Court Opinion

ID: 9523505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:43:15.326176+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:06:11.392367
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE SCOTT delivered the opinion of the court: The defendant, WiUiam Queen, was indicted for the offense of burglary and after trial by jury was found guilty and sentenced to a term of not less than three nor more than ten years in the penitentiary. The sentence was to be served consecutively with a sentence of not less than one nor more than three years in the penitentiary which had previously been imposed upon the defendant by the circuit court of Perry County. During his trial the defendant testified in his own behalf and while he did not deny that he made an unauthorized entry into Gene’s Tavern in the city of Joliet, he offered as an explanation for his acts that he had been compeUed to act as a “look out” man for a Lawrence Bryan, who was the instigator of the crime and who actually made the iUegal entry into the tavern. The defendant further testified to the effect that being an unwilling accomplice it was his intention to report the burglary as it was in progress, then slip away thereby leaving the instigator and his tormentor trapped inside the tavern. The defendant stated that his plan was thwarted when Bryan came out of the tavern as a pohce patrol car cruised by the area and that in order to escape apprehension he was forced to hide in the tavern. When he attempted to leave the building he was apprehended by the police. The defendant claims reversible error based upon the following incidents which occurred during his trial. During the course of the trial the State’s Attorney brought out on cross-examination that the defendant had at no time ever related this story to the police, but was telling it for the first time when testifying in his own behalf. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for a mistrial based upon this cross-examination. During the jury deliberations the foreman sent a note to the court which said, “Would like the defendants words on the stand.” The trial judge denied this request. Lastly, when the trial judge denied the jury’s request to again hear the defendant’s testimony the defendant was not present and he alleges that his absence constitutes error since he was denied the right to be present at every stage of the proceedings.  Directing our attention to the first issue raised by the defendant it is clear that his contention that reversible error was committed is based upon the premise that when arrested a defendant has a right to remain silent and if the state elicits testimony that he exercised such a right then we have a violation of his testimonial privilege and his right to effective assistance of counsel. In support of this contention the defendant cites the following Illinois cases: People v. Rothe, 358 Ill. 52, 192 N.E. 777; People v. Lampson, 129 Ill.App.2d 72, 262 N.E.2d 601; People v. Woodall, 131 Ill.App.2d 662, 264 N.E.2d 303. An examination of these cases reveals that they are not relevant to the issue before us since they involve testimony to the effect that the defendant had refused to make a statement to the police after his arrest. Our Illinois courts are in unanimous agreement that such testimony is erroneous and prejudicial to the defendant. In the instant case we are presented with a different facet of the problem in that we are called upon to determine whether or not the defendant waives his protection against self-incrimination when he takes the witness stand and testifies in his own behalf by making an exculpatory statement. May then the prosecutor by cross-examination elicit testimony that the defendant had not previously made such a statement to the police? May the prosecutor during final argument comment on defendant’s failure to make such an exculpatory statement to the police or to anyone else prior to the time he testified in his own behalf? We find no Illinois cases to guide us in our determination of this precise issue, however, there are pertinent decisions from other jurisdictions. In support of his contention that reversible error was committed he cites the cases of State v. Stephens, 24 Ohio St.2d 76, 263 N.E.2d 773; United States v. Nolan (CA10-1969), 416 F.2d 588; and United States v. Brinson (6th Cir., 1969), 411 F.2d 1057. We quarrel not with the defendant’s interpretation of the law as set forth in these cases. They strongly support his argument and in Stephens the Supreme Court of Ohio after citing and analyzing the cases of Brinson and Nolan stated: “The right of silence, while singular in the constitutional grant, may be plural in application. That right, once invoked by an accused while under accusation, is not waived by reason of defendant testifying at the trial.” The cases of Stephens, Nolan and Brinson all predicate their reasoning and holdings upon Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, wherein our United States Supreme - Court held that an accused