Court Opinion

ID: 9745357
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:51:07.495802+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:26:23.036431
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MORAN, concurring in part and dissenting in part: Over the years, this court has held that the circuit courts have an affirmative duty to establish that any jury waiver is made expressly and understandably. (County of McLean v. Kickapoo Creek, Inc. (1972), 51 Ill. 2d 353, 355-56; People v. Surgeon (1958), 15 Ill. 2d 236, 238; People v. Fisher (1930), 340 Ill. 250, 265.) Moreover, the waiver of trial by jury may not be presumed from a silent record. (Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 243, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 279-80, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 1712.) In cause No. 59851 the record does not demonstrate even prima facie evidence of a valid jury waiver. For this reason I would affirm the appellate court’s decision remanding the cause for a new trial. The majority relies on the common law record sheet entry for December 7, 1982, which reads “Attorney Reck entered his appearance to be sent to Ottawa for Bench Trial before Judge Wimbiscus.” This entry does not state that a jury waiver was made; it merely notes that a bench trial was set. There is no indication that any proceedings occurred on that date other than the attorney’s formal appearance, nor is there any indication that the defendant was present. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 makes it clear that the defendant must waive trial by jury in open court. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 103 — 6.) It is true that the court has given this statutory mandate a broad interpretation, finding a valid waiver when the defendant’s attorney waived a jury trial in the defendant’s presence. (People v. Murrell (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 287; People v. Sailor (1969), 43 Ill. 2d 256.) This court, however, has never held that counsel may waive trial by jury when the defendant is not present. In both Murrell and Sailor the waiver was made valid only by the defendant’s behavior in standing by while his attorney waived a jury trial. (People v. Murrell (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 287, 290; People v. Sailor (1969), 43 Ill. 2d 256, 260-61.) In the present case the record entry for December 7, 1982, does not state that a waiver occurred at all, and there is nothing to indicate that the defendant was present, so the entry cannot establish a valid jury waiver. The majority, however, holds not that a valid waiver occurred, but merely that the defendant has failed to provide a proper record on appeal. In support of this result the majority cites People v. Edwards (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 1, and People v. Smith (1969), 42 Ill. 2d 479. These cases, however, are not on point. In both Edwards and Smith the claimed error consisted of allegedly prejudicial closing argument statements made before the respective juries by the prosecutor. In Smith the defendant did not provide the reviewing court with any record of the offending statements, and in Edwards the record provided was insufficient to evaluate the context in which the offending remarks were made. Since the defendants in Smith and Edwards were claiming error based upon affirmative acts of misconduct, the court properly held that the defendants had failed to preserve a record of the claimed misconduct. In the case at bar, however, the defendant does not allege affirmative misconduct but is instead arguing that the record omits a vital entry. Since jury waiver cannot be presumed from a silent record (Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 243, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 279-80, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 1712), a bench trial violates the defendant’s rights unless the State can demonstrate a valid waiver. In other words, the burden of proving waiver is on the State; the defendant initially has no burden to prove a negative, i.e., no jury waiver occurred. Of course, once the State comes forward with prima facie evidence of a jury waiver, then, but not until then, does the defendant have the burden of coming forward with.a record sufficient to rebut that prima facie showing (see cause No. 59911). This court has allowed the State considerable latitude in the type of evidence it will accept as a prima facie showing of jury waiver. In People v. Hopping (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 246, for example, it was held that a verbatim transcript was not required to establish waiver as long as the common law record explicitly establishes a valid waiver. However, in Hopping, unlike the case at bar, the common law record was sufficient to establish all of the elements of a valid waiver. In one of the three consolidated appeals in Hopping the common law record included both a jury waiver form signed by the defendant and the following entry: “[T]he Court fully explains to defendant his rights under the law, his right to counsel and his right to a jury trial if he so desires, and further explains to the defendant the consequence and penalties which will result from a plea of guilty ***.” (60 Ill. 2d 246, 248.) In the second consolidated appeal the common law record contained the following entry: “[W]hereupon the said defendant, Bruce Lee Kline, is advised by the Court as to his rights and the possible consequences upon his said plea of guilty entered herein, and explains to him his full legal and constitutional rights in the premises, and his right to a trial by a jury and to require proof of the offense charged beyond all reasonable doubt, and to confront and cross-examine witnesses. Whereupon the said defendant, Bruce Lee Kline, waives his right to a trial by jury (which said waiver was filed on May 23, 1972). And the said defendant, Bruce L. Kline, still persisting in his said plea of guilty to the crime of possession of cannabis in manner and form charged in the Information, the said plea of guilty is now accepted by the Court as the final plea of said defendant, and so entered herein.” (60 Ill. 2d 246, 249.) In the third consolidated appeal the common law record contained the following entry: “Defendant appears; advised of the charge pending against him, and his rights. Defendant waives counsel and jury trial and enters a plea of guilty to both counts of the Information. Court finds waiver of counsel, jury trial and plea of guilty are knowingly, understandably [sic] and voluntarily made. Court finds there is a factual basis for the plea.” 60 Ill. 2d 246, 250. More recently, in People v. Frey (1984), 103 Ill. 2d 327, the court found a valid jury waiver even though the common law record contained no mention at all of a jury waiver. However, at a hearing on defendant’s motion for a new trial the prosecutor testified that the “defendant was present on occasions when the matter of a bench trial was discussed, and at some point was advised of his right to trial by a jury or by the court.” (103 Ill. 2d 327, 330.) This unrebutted testimony established the elements of a valid waiver, so the court held that the State had met its burden of demonstrating a valid waiver. Finally, in People v. Oatis (1977), 47 Ill. App. 3d 229, cited approvingly by the majority, the common law record included a jury waiver signed by the defendant. The appellate court held that the signed waiver shifted the burden to the defendant to show why the signed waiver was not validly executed. In cause No. 59851, however, there is no signed waiver, no testimony establishing a valid waiver, and no entry in the record establishing a valid waiver. The majority, however, presumes a valid waiver merely from the fact that on December 7, 1982, the defendant’s attorney filed an appearance and the case was set for a bench trial. Today’s decision effectively shifts from the State the burden of demonstrating a valid jury waiver and instead places upon the defendant the burden of proving that no waiver occurred. Such a ruling is in conflict with the United State’s Supreme Court’s ruling in Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 89 S. Ct. 1709, and our own rulings in County of McLean v. Kickapoo Creek, Inc. (1972), 51 Ill. 2d 353, People v. Surgeon (1958), 15 Ill. 2d 236, and People ex rel. Swanson v. Fisher (1930), 340 Ill. 250. Therefore, I respectfully dissent in cause No. 59851. In cause No. 59911, however, I concur in the result. The common law record in this cause clearly shows that the defendant was present in court on March 10, 1983, and a rubber-stamped record entry for that date reads “PLEA OF NOT GUILTY JURY WAIVED.” I would agree with the majority that a record entry explicitly indicating a jury waiver at a time when the defendant was personally in court is sufficient to establish a prima facie showing of a valid jury waiver. I further agree that the defendant in cause No. 59911 effectively rebutted the prima facie showing by providing this court with the March 10, 1983, transcript of proceedings which revealed that, in fact, no jury waiver occurred on that date. JUSTICE SIMON' joins in this partial concurrence and partial dissent.