Opinion ID: 2068732
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: admission of prior inconsistent statement

Text: The defendant argues that the trial court erred in refusing to permit defense counsel to call Jacqueline Price, a newspaper reporter, as a witness to an allegedly prior inconsistent statement given by Bishop, the surviving victim. This issue was not preserved in a post-trial motion. Accordingly, it is waived. ( People v. Enoch (1988), 122 Ill.2d 176, 186, 119 Ill.Dec. 265, 522 N.E.2d 1124.) Notwithstanding waiver, however, we have examined the claim and found it meritless. During the course of a newspaper telephone interview, Bishop allegedly told the reporter, Price, that the first black male who came into the gas station mini-mart was the taller one. The defendant argues that this statement contradicts Bishop's trial testimony and indicates that Thomas, the taller of the two assailants, was the first black male to enter the store. Thus, it is claimed that the prior inconsistent statement supports Lear's defense that it was Thomas who killed McAnarney and shot Bishop, since the evidence shows that the first black male who entered the store committed the shootings. After reviewing the transcript of Bishop's testimony, the trial court found that Bishop never compared the relative sizes of Thomas and the defendant on direct examination but instead testified that the defendant was larger than himself. Consequently, the trial court found that there was no inconsistency between Bishop's two statements that would justify Price's impeachment testimony. We have also reviewed the transcript and agree with the trial court.