Court Opinion

ID: 9744482
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:04:28.068231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:49.605427
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE FREEMAN, specially concurring: I agree with the court in all respects and join fully in the opinion affirming the orders of the circuit court. I write separately only to express my views on a portion of Chief Justice Harrison’s dissent to which the court today does not respond. I note that the Chief Justice takes the same position here that he did in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585 (2001), i.e., that the new supreme court rules addressing capital litigation serve to provide relief to a defendant even if no other basis exists to reverse the case. Having set forth the legal reasoning for his position, the Chief Justice states: “If our experience with capital cases over the past few years has taught us anything, it is that we must view everything that occurs at capital trials with heightened skepticism. When we surrender that skepticism, disaster follows. Just ask Ronald Jones, Joseph Burrows or Anthony Porter. We found ways to uphold each of their convictions and sentences when their cases first came before us, only to discover later that they were actually innocent.” 204 Ill. 2d at 580 (Harrison, C.J., dissenting). In my view, these remarks need to be addressed because they unfortunately call into question the integrity of the court. The names listed in the dissent are some, but not all, of the men released from death row in Illinois when new evidence later was uncovered which cast doubt on the guilty verdicts rendered in each of their capital trials. I specifically take issue with the Chief Justice’s comment that “we found ways” to uphold the convictions in these cases. When a fellow justice states that his court, as a body, has “found ways” to uphold convictions, that justice is saying his colleagues in these cases intentionally overlooked, got around, put to one side, ignored, or otherwise dismissed out of hand, something important that should have caused a reversal, whether that something was a legal argument or exculpatory evidence. The Chief Justice’s remark, even if nothing more than rhetorical flourish, reaches well beyond mere disagreement with the legal reasoning of the other members of the court. Rather, it constitutes a serious charge of unprofessional and unethical judicial conduct. Because the Chief Justice’s statement is untrue and impugns the integrity of the court, I wish to comment on the facts underlying the cases of the men noted in the dissent. Although this court affirmed Ronald Jones’ convictions and sentence on direct review, what occurred in this court after that initial appeal deserves mention. After the completion of the direct review proceedings, a vaginal swab containing DNA evidence was discovered. This evidence was not presented at defendant’s initial trial and was therefore not a part of the record on direct review. During the ensuing post-conviction proceedings, Jones’ attorneys unsuccessfully argued in the circuit court of Cook County that the vaginal swab containing the newly discovered DNA evidence should be tested. Jones’ lawyers, however, won a victory in this court when we directed the circuit court to release the evidence to Jones’ attorney for the purpose of conducting DNA testing. After the testing was completed, it was revealed that Jones could not have been the perpetrator. This court then issued the following order: “The order of the Circuit Court of Cook County denying the petition for post-conviction relief is vacated. This cause is remanded to the circuit court with directions to allow