Court Opinion

ID: 9521657
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:09:26.216665+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:04.357649
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, also dissenting: I concur in the dissenting opinion of Justice Clark and, for the reasons stated in that dissent, I think the defendant should receive a new trial. I also dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent in People v. Lewis (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 129. I would like to add the following observations to Justice Clark’s dissent. Although Officer Dwyer had the consent of the defendant’s mother to overhear her conversation with her son, it is not clear from the record that Michael Gaines consented to Officer Dwyer listening in when he talked with the defendant. In addition, the fact that the police may already have had information pointing to the defendant’s complicity does not justify Officer Dwyer’s testimony which related the statements by the defendant to his mother and brother. Those statements are set forth in the majority opinion. They are clearly self-incriminatory, and Officer Dwyer’s testimony about them was inadmissible because of the eavesdropping statute.