Court Opinion

ID: 9738073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:41:57.446113+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:03.612210
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, dissenting: The sixth amendment guarantees one accused of a crime “that he need not stand alone against the State at any stage of the prosecution, formal or informal, in court or out, where counsel’s absence might derogate from the accused’s right to a fair trial.” (United States v. Wade (1967), 388 U.S. 218, 226, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149, 1157, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 1932.) Because, as I read it, the majority opinion condones the prosecutor’s failure to honor defendant’s sixth amendment right to counsel, I am compelled to dissent. In particular, I disagree with the court’s holding that “defendant’s sixth amendment right to counsel had not yet attached because formal adversary judicial proceedings had not been initiated against him.” (121 Ill. 2d at 433.) Not only do I question the conclusion reached, but I am not persuaded by the court’s analysis. Instead of building upon our previous discussion of the stage at which sixth amendment rights attach (see People v. Owens (1984), 102 Ill. 2d 88, 101), the majority’s holding rests on one conclusory sentence: “The complaint did not constitute a formal commitment by the People to prosecute defendant.” (121 Ill. 2d at 433.) I believe that this issue, which has been the basis of an appellate court split1 and an award-winning article (see Robinson, Defendant’s Pre-indictment Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel: Its Attachment and Waiver, 74 Ill. B.J. 484 (1986)), requires further analysis. The opinion purports to rely on Kirby v. Illinois (1972), 406 U.S. 682, 689-90, 32 L. Ed. 2d 411, 418, 92 S. Ct. 1877, 1882, but that case neither decided the issue here, nor required any “formal commitment” to prosecute or “formal” adversary judicial proceedings to trigger a defendant’s sixth amendment rights. In Kirby, the Supreme Court presented the rationale for holding that defendant’s right to counsel attaches at or after the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings: “The initiation of judicial criminal proceedings is far from a mere formalism. It is the starting point of our whole system of adversary criminal justice. For it is only then that the government has committed itself to prosecute, and only then that the adverse positions of government and defendant have solidified. It is then that a defendant finds himself faced with the prosecutorial forces of organized society, and immersed in the intricacies of substantive and procedural criminal law. It is this point, therefore, that marks the commencement of the ‘criminal prosecutions’ to which alone the explicit guarantees of the Sixth Amendment are applicable.” {Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689-90, 32 L. Ed. 2d at 417-18, 92 S. Ct. at 1882.) Subsequently, in explaining the Kirby Court’s reference to adversary judicial criminal proceedings commenced “by way of formal charge [or] preliminary hearing,” the Supreme Court wrote: “The prosecution in this case was commenced under Illinois law when the victim’s complaint was filed in court.” (Moore v. Illinois (1977), 434 U.S. 220, 228, 54 L. Ed. 2d 424, 433, 98 S. Ct. 458, 464, citing Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, par. 111.) The Court went on to explain that by the time of the preliminary hearing, when it is determined whether there is probable cause to bind petitioner over to the grand jury and set bail, there is no doubt that adversarial judicial criminal proceedings under Kirby have been initiated. Thus, the Moore Court did not have to reach the question presented here: whether the filing of a complaint, the issuance and execution of an arrest warrant and extensive questioning by the assistant State’s Attorney mark the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings. The majority also cites People v. Owens (1984), 102 Ill. 2d 88, 101, as support for its holding. But in Owens, this court expressly declined to decide the issue. “We note that, to date, neither the Supreme Court (see Edwards v. Arizona (1981), 451 U.S. 477, 480 n.7, 68 L. Ed. 2d 378, 383 n.7, 101 S. Ct. 1880, 1883 n.7) nor this court has resolved whether sixth amendment rights automatically attach upon the filing of a complaint. Nor do we find it necessary to resolve that issue here.” (Owens, 102 Ill. 2d at 101). The Owens court did, however, provide some guidance when it pointed out that “there is respectable authority that whether adversarial proceedings commence with the filing of a complaint depends on the degree of prosecutorial