when taken into custody has the constitutional right to remain silent and refrain from making either “exculpatory or inculpatory” statements and that this privilege is fulfilled only when the person is guaranteed the right “to remain silent unless he chooses to speak in the unfettered exercise of his own will.” As stated by Chief Juctice Warren in Miranda the United States Supreme Court was directing its attention to and specifically dealing with the admissibility of statements obtained from an individual who is subjected to custodial police interrogation. In Miranda the court laid down strict rules regarding defendant’s right to counsel and his right to remain silent. However, it should be noted that the court was concerned with these rights only as they arose during the custodial, pre-trial interrogation state of the proceedings of an accused. That Miranda was so limited in its application was recognized in a subsequent case when the United States Supreme Court stated in Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 28 L.Ed.2d 1, 91 S.Ct. 643: “Some comments in the Miranda opinion can indeed be read as indicating a bar to use of an uncounseled statement for any purpose, but discussion of that issue was not at all necessary to the Court’s holding and cannot be regarded as controlling. Miranda barred the prosecution from making its case with statements of an accused made while in custody prior to having or effectively waiving counsel. It does not follow from Miranda that evidence, inadmissible against an accused in the prosecution’s case in chief is barred for all purposes, provided of course that the trustworthiness of the evidence satisfies legal standards.” In the instant case the defendant makes no claim that his right against self-incrimination was violated when he was apprehended or at any time prior to trial but maintains that when he made an exculpatory statement during trial, his testimonial privilege continued so that the state was precluded upon cross-examination from attempting to impeach him by asking if he had previously made such a statement to the police. As we have acknowledged, the cases of Stephens, Brinson and Nolan support the defendant’s position, but we are of the opinion that these cases extended an interpretation to Miranda which was not intended by our United States Supreme Court. In People v. Calhoun, 33 Mich.App. 141, 189 N.W.2d 743, we have a strikingly similar factual situation and during the course of the trial the defendant testifying in his own behalf made an exculpatory statement to the effect that he and a co-defendant were duped into committing the crime by a third party. The prosecutor on cross-examination asked the defendant when was the first time that he had told anyone the exculpatory statement that he had just related on direct examination. The defendant stated that he had told his attorney. When asked by the prosecutor if he had ever told the police, he stated that he had not. In Calhoun the Michigan reviewing court held that such cross-examination by the prosecutor did not constitute reversible error and we quote: “The adversaiy process should certainly permit cross-examination as to a defense theory which without any challenge would permit a testifying accused to rely on any hypothesis however nebulous, and yet bars the prosecution from subjecting the specifics of it to ‘truth-testing devices.’ ” In Calhoun the court relied on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 28 L.Ed.2d 1, 91 S.Ct. 643, where it was held that a statement inadmissible against a defendant in the prosecution’s case in chief because of lack of procedural safeguards required by Miranda may, if its trustworthiness satisfies legal standards, be used for impeachment purposes to attack the credibility of defendant’s trial testimony. It is clear that in Calhoun the. Michigan court interpreted Harris as including inconsistent non utterances as well as utterances as being permissible for the use of impeachment purposes in attacking the credibility of a defendant’s trial testimony. With this interpretation we agree. In People v. Russell, 27 Mich.App. 654, 183 N.W.2d 845, the prosecution commenced a line of questioning which made reference to defendant’s previous silence after he made an exculpatory statement during trial. Such cross examination was not held to be prejudicial and the court in considering the matter of the prosecution referring to the defendant’s prior silence stated: “Since the decision in Miranda v. Arizona [Citation.] it is clear that silence in communicating to police officers can no longer be used as an admission against interest. But there is nothing, in Miranda that forbids such cross examination once the defendant has chosen to testify. As Judge Learned Hand stated in United States v. St. Pierre (C.A.L., 1942), 132 F.2d 840: ‘It must be conceded that the privilege is to suppress the truth, but that does not mean that it is a privilege to garble it. * * * It should not furnish one side with what may be false evidence and deprive the other of any means of detecting the imposition.’ ” The issue which we are now considering was clearly resolved in the Harris case when the United States Supreme Court stated: “Every criminal defendant is privileged to testify in his own defense, or to refuse to do so. But that privilege cannot be construed to include the right to commit perjury. * * * Having voluntarily taken the stand, petitioner was under an obligation to speak truthfully and accurately, and the prosecution here did no more than utilize the traditional truth-testing devices of the adversary process. * * * The shield provided by Miranda cannot be perverted into a license to use perjury by way of a defense, free from the risk of confrontation with prior inconsistent utterances.” Being mindful of the sharp division of authorities on the question before us we are nevertheless of the opinion that the better reasoned authorities are the cases of Calhoun and Harris and that reversible error was not committed in the instant case by the prosecutor’s cross-examination in regard to defendant’s exculpatory statement nor by his reference to it during final argument. See also Walden v. United States, 347 U.S. 62, 98 L.Ed. 503, 74 S.Ct. 354; People v. Speed, 52 Ill.2d 141, 284 N.E.2d 636; People v. McCorry, 51 Ill.2d 343, 282 N.E.2d 425.  We next direct our attention to the contention of the defendant that the trial court erred in denying the request of the jury to once again hear the testimony of the defendant. At the outset it should be noted that our state does not have a statute pertaining to the reading of testimony to a jury after they have retired to deliberate upon their verdict. In the absence of such a statute we do not believe that the defendant has an absolute right to have testimony repeated. (See State v. Vaughn, 265 P.2d 249; State v. Close, 148 A. 764.) Even where such a statute is present it has been held that it is not mandatory that the trial judge state his recollection of testimony or that testimony be read to the jury and the court’s refusal to comply with the defendant’s request and have certain testimony repeated was not an abuse of discretion. (State v. Weil, 56 Ohio L. Abs. 136, 91 N.E.2d 277, appeal dismissed 153 Ohio St. 586, 92 N.E.2d 816.) After an analyzation of the cases cited in the briefs submitted by the parties to this appeal and further considering the comprehensive analysis of the question presented in 50 A.L.R.2d 176 we are of the opinion that the better rule is that whether in a particular case certain portions of the testimony should be read to the jury rests in the discretion of tire court. The defendant stresses that the paramount issue for the jury to decide in the instant case was the credibility of his testimony and that the trial court refused to permit the jury to review evidence which related directly to this issue. The state argues that to permit the jury to hear a repetition of the defendant’s testimony would be giving undue prominence to it over other testimony.  In examining the record we fail to find that the trial of the defendant was of such complexity or fraught with technicalities that would serve to confuse a jury. Neither the testimony of the defendant or any other witness was lengthy. The trial judge was in the best position to determine whether or not there was a necessity for the jury to hear a repetition of the defendant’s testimony. He deemed such a procedure was unnecessary and in the light of the record before us we do not find that the court’s refusal was an abuse of discretion.  Lastly the defendant assigns as error that he was denied his right to a trial by jury when the judge communicated with the jury outside of his presence. The defendant is referring to the incident where the trial judge refused the jury’s request to again hear his testimony. When the judge made his refusal the defendant was not present and he contends that his absence violated his constitutional right to be present at every stage of the proceedings against him. The discussion, if in fact the judge’s refusal could be so classified, was a matter which was procedural and the defendant’s absence did not infringe upon his right to be present during the proceedings against him. (People v. Hudson, 46 Ill.2d 177, 263 N.E.2d 473; People v. Woods, 27 Ill.2d 393, 189 N.E.2d 293.) Also determinative of the issue raised is the case of People v. Miller, 13 Ill.2d 84, 148 N.E.2d 455. In Miller a juror in a case involving prosecution for murder requested a bailiff to tell the judge that the jury wanted more information on a life sentence, and the judge sent word by the bailiff that he could not give any information. Our supreme court held that such a reply would not be deemed a communication to the jury outside the presence of the defendant. We believe that the cases cited are dispositive of the defendant’s contention which we deem to be without merit. For the reasons set forth the judgment of the circuit court of Will County is affirmed. Judgment affirmed. DIXON, J., concurs.