Court Opinion

ID: 9738525
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:55:32.458825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:06.683164
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE GEORGE J. MORAN, dissenting: Under the facts of this case the indicia of trustworthiness necessary for admissibility was not met. The State may not rely on the business records exception, or any other hearsay exception, unless the proper foundation for admissibility, the circumstantial probability of trustworthiness, is established. People v. Gauer, 7 Ill. App. 3d 512, 288 N.E.2d 24. The parties in this case did not stipulate that the standard was LSD and the State did not establish that it was in fact LSD. The chemist’s testimony that the standard was supplied by the Federal government does not, by itself, establish that the standard was in fact LSD. The evidence of the thin layer chromatography test was thus inadmissible. In People v. Hammond, 115 Ill. App. 2d 347, 253 N.E.2d 29, an extrajudicial statement of a co-defendant which inculpated the defendant was erroneously admitted. Without the extra-judicial statement, the evidence was insufficient and the conviction was reversed without remand. In People v. Potts, 74 Ill. App. 2d 301, 220 N.E.2d 251, where the failure to inquire into the qualifications of a polygraph operator rendered the evidence inadmissible, the court found the remaining evidence insufficient to remove all reasonable doubt and the conviction was reversed outright. And where a motion to suppress evidence obtained by an illegal search is improperly denied, the proper course is reversal without remand where the remaining evidence is insufficient to convict. People v. Catavdella, 31 Ill. 2d 382, 202 N.E.2d 1; People v. Johnson, 38 Ill. 2d 399, 231 N.E.2d 447. Without the evidence of the thin layer chromatography test, the evidence is insufficient to establish that the substance delivered was in fact a controlled substance. I would reverse.