of them. The fact that Burge was the red-haired officer and the facts contained within trial counsel's file were facts that were not new. Not only could they have reasonably been discovered earlier, they were. The article from the Chicago Reader is simply a newspaper article, and as such is essentially a collection of hearsay statements. Defendant fails to explain why this hearsay would have been admissible for any purpose. With respect to the hearings, defendant does not explain what information was revealed at those hearings that would have required the trial court to order a new trial. Turning to the OPS report, we note that defendant concedes that the report was not public at the time Kubalanza filed defendant's post-trial motion. Defendant contends, however, that the report could have been obtained by subpoena. Defendant, however, never explains why Kubalanza should have known that the OPS report existed. Without some explanation of why Kubalanza should have known that the OPS report existed, we will not find that Kubalanza's actions fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Kubalanza could not reasonably have been expected to engage in a fishing expedition by serving subpoenas on the Chicago police department. This is particularly true given that, just before defendant's trial, Dosch had subpoenaed records from the OPS and the trial court found that the records that OPS delivered were not relevant to the litigation. That leaves only the fact that a federal jury had found that Area 2 detectives had a policy and practice of torture and abuse. The evidence defendant relies on here is from the first Wilson civil trial. In that case, the jury found that Wilson's civil rights were violated. However, the jury also exonerated all of the individual officers, including Burge. Moreover, the finding with respect to the policy and practice of abuse was a finding that the City of Chicago had a de facto policy authorizing its police officers physically to abuse persons suspected of having killed or injured a police officer. (Emphasis added.) Wilson, 6 F.3d at 1236. After examining this evidence, we are unable to conclude that a reasonable probability exists that, had Kubalanza presented this in defendant's post-trial motion, the trial court would have concluded that the evidence was of such character that it would likely change the result on retrial. First, the jury verdict implicated no officer at all, let alone any officer identified by defendant. Second, the jury's finding, and Wilson's theory of the case, was that Area 2 detectives tortured defendants that they believed had killed or injured police officers. Here, the victims were not police officers. Thus, any probative value that the jury's verdict in the Wilson case might have is weakened to the point of irrelevancy. Consequently, we are unable to conclude that Kubalanza rendered the ineffective assistance of counsel when she prepared and presented defendant's post-trial motion.