involvement.” (Owens, 102 Ill. 2d at 101.) In view of this suggestion, I believe it is helpful to review the role of prosecutors in the events leading up to the defendant’s inculpatory statement to determine whether defendant’s right to counsel had attached at the time he made the statement. On March 17, 1981, a police investigator filed a felony complaint against Willie Thompkins and a warrant for his arrest was issued and executed by about 11 a.m. In addition to police interrogations, between the hours of 3:30 and 9:30 p.m. two assistant State’s Attorneys questioned the defendant on three or four occasions for periods ranging from a few minutes to an hour. The next day, after the defendant had been brought to the Markham courthouse for a bond hearing, the assistant State’s Attorney gave two police investigators permission to further interrogate the defendant. In fact, Officer Houlihan testified that the assistant State’s Attorney had requested him to interrogate the defendant just before the bond hearing. It was at this point, after the defendant had been under arrest for over 24 hours and had been brought to the lockup area directly adjacent to the bond hearing courtroom, that defendant made the inculpatory statements he contends should have been suppressed. I believe that under the facts of this case the defendant’s sixth amendment rights attached prior to his inculpatory statement. Instead of following our previous suggestion that attachment of the right to counsel may hinge upon the degree of prosecutorial involvement (Owens, 102 Ill. 2d at 101), the majority opinion disregards what I view to be quite a high degree of prosecutorial involvement at the time just prior to defendant’s bond hearing. Two assistant State’s Attorneys had interrogated defendant over the course of several hours after a felony complaint had been filed and defendant had been arrested pursuant to a warrant. The defendant had been brought to the courthouse for his bond hearing and was awaiting the arrival of his attorney when two police investigators, acting upon the assistant State’s Attorney’s suggestion, questioned, and elicited an inculpatory statement from, the defendant. Given the facts that defendant was at the threshold of his bond hearing, that a complaint for his arrest had issued and that he had undergone intensive interrogation over a period greater than 24 hours, there appears to be no doubt that the assistant State’s Attorney was committed to prosecute and that “the adverse positions of government and defendant [had] solidified” (Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689, 32 L. Ed. 2d at 418, 92 S. Ct. at 1882). By basing its decision on the lack of “a formal commitment” to prosecute, the majority turns the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings into “a mere formalism,” contrary to the letter and spirit of Kirby. (406 U.S. at 689, 32 L. Ed. 2d at 418, 92 S. Ct. at 1882.) Kirby suggests that the right to counsel attaches “at or after the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings — whether by way of formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.” (Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689, 32 L. Ed. 2d at 417, 92 S. Ct. at 1882.) Though I believe it is unnecessary to decide the issue here, there are strong arguments that the mere filing of a felony complaint marks the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings. (See People v. Curtis (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 241, 245-48.) “If it were otherwise, the use of the pertinent term ‘formal charge’ in Kirby to designate when adversarial judicial proceedings have been initiated would be meaningless, for the term would not be distinguished from ‘preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.’ ” Curtis, 132 Ill. App. 3d at 247. But even if the police investigator’s filing of a felony complaint for preliminary examination did not itself trigger defendant’s sixth amendment rights, the logic of the Supreme Court’s sixth amendment decisions dictates a finding that defendant’s right to counsel had attached before he made the inculpatory statements. Beginning with Massiah v. United States (1964), 377 U.S. 201, 12 L. Ed. 2d 246, 84 S. Ct. 1199, and Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), 378 U.S. 478, 12 L. Ed. 2d 977, 84 S. Ct. 1758, the Supreme Court has. held that the sixth amendment right to counsel attaches once the suspect reaches the status of an “accused.” Though the logic of a line drawn at the point of accusation has often been criticized (see, e.g., Uviller, Evidence from the Mind of the Criminal Suspect: A Reconsideration of the Current Rules of Access and Restraint, 87 Colum. L. Rev. 1137 (1987)), the Court has consistently held