Court Opinion

ID: 9710404
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:09:04.514202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:56.598639
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE O’MALLEY, specially concurring in part and dissenting in part: I dissent only from the majority’s holding that the trial court erred in allowing the State to prove the nature of defendant’s prior felony. The majority devotes as much attention to Old Chief as it does to Illinois law. The issue is one of state law, and state law ought to drive the analysis of it. Several points of Illinois law have direct bearing on the issue. The first is that, in a criminal prosecution, the State is allowed to prove every element of the crime charged and every relevant fact, the defendant’s stipulations notwithstanding. People v. Hobley, 159 Ill. 2d 272, 316 (1994). “[T]he State is not obligated to anticipate the avenue of defense and limit its proofs accordingly, even though defendant admits or stipulates to the existence of certain facts.” People v. Stephens, 18 Ill. App. 3d 971, 978 (1974). As put in People v. Speck, 41 Ill. 2d 177 (1968): “ ‘It has never been held that the State is barred from proving a fact because the defendant offers to admit it, but, on the contrary, the rule is that when a trial is upon a plea of not guilty the State is permitted to go ahead and introduce its full proof of the crime charged in the indictment.’ ” Speck, 41 Ill. 2d at 201-02, quoting People v. Scheck, 356 Ill. 56, 62 (1934). Illinois courts have assiduously enforced this principle. See, e.g., People v. Rachel, 123 Ill. App. 3d 600, 605 (1984) (defense stipulation to defendant’s identity and presence in home where assault took place did not preclude State’s proof on those points); People v. Kelly, 24 Ill. App. 3d 1018, 1029 (1975) (defense stipulation that bullet fired from his gun killed the victim did not preclude State from illustrating bullet’s point of entry into victim’s head). Today, the majority fails to acknowledge this principle. My second point concerns the majority’s assertion that the legislature’s silence in the wake of Clark is no basis for inferring the legislature’s stance toward Clark. I disagree based on the following rule: “ ‘[A] reenacted statute will be given the same construction as that given the prior act, since the legislature is presumed to know the construction which has been given to the statute and, by reenactment, is assumed to have intended for the new statute to have the same effect. [Citation.] Thus, an amendatory act is not only to be construed as continuing in effect the unchanged portions thereof [citation] but, more significantly, if previously construed terms in the unamended sections are used in the amendment, it is generally concluded that the legislature intended to adopt the prior construction given to these terms. [Citation.]’ ” People v. Agnew, 105 Ill. 2d 275, 280 (1985), quoting Hupp v. Gray, 73 Ill. 2d 78, 85-86 (1978). Twice since Clark the legislature has reenacted section 24 — 1.1(a) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/24 — 1.1(a) (West 2000)), which states the elements of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. See Pub. Act 91 — 544, eff. January 1, 2000; Pub. Act 88 — 300, eff. January 1, 1994. The relevant language has remained unchanged since the Clark decision, indicating the legislature’s approval of Clark. Peete, the 2001 Fourth District case followed by the majority, was decided after the amendments. To my knowledge, section 24 — 1.1(a) has not been amended since Peete. Today’s decision, I conclude, frustrates the implied intent of the legislature. Furthermore, I believe that the majority abrogates an act of the legislature concerning proof of prior convictions. Illinois courts have long held that a prior conviction can be proved only by the record or an authenticated copy showing the caption, the return of the indictment in open court by the grand jury, the indictment and arraignment of the defendant, the impaneling of the jury and its verdict or the waiver of the jury, and the final judgment of the court. See, e.g., People v. Dudley, 217 Ill. App. 3d 230, 233 (1991); People v. Lindsey, 148 Ill. App. 3d 751, 760 (1986). The nature of the felony necessarily is revealed during this proof process, which derives from a decision of our supreme court. See People v. Lane, 400 Ill. 170, 173 (1948). There is no Illinois statute specifically addressing proof of prior convictions. M. Graham, Cleary & Graham’s Handbook of Illinois Evidence, § 609.6, at 476 (7th ed. 1999). In the absence of such a statute, the place where the legislature most likely would speak on the subject, at least as it respects proof of a predicate felony for a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, is section 24 — 1.1(a). But the legislature has never amended section 24 — 1.1(a) to abrogate the rule in Lane. The supreme court’s interpretation of a statute is considered part of the statute itself unless and until the legislature amends the statute contrary to the interpretation. Henrich v. Libertyville High School, 186 Ill. 2d 381, 387 (1998). Through the legislature’s acquiescence, Lane's specific requirements for proving a felony conviction have become part of the elements of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. Accordingly, in a trial on that charge, proof of the nature of the predicate felony is not surplusage but an element of the crime. Such statutorily mandated proof cannot be suppressed by judicial fiat based not on constitutional principles but on a probative/ prejudicial analysis with roots in state law. Defendant indeed was prejudiced by the revelation that he had a prior conviction of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. I defer to Scheck’s answer to a like objection: “ ‘It is said that the only effect of the evidence was to create prejudice against the defendant, and it is undeniable that proof of criminal acts tends to create a feeling of prejudice against the guilty person, but that results in every criminal prosecution and furnishes no good ground for excluding evidence of such acts.’ ” Scheck, 356 Ill. at 60, quoting People v. Munday, 293 Ill. 191, 206 (1920).