Court Opinion

ID: 9885095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:29:49.614319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:43.848936
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, dissenting: I cannot agree with the opinion of the court insofar as it holds that it was not reversible error to deny the defendant’s challenges for cause to three prospective jurors, or to fail to instruct the jury that the prosecution had the burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The first juror had known the family of the deceased for 20 years, had visited in their home, had talked to them at the hospital, and had attended the visitation at the funeral home. Their children were good friends. The majority holds that the defendant’s challenge for cause was properly rejected because she stated that she felt that a person in her frame of mind could do a fair job. The third juror was the pastor of the church to which one of the testifying police officers belonged. The officer was on the church board, and the pastor stated that because he knew the officer personally he would probably attach greater credibility to his testimony. Although he stated, as the majority points out, that he believed that the officer was human and not infallible, and so could be mistaken, he made this statement in response to a hypothetical question from the trial judge as to whether he would believe the officer if the testimony of six other witnesses conflicted with that of the officer. But the question is not, as the trial judge phrased it, whether it is ‘beyond the imagination” that someone could be mistaken, or whether a prospective witness is “human” and so might be mistaken, or even whether he would be believed if six other witnesses contradicted his testimony. The question is whether the juror could subject the testimony of that witness to the same tests of credibility that he would apply to every other witness. In response to a challenge for cause addressed to the second prospective juror, who had read part of a sensational account of the case in a police magazine, the trial judge said: “I find it somewhat difficult, too, but I can’t see into the minds of everyone and perhaps there are people intelligent enough to discount this and so forth. I opened the door for him as wide as I possibly could to give him an opportunity to disqualify himself and if in fact his answers are true, that he is not prejudiced, etcetera, etcetera, I can hardly discharge jurors on the basis of what I think they may be thinking so I will deny your motion.” With respect, I submit that this is exactly what the trial judge must do. A prospective juror’s statement of his own subjective frame of mind cannot be permitted to determine whether he can be impartial. As the Supreme Court said in Irvin v. Dowd: “No doubt each juror was sincere when he said that he would be fair and impartial to petitioner. But the psychological impact requiring such a declaration before one’s fellows is often its father.” (Irvin v. Dowd (1961), 366 U.S. 717, 728, 6 L. Ed. 2d 751, 759, 81 S. Ct. 1639.) The determination of whether or not a juror can be impartial must be based on human experience which recognizes that influences can operate even though they are not consciously present. (United States v. Wood, 299 U.S. 123, 145, 81 L. Ed. 78, 88, 57 S. Ct. 177.) This was recognized at common law by the disqualification of certain persons from serving as jurors in a particular case despite their protests that they could be fair. (See McCarten v. Connecticut Co. (1925), 103 Conn. 537, 131 A. 505.)The responsibility to determine impartiality rests with the trial judge who must exercise his judgment as to whether common knowledge and experience tell him that a juror may not be impartial. (United States v. Chapman (10th cir. 1946), 158 F.2d 417; State v. Joiner (1927), 163 La. 609, 112 S. 503; State v. Jackson (1964), 43 N.J. 148, 203 A. 2d 1.) He cannot, in my opinion, abdicate that responsibility on the ground that “perhaps there may be people intelligent enough to discount” improper influences to which they have been subjected. As to the burden of proof, I would have thought it beyond question that in a criminal case- an instruction must be given that the prosecution has the burden of proving the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet the only instruction bearing on the burden of proof stated: “The defendant is presumed to be innocent of the charge against him. This presumption remains with him throughout ever)' stage of the trial and during your deliberations on the verdict, and is not overcome unless from all the evidence in the case you are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.” As the majority points out, this is a verbatim copy of the first paragraph of section 2.03 of the recently adopted Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions for criminal cases. The second paragraph of that instruction was not given. It states: “The State has the burden of proving the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and this burden remains on the State throughout the case. The defendant is not required to prove his innocence.” The committee note to this instruction says: “The firm commitment to presumed innocence which can be overcome only by proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the touchstone of American criminal jurisprudence. This instruction must be given in all cases.” The majority interprets this note as implying that only the first paragraph of the instruction is crucial, and that the second paragraph, although desirable, is not necessary. I do not agree. The two rules stated in these paragraphs are complementary. The first states the rule as to the defendant: he is presumed innocent throughout the trial. The second declares that the duty to overcome that presumption rests solely on the State, and that the defendant need not introduce any evidence to support the presumption of innocence. In People v. Weinstein (1966), 35 Ill.2d 467, in reversing a conviction because of prejudicial statements by the prosecutor during final argument, this court said: “It is a fundamental doctrine of our system of criminal jurisprudence that the law presumes the innocence of an accused until he is proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citations.] The presumption is ‘founded on the first principles of justice, and in intended, not to protect the guilty, but to prevent, so far as human agencies can, the conviction of an innocent person.’ [Citation.] Equally basic is the rule of law that the burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the commission of the crime charged and to establish by the same degree of proof the perpetration of the crime by the person accused; that is to say, the prosecution has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt all the material and essential facts constituting the crime. [Citations.] The burden of such proof never shifts to the accused, but remains the responsibility of the prosecution throughout the trial. [Citations.].” 35 Ill.2d at 469-70. It is conceivable, I suppose, that the basic proposition that the State has the burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt can somehow be derived by implication from a statement that the defendant is presumed innocent unless all the evidence in the case convinces the jury otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt. But we have not heretofore thought so, and the draftsmen of the Pattern Jury Instructions did not think so. In my opinion the protection of this right of an accused is too important to be left to conjecture. By its decision in this case the majority has summarily done away with an instruction that has heretofore been thought fundamental in our system of criminal justice. If this instruction can be eliminated in a case in which the defendant is accused of murder, it can certainly be eliminated in every criminal case. In my opinion the judgment should be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.