Court Opinion

ID: 9782606
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:00:02.067257+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:06.501429
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE ROBERT E. GORDON, dissenting: In this case defendant had a 2003 juvenile adjudication for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. 408 Ill. App. 3d at 790. The majority finds that our Illinois Supreme Court instructed us in Harris that the “ ‘pivotal question’ ” for admissibility is whether the defendant testified in a manner that may reasonably be construed as an attempt to mislead the jury, and if that is the case the instruction of a juvenile adjudication is allowed. 408 Ill. App. 3d at 796 (quoting Harris, 231 Ill. 2d at 590-91). I read Harris to mean that a juvenile adjudication is allowed only when defendant attempts to mislead the jury about his criminal background because that is what it says. The “pivotal question” is whether the defendant was “attempting to mislead the jury about his criminal background.” Harris, 231 Ill. 2d at 590. In Harris, the defendant was attempting to mislead the jury at an armed robbery trial when he testified, “ T don’t commit crimes.’ ” Harris, 231 Ill. 2d at 591. In this case, defendant was not attempting to mislead the jury about his criminal background. The Illinois Supreme Court instructed us in Harris that as a general rule it is improper to cross-examine a defendant about a prior juvenile conviction unless the “defendant opens the door to such cross-examinations.” Harris, 231 Ill. 2d at 592 (citing People v. Coleman, 158 Ill. 2d 319, 337 (1994)). “[T]he pivotal question in this case is this: When defendant testified that T don’t commit crimes,’ was he attempting to mislead the jury about his criminal background? If he was, then he ‘opened the door’ and the trial court was well within its discretion to allow the admission of defendant’s prior adjudications for purposes of impeachment. If he was not, then defendant’s testimony was not a proper basis for the admission of evidence.” Harris, 231 Ill. 2d at 590. The majority interprets Harris as permitting the introduction of a juvenile adjudication so long as a defendant was attempting to mislead the jury about anything, without any regard to the topic about which he or she was allegedly trying to mislead. 408 Ill. App. 3d at 796 (issue is whether it was “not unreasonable to assume that defendant attempted to mislead the jury”). Interpreting Harris so broadly creates the classic exception that swallows the rule. If a defendant testifies, the State will always argue that the defendant was attempting to mislead the jury about something, and that the defendant has then opened the door to his or her juvenile adjudications. Since I would not broaden Harris to include any time when a defendant allegedly misleads the jury, I must respectfully dissent.