Court Opinion

ID: 9860042
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:08:16.335307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:17:10.086495
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COOK, dissenting: I respectfully dissent and would reverse and remand for a new trial. Imagine a case where the defendant has made the firm decision not to testify, but nevertheless files a motion to bar admission of his prior convictions. The defendant may file the motion in hopes of injecting error into the record. If the trial court rules that a conviction is admissible, the defendant may then complain that he would have testified, but for the erroneous admission of the conviction. The Supreme Court has refused to review a ruling that a conviction is admissible, unless the defendant testifies. Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 41-43, 83 L. Ed. 2d 443, 447-49, 105 S. Ct. 460, 463-64 (1984). In some cases, of course, the admission of the conviction may truly be the reason the defendant does not testify, but on balance the belief has been that defendant must testify to preserve the issue. The defendant’s choice is either to accept the ruling and not testify or to testify and appeal the ruling. Trial courts sometimes take a similar approach, that they are not going to rule on the admissibility of a prior conviction unless the defendant testifies. There is a difference, however, between an appellate court declining to review a trial court’s ruling and a trial court’s declining to rule. There may be no problem with the trial court’s declining to rule when the defendant does not testify, but there is a problem when the defendant then does testify, as in this case. At that point it is no longer “speculation” whether the defendant is going to testify, and by refusing to rule in advance the court has prevented the defendant from making an intelligent choice whether doing so is in his best interest. Refusing to rule in advance also prevents the defendant from making an anticipatory disclosure of the convictions. Anticipatory disclosure in the absence of a pretrial or trial ruling permitting admissibility constitutes a waiver of the right to raise error on appeal. People v. Williams, 161 Ill. 2d 1, 34-35, 641 N.E.2d 296, 310 (1994) (defendant entitled to attempt to minimize the damage of prior conviction evidence by introducing it himself). A trial court’s refusal to rule in advance ignores Montgomery’s exhortation to trial judges to consider “above all, the extent to which it is more important to the search for truth in a particular case for the jury to hear the defendant’s story than to know of a prior conviction.” Montgomery, 47 Ill. 2d at 518, 268 N.E.2d at 699; People v. Phillips, 371 Ill. App. 3d 948, 952, 864 N.E.2d 823, 828 (2007). Phillips found that the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to rule prior to the defendant’s direct examination. Phillips, 371 Ill. App. 3d at 952-53, 864 N.E.2d at 828. “We cannot fathom what more the judge needed in order to conduct the balancing test and rule on the admissibility of the prior convictions. The defendant was deprived of the information he needed to make an informed and intelligent decision about whether to testify.” Phillips, 371 Ill. App. 3d at 952, 864 N.E.2d at 828. Nevertheless, the Phillips court declined to review the issue because defendant did not testify. Phillips, 371 Ill. App. 3d at 954, 864 N.E.2d at 829. Our court has taken a similar approach. “What more did the trial court need to know ***? *** We conclude the court should have ruled and then defendant could meaningfully consider whether to exercise his right to testify.” Ballard, 346 Ill. App. 3d at 544-45, 805 N.E.2d at 666. We affirmed in Ballard because the defendant did not testify. The defendant in the present case, however, did testify. What justification is there for the trial court’s refusal to rule in this case? As discussed above, the argument that a trial court needs to hear the defendant’s testimony before ruling whether prior convictions are admissible has been rejected. “There may be times when a trial court cannot effectively conduct the Montgomery balancing test without hearing the defendant’s direct testimony, although it is difficult to envision that happening with any frequency. In most cases, as was true in this case, the judge will have heard enough or been told enough to find the issue ripe for decision.” Phillips, 371 Ill. App. 3d at 952-53, 864 N.E.2d at 828. No special reasons for refusal to rule in advance are argued in this case. The fact that motions in limine should be used cautiously in civil cases does not justify their wholesale rejection when a Montgomery issue is raised.