Court Opinion

ID: 9740943
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:45:29.957964+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:17.287930
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE EGAN, dissenting: Because of the conclusion made by the majority that the barred testimony would not have supported the arrest as a matter of law, I deem it appropriate to set out the issues the parties have presented to us and the way they have been presented. The State initially maintained that the trial judge erred in granting the defendant’s motion to suppress; and in its argument the State relied, in part, on the evidence contained in its offer of proof, that is, that the officers were "looking for [a] black man in a blue jacket and a black hat, which is the description of defendant at the time of his arrest.” In his response, the defendant contends that the barred testimony should not be considered but adds, in a footnote, that the arrest would not be justified, even if the barred testimony were properly to be considered. The State filed a reply brief but did not respond to the footnote statement. I assume that the State felt that the cases it cited in its initial argument constituted a response to the cases cited by the defendant. I agree with the defendant that we should not consider the barred testimony in determining whether the judge erred in suppressing the evidence, but I am not prepared to accept the defendant’s alternative argument, as apparently the majority does, that, as a matter of law, all the evidence, including the barred testimony, would not justify the arrest. Moreover, in my judgment the rules governing orderly appellate practice dictate that we should not consider the alternative argument for the reason that it has not been properly presented to us. Issues should be presented forthrightly and clearly to reviewing courts as well as trial courts and not as an aside or obscurely in a footnote. See Harvey v. Carponelli (1983), 117 Ill. App. 3d 448, 453 N.E.2d 820; Home Insurance Co. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (1994), 266 Ill. App. 3d 1049, 641 N.E.2d 855. What the majority implicitly says is that if the judge had allowed the motion to reopen the proof and had considered the additional testimony, he would have committed reversible error if he denied the motion to suppress. What the majority says in this case may be cited as precedent in many cases to come. I think it unwise and inappropriate for us to make an expression on the sufficiency of the evidence based on the manner in which it has been presented to us. I point out also that that argument was not made in the trial court. Finally, I am not confident that the arrest would still be unjustified if the barred testimony had been admitted. The majority does not cite any case in that part of the opinion in support of its holding; but, as noted, the defendant cites several cases in the footnote. All of the cases cited by the defendant are factually inapposite. For example, in People v. Gabbard (1979), 78 Ill. 2d 88, 398 N.E.2d 574, the officer admitted that the defendant did not match the description the officer had received and that he arrested the defendant based on a police policy to check out everybody found walking on the road. In In re Woods (1974), 20 Ill. App. 3d 641, 314 N.E.2d 606, also cited by the defendant, the officer testified that he arrested the defendant and two other boys because it "looked” to the officer that the boys were truants. The appellate court concluded that the description of the boys was not the basis of their detention. I believe that at least one case would be respectable authority for the State’s position if the barred testimony had been admitted. See People v. McGee (1987), 165 Ill. App. 3d 833, 520 N.E.2d 836. I turn now to what was presented to us as the controlling issue: Did the trial judge abuse his discretion when he denied the State’s motion to reopen the proof? The majority says he did not; and I say he did. The judge originally denied the motion to suppress on the ground that the defendant lacked standing. After he heard all the evidence and closing arguments, the judge, sua sponte, raised the motion to reconsider his denial of the motion to suppress. I am frank to say I do not know what additional evidence he heard at the trial that would affect standing. After he vacated his order he offered to permit the State to present evidence and made some observations worth repeating: "I will set the matter for further hearing on the Defendant’s motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence or grant a continuance in order for the State to consider whether or not there is any further evidence that it cares to adduce, being mindful that I have heard the testimony of the relevant police officers, I think at any rate, at the trial and I can consider the trial evidence as it bears and impacts upon the Defendant’s motion to quash.” (Emphasis added.) The judge then granted the State’s request for a short recess, and later the prosecutor said this: "In view of the Court’s ruling on their reconsideration motion to suppress the State, and you already heard the testimony, the State would represent that that would be the testimony that they would use for the remaining portion of the motion to suppress.” (Emphasis added.) I ask rhetorically at this point: Was it so unreasonable on the part of the prosecutor, in view of the judge’s reference to his having already heard the "relevant” testimony of the officer, to believe that the State had presented sufficient evidence to justify the arrest? I do not think so. He may have been wrong but not unreasonable. At a later date, the judge denied the motion to reopen proof without knowing what the evidence would be. After the denial he allowed the State to make an offer of proof, and the offer of proof did not change his mind. Other questions arise in my mind: How would the defendant be prejudiced if the judge had allowed the State’s motion to reopen the proof? Neither the trial judge nor the majority has expressed any reason for the denial of the State’s motion other than it came late. And what would be the posture of this case if it was the defendant who made the motion to reopen the proof and established that that proof was, indeed, probative? There is no doubt in my mind that, if the judge had denied the defendant’s motion to reopen the proof to introduce concededly probative evidence, the defendant would be urging two things on appeal: (1) that the judge abused his discretion and (2) that his attorney was guilty of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to produce the evidence at the hearing. And there is no doubt in my mind that the defendant would make a respectable case for reversal. The effect of the majority’s holding is this: the judge may change his mind; a defendant may change his mind; but the State may not. It has been said before and bears repeating that a criminal trial is a search for the truth and is not a game. (In re Lamb (1974), 21 Ill. App. 3d 827, 837, 316 N.E.2d 42.) And if it is to be treated as a game, at least both sides should have a level playing field. The State did not have one in this case. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.