that formal accusation triggers the suspect’s right to counsel. (See Moran v. Burbine (1986), 475 U.S. 412, 428, 89 L. Ed. 2d 410, 425, 106 S. Ct. 1135, 1145 (sixth amendment right to counsel attaches at first formal charging proceeding).) Though the Court abandoned Escobedo’s “focus of suspicion” test, it has adhered to the rationale underlying Kirby and Escobedo that the right to counsel would be meaningless if it attaches only after a suspect has been subjected to “the prosecutorial forces of organized society” {Kirby, 406 U.S. at 689, 32 L. Ed. 2d at 418, 93 S. Ct. at 1882). Respecting this accusatory demarcation, I think there is no doubt in this case that at the latest, the bond hearing marked the point of accusation or initiation of adversarial judicial criminal proceedings, especially in view of the type of interrogation that preceded it. The Illinois criminal code requires that a person arrested on a warrant be taken without unnecessary delay before a judge who must inform the defendant, and provide a copy, of the charge against him, admit the defendant to bail, and advise the defendant of his right to counsel. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 109 — 1.) These requirements suggest that a bond hearing held pursuant to this statute is a “formal charging proceeding” to which sixth amendment rights attach. Certainly, where the prosecutor argued for and obtained a denial of bond, as was the case here, one must assume that the government has decided to prosecute the defendant at the time of the bond hearing. Assuming that the right to counsel attached at the defendant’s bond hearing, I am unable to find either case law or rationales that suggest that any coherent distinction could or should be drawn in this case between the sixth amendment rights of the defendant at his bond hearing and the defendant’s sixth amendment rights just prior to the bond hearing, after the State had demonstrated its intent to prosecute by bringing the defendant to the courthouse. I am bothered by the encouragement the majority’s decision gives to prosecutors and police to delay the bond hearing to try to elicit a confession after the decision to prosecute has been made. A United States Court of Appeals has suggested that a United States Attorney’s office practice of routinely questioning uncounseled arrested persons just prior to arraignment “raises serious constitutional questions.” (See, e.g., United States v. Foley (2d Cir. 1984), 735 F.2d 45, 48.) In this case when asked why the defendant was not brought before the judge when he arrived at the courthouse, the assistant State’s Attorney said he thought the police were still preparing their reports. Not surprisingly, there was no suggestion that the delay was due to a lack of prosecutorial commitment. I believe that admitting the inculpatory statements in this case both rewards the State for its own delay and conflicts with the Supreme Court’s admonition that “at the very least, the prosecutor and police have an affirmative obligation not to act in a manner that circumvents and thereby dilutes the protection afforded by the right to counsel.” (Maine v. Moulton (1985), 474 U.S. 159, 171, 88 L. Ed. 2d 481, 493, 106 S. Ct. 477, 485.) Moreover, to allow the State to delay the bond hearing after it has decided to prosecute defendant may: “make the trial no more than an appeal from the interrogation; and the ‘right to use counsel at the formal trial [would be] a very hollow thing [if], for all practical purposes, the conviction is already assured by pretrial examination.’ In re Groban [(1957)], 352 U.S. 330, 344[, 1 L. Ed. 2d 376, 387, 77 S. Ct. 510, 519] (Black, J., dissenting). ‘One can imagine a cynical prosecutor saying: “Let them have the most illustrious counsel, now. They can’t escape the noose. There is nothing that counsel can do for them at the trial.” ’ [Citation.]” (Escobedo, 378 U.S. at 487-88, 12 L. Ed. 2d at 984, 84 S. Ct. at 1763.) For the foregoing reasons, I believe that the defendant’s right to counsel had attached at the time he made the inculpatory statements. Citing Owens, the State argues that defendant waived his right to counsel essentially by waiving his Miranda rights. In Owens, after noting that the Supreme Court had expressly reserved ruling on whether waiver of fifth amendment rights after Miranda warnings constitutes a valid sixth amendment waiver, we found a valid sixth amendment waiver because the defendant was “aware of the severity of the situation facing him” and informed by Miranda warnings of his right to have an attorney present. (Owens, 102 Ill. 2d at 102.) Since our decision in Owens, however, the Supreme Court has indicated that a higher standard may apply to the waiver of sixth amendment rights. First, in