Opinion ID: 2098743
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Trial Court's Refusal to Provide Funds for a Mitigation Expert

Text: Defendant next argues that he was denied due process when the trial court denied his pretrial request for funds to hire a mitigation expert to assist with the capital sentencing hearing. We agree with the State that this claim is waived because it could have been raised on direct appeal. Considerations of waiver and res judicata limit the range of issues available to a post-conviction petitioner to constitutional matters that have not been, and could not have been, previously adjudicated. Tenner, 175 Ill.2d at 378, 222 Ill.Dec. 325, 677 N.E.2d 859. Rulings on issues that were previously raised at trial or on direct appeal are res judicata, and issues that could have been raised, but were not, are waived. People v. Coleman, 168 Ill.2d 509, 522, 214 Ill.Dec. 212, 660 N.E.2d 919 (1995). Defendant argues that this claim is not waived because it is based on evidence outside the original trial record. We disagree. This exception to the waiver rule in post-conviction appeals refers to those claims that could not have been considered by the reviewing court on direct appeal because the claim's evidentiary basis was de hors the record. Whitehead, 169 Ill.2d at 372, 215 Ill.Dec. 164, 662 N.E.2d 1304. Defendant claims that, through the post-conviction affidavits of people critical of the presentence investigation report, he has now established that he was prejudiced by the trial court's ruling. We are unsure why defendant is discussing prejudice. The question here is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant's request for appointment of a mitigation specialist. See People v. Burt, 168 Ill.2d 49, 79, 212 Ill.Dec. 893, 658 N.E.2d 375 (1995). The evidence necessary to resolve that question is what was presented to the trial court at the time the request was made. In the motion, defendant's attorney claimed that neither he nor the staff of the public defender's office had the necessary skills to prepare a life history of defendant. At the hearing on the motion, defense counsel elaborated that the public defender's office did not have adequate staff to prepare a mitigation report dealing with defendant's schooling, his family and work histories, his medical records, and his school records. However, defense counsel told the court, for the record, I'm aware of no-certainly there is no statute or basis for this request. I'm not aware of any, and I also am not aware of any case law in the circuit that allows the same, but, I believe that this request is very important. Defense counsel also maintained that he did not believe that the probation department could do an adequate job. The trial court denied the motion, and instead ordered the probation and court services department of St. Clair County to investigate defendant's background and to prepare a report in the nature of a presentence investigation report. The court also ordered Cheryl Prost to conduct psychological examinations and tests on defendant and to make the results available to the State, defendant, and the court. The question is, in light of what defense counsel represented to the trial court, did the court abuse its discretion in denying the request for a mitigation expert? Defendant preserved this issue in his post-trial motion, and argued it at the hearing on the post-trial motion. There is no reason he could not have made this argument on direct appeal. The argument does not depend on the fact that defendant now has attached to his petition what he considers to be better mitigating evidence. That was his argument all along: that he needed funds to have someone conduct an adequate investigation and that he would not be able on his own to muster evidence of this quality. This was a routine abuse of discretion argument that should have been presented on direct appeal, as it was in Burt and People v. Lear, 143 Ill.2d 138, 157 Ill.Dec. 412, 572 N.E.2d 876 (1991). Defendant has waived this argument, and the trial court properly dismissed this count of the post-conviction petition.