Court Opinion

ID: 9712651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:57:59.279653+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:13.531024
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE RYAN, dissenting: I dissent from the opinion of the court for two reasons. First, the defendant did not preserve the failure of the court to grant a continuance by raising the issue in his post-trial motion, and, secondly, the evidence of the defendant’s guilt is so strong that any failure of the court to grant a continuance was not prejudicial. In discussing the continuance question, it must be considered in the context in which it was raised during the course of the trial. Nitz had been called by the State to testify in rebuttal. The defendant did not object. The only objection voiced by the defendant during the direct examination of this witness concerned one question, and the objection was “I object unless he lays a foundation.” Nitz’ testimony not only implicated the defendant in the armed robbery involved in the trial but also three other armed robberies. The defense counsel then cross-examined the witness concerning the armed robbery in question and the other three. The prosecutor conducted a redirect examination, and again there was only one objection from the defense, and that was because a question was leading. This was followed by re-cross-examination and by further redirect. At no time did the defendant object to any of this testimony. The State then rested and the defense counsel moved that the State be ordered to produce all information in its files that would show that the defendant was not the man who perpetrated the other robberies that Nitz had testified about. It was the other robberies that were the subject of what is referred to in the court’s opinion as “a heated discussion between adversaries.” The court denied the motion and the defense counsel stated: “Then I am moving for a mistrial on the grounds we are denied the only possibility we have, at this point in time, to rebut these additional accusations ***.” (Emphasis added.) The court denied the motion for a mistrial, and the defense counsel stated: “We move that the cause be continued until I can find out who the witnesses in this case are; so I can get subpoenas out to see if I can rehut this testimony.” (Emphasis added.) This was the only motion defendant made for a continuance. It was apparently requested so that defense counsel could rebut “these additional accusations” and not for the purpose urged in this court. None of .the allegations in the post-trial motion relate to the court’s failure to grant a continuance. The statement in the majority opinion that “a substantive analysis of the post-trial motion and its supplement demonstrates that the issue of prejudice resulting from the denial of the defense motion for a continuance *** was sufficiently brought to the attention of the trial court” has no foundation in the record. The primary concern of the post-trial motion and the supplement, as well as the argument of defense counsel during the course of the trial, focused on the failure of the State to exonerate the defendant from the other three robberies. The post-trial motion charges that the State caused the court “to make one or more of the following reversible errors ***.” Six different errors are then listed, and none of them relate in any way to the court’s failure to grant a continuance. Section 116 — 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 116 — 1) requires that the written motion for a new trial specify the grounds therefor. This court has repeatedly held that the failure to raise an issue in the written motion for a new trial constitutes a waiver of that issue and it cannot be urged as a ground for reversal on review. People v. Pickett (1973), 54 Ill. 2d 280; People v. Nelson (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 364; People v. Harris (1965), 33 Ill. 2d 389; People v. Irwin (1965), 32 Ill. 2d 441; People v. Touhy (1964), 31 Ill. 2d 236; People v. Greer (1964), 30 Ill. 2d 415. A reviewing court may, as a matter of grace, consider errors appearing of record which deprive the accused of a substantial means ' of enjoying a fair and impartial trial although not properly preserved for review in a case involving a deprivation of life or liberty. (People v. Burson (1957), 11 Ill. 2d 360.) However, the waiver rule is not relaxed in. situations such as those involved in this case, unless the evidence is closely balanced. (People v. Black (1972), 52 Ill. 2d 544, 552; People v. Pickett (1973), 54 Ill. 2d 280, 283.) In the case before us the evidence is not closely balanced. The granting of a motion for a continuance rests in the sound discretion of the trial court. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 114 — 4(e).) Even in cases where the denial of the motion has been properly preserved for review, the ruling of the trial court will not be disturbed unless the defendant has been prejudiced by the denial. People v. Davis (1970), 45 Ill. 2d 514. On April 18, 1973, at approximately 10 p.m., Joel Brown, an attendant at a Clark service station, was robbed. The individual who perpetrated the robbery was wearing a blue denim coat, blue jeans, a black shirt and a black hat, and he used a bayonet as a weapon. The robber took about $20 in coins and also two $5 bills, the numbers of which had been recorded by the service station operator. The $5 bills were kept in the cash register for the specific purpose of identification in the case of a robbery. In addition to the two $5 bills, some other money which Brown was carrying in his pocket was also taken. These bills were mostly of $1 denomination. Brown testified that he knew the defendant and recognized him as a person he had seen around the service station on six or seven previous occasions. He stated that he knew him by the name of “Sonny.” About 2:30 in the morning following the robbery the defendant was driving west on a highway in Rock Island County and apprently was having some trouble with his automobile. A State trooper approached from the opposite direction and stopped. The officer arrested the defendant for a minor offense, after which a bayonet which was partially hidden under the front seat was discovered and was taken from the automobile. Brown, the service station attendant, identified the bayonet as similar to the one used during the robbery. In the course of a subsequent search of the motor vehicle pursuant to a search warrant, a black hat similar to the one worn by the robber was discovered in the automobile. When the defendant was taken to the county jail by the police officer a paper bag was taken from his automobile and given to the jailer. The paper bag contained $22 in coins wrapped in a handkerchief. The defendant had $37 in currency in his pocket, mostly $1 bills. However, the jailer testified that there were some $5 bills in the currency taken from the defendant. The $5 bills, along with the other money, were placed in a cash drawer at the jail. The next day when the serial numbers of the two $5 bills taken in the robbery were learned, the currency in the cash drawer at the jail was checked and the two stolen $5 bills were found among the currency in the drawer. Later a police officer interrogated the defendant at the jail and told him that he was under arrest for the armed robbery of the service station and informed him that they had the two marked $5 bills that had come from the robbery and also told the defendant there had been other similar robberies in the area. The officer then asked the defendant if he wanted to talk about this particular robbery. The defendant then stated, “You have me on this one, but I didn’t do the others.” In light of the strong evidence against the defendant, including his statement to the officer which is an admission of his participation in this event bordering on a confession, it is difficult to see what prejudice was occasioned to the defendant by the denial of a motion for a continuance, even if we were to assume that such a motion had been made during the course of the trial and properly preserved for review. As to the six affidavits filed in support of the supplemental post-trial motion, it is incorrect to say, as the opinion of this court does, that these affidavits swore that Nitz had lied. In only two of the six affidavits is the word “lied” used. In both of these the affiants stated that defendant asked Nitz why he had turned State’s evidence and lied on the witness stand. Nitz did not respond to these questions. In one of the affidavits it is also stated that another inmate “then asked why” and Nitz had replied that he had been threatened. This is the only affidavit from which it can be inferred that Nitz had admitted lying, but it is also capable of being interpreted otherwise. Trials rarely develop in a routine or predictable manner and are rarely free from error. It is not at all unusual for an after-the-event examination of a trial record to disclose apparent error, especially when attention is focused on one segment lifted from the context of the entire trial. We are not concerned that the defendant’s trial be error free. Our concern is that he have a fair trial. When the evidence of guilt is as strong as it is in this case we should not reach back into the record, construe a motion for a continuance made for one apparent purpose as a motion for a continuance made for another purpose, declare the court’s failure to grant the motion to be error, and on that ground reverse a conviction even though defense counsel did not consider it of sufficient importance to urge it as a reason for a new trial in his post-trial motion. Some presumption of validity should attach to a judgment of the trial court, and a court on review should not comb the record looking for an excuse to reverse. MR. JUSTICE UNDERWOOD joins in this dissent.