comparing fifth and sixth amendment limitations on questioning defendants, the Court wrote: “the reasons for prohibiting the interrogation of an uncounseled prisoner who has asked for the help of a lawyer are even stronger after he has been formally charged with an offense than before. *** Thus, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a postarraignment interrogation requires at least as much protection as the Fifth Amendment right to counsel at any custodial interrogation.” (Michigan v. Jackson (1986), 475 U.S. 625, 631-32, 89 L. Ed. 2d 631, 639, 106 S. Ct. 1404, 1408-09.) Thus, though the Court did not need to decide the relationship between fifth and sixth amendment waivers (Jackson, 475 U.S. at 635 n.10, 89 L. Ed. 2d at 642 n.10, 106 S. Ct. at 1411 n.10), its language suggests that it recognizes the need for a higher sixth amendment waiver standard. (See generally Donlevy, Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel: Does Miranda Suffice?, 1988 Chicago B. A. Rec. 13.) Further, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the only other case in which we applied the Owens sixth amendment waiver standard {People v. Thomas (1987), 116 Ill. 2d 290), specifically to decide whether Miranda admonitions are sufficient to assure that defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his sixth amendment right to counsel at post-indictment interrogations. (See Patterson v. Illinois (1987), 484 U.S. 895, 98 L. Ed. 2d 186, 108 S. Ct. 227.) In light of the Supreme Court’s suggestions in Jackson and its review of Patterson, our waiver analysis in Owens should be reconsidered, or at least it should not be applied until the Supreme Court decides Patterson. The State should have a higher burden in proving a waiver of sixth amendment rights than a waiver of Miranda rights. The point of establishing the waiver of fifth amendment rights is merely to demonstrate that the suspect’s statements were given voluntarily. Because the interests protected by the sixth amendment — “the right to rely on counsel as a ‘medium’ between [the defendant] and the State” (Jackson, 475 U.S. at 632, 89 L. Ed. 2d at 639, 106 S. Ct. at 1408-09) — are distinct from the purpose of the fifth amendment, the right to counsel should not be waived merely by establishing a lack of coercion. (Wyrick v. Fields (1982), 459 U.S. 42, 54, 74 L. Ed. 2d 214, 223, 103 S. Ct. 394, 399 (Marshall, J., dissenting).) Unlike a suspect who rationally may wish to waive fifth amendment rights in order to clear his name quickly, an accused person has little to gain and much to lose in consenting to uncounseled interrogation after adversarial proceedings have begun. Any police questioning initiated after the adversarial positions are established is most likely intended only to buttress the State’s case against the defendant. (United States v. Mohabir (2d Cir. 1980), 624 F.2d 1140, 1148.) The fact that the assistant State’s Attorney asked the police investigators to interrogate the defendant just before his bond hearing demonstrates that the interrogation here was “not legitimate investigation, but a species of discovery” (United States v. Clements (4th Cir. 1983), 713 F.2d 1030, 1034). In order to admit the fruits of such questioning, the Supreme Court has ruled “it was incumbent upon the State to prove ‘an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege’ ” (Brewer v. Williams (1977), 430 U.S. 387, 404, 51 L. Ed. 2d 424, 439, 97 S. Ct. 1232, 1242, quoting Johnson v. Zerbst (1938), 304 U.S. 458, 464, 82 L. Ed. 1461, 1466, 58 S. Ct. 1019, 1023.) Moreover, as the Court has repeatedly affirmed, courts should “ ‘indulge every reasonable presumption against waiver of fundamental constitutional rights’ ” (Jackson, 475 U.S. at 633, 89 L. Ed. 2d at 640, 106 S. Ct. at 1409 (quoting Zerbst, 304 U.S. at 464, 82 L. Ed. 2d at 1466, 58 S. Ct. at 1023).) Because the presumption against waiver “applies equally to an alleged waiver of the right to counsel whether at trial or at a critical stage of pretrial proceedings” (Brewer, 430 U.S. at 404, 51 L. Ed. 2d at 440, 97 S. Ct. at 1242), it is essential to review the waiver standard that applies to the right to counsel at trial in Illinois. Our Rule 401(a) requires that the trial court inform defendant of, and make sure the defendant understands, the nature of the charge against him, the minimum and maximum sentence at stake, and the right to counsel. (107 Ill. 2d R. 401(a).) There is conflicting evidence in this case as to whether defendant was made aware of the charges against him prior to the interrogation that elicited his inculpatory statement, and there is no evidence that defendant knew of the possible sentences associated with those charges. Under these facts, I think that the State has failed to meet its burden of proving that defendant knowingly and intelligently relinquished his right to counsel at the interrogation just prior to his bond hearing. If the defendant’s sixth amendment rights were violated without any valid waiver, as I believe to be the case here, defendant’s oral inculpatory statement was inadmissible at trial and should have been suppressed. Considering the damaging nature of Investigator Houlihan’s testimony to the defendant’s inculpatory statements, there is no doubt that the sixth amendment violation in this case constituted prejudicial error. I also believe that the majority has improperly dismissed defendant’s contention that during closing argument the prosecutor improperly bolstered the testimony and credibility of its key witness. (121 Ill. 2d at 422-27.) I do not understand how the majority can concede that the prosecutor’s reference to Sandra Douglas’ statements to the Birmingham police was a comment upon matters not in evidence, yet still conclude that it did not improperly bolster her testimony. The prosecutor could not have been more direct in his assertion to the jury that the witness had made a prior consistent statement: “she walk[ed] into a police station and t[old] them exactly what she told you ladies and gentlemen.” To make matters worse, the trial court expressly overruled defense counsel’s objection that there was no evidence of what she told the police, thereby confirming the inference that there had been a prior consistent statement. This court has held that such a fact that is not based on evidence admitted in the case may not properly be argued before the jury. (People v. Whitlow (1982), 89 Ill. 2d 322, 341; People v. Beier (1963), 29 Ill. 2d 511, 517.) Thus, in my opinion, the only question is whether this error constituted reversible error. This was reversible error if it is reasonable to conclude that the jury was prejudiced by the improper remarks. (Whitlow, 89 Ill. 2d at 341; People v. Allen (1959), 17 Ill. 2d 55, 63.) Moreover, to the extent that the State’s case was dependent on the credibility of Sandra Douglas, the error is presumed to be reversible error. “Where guilt or innocence depends entirely on the credibility of an accuser and the defendant, no error should be permitted to intervene. ‘Where error is shown to exist, it will compel reversal, unless the record affirmatively shows that the error was not prejudicial.’ ” (Peopie v. Emerson (1983), 97 Ill. 2d 487, 502.) Sandra Douglas was the State’s principal witness and the only occurrence witness to the crimes; her credibility was crucial to the prosecution. In light of this, I believe that the majority errs when it concludes that the prosecutor’s improper comment did not result in substantial prejudice to the defendant. For these reasons I would reverse the convictions and remand this case for a new trial. Even if I did not believe that the conviction should be overturned, however, I would dissent based on my belief that the Illinois death penalty statute is unconstitutional. For the reasons stated in my dissent to People v. Lewis (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 129, 179 (Simon, J., dissenting), I would vacate the death sentence, and I join Justice Marshall in urging Supreme Court review of “a scheme that gives the prosecutor the unbridled discretion to select, from the group of individuals convicted of an offense punishable by death, the subgroup that will be considered for death.” Eddmonds v. Illinois (1984), 469 U.S. 894, 896, 83 L. Ed. 2d 207, 208, 105 S. Ct. 271, 272 (Marshall, J., dissenting); see also People v. Johnson (1987), 119 Ill. 2d 119, 152-53 (Simon, J., dissenting) (citing cases and articles that argue that prosecutorial discretion must be limited to prevent arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty).   1Compare People v. Curtis (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 241, 245-48 (First District, Third Division); People v. Faulkner (1980), 86 Ill. App. 3d 136, 139 (First District, Second Division); and People v. Hinton (1974), 23 Ill. App. 3d 369, 372 (Second District) (each finding that the right to counsel attached with the filing of a complaint and execution of an arrest warrant) with People v. Boswell (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 52, 57-59 (First District, Fourth Division); and People v. Racanelli (1985), 132 Ill. App. 3d 124, 130 (First District, Fifth Division) (each finding that sixth amendment rights do not necessarily attach upon the mere filing of a complaint and execution of an arrest warrant). See also People v. Fleming (1985), 134 Ill. App. 3d 562, 566-67 (First District, Second Division) (applying flexible standard based on degree of prosecutorial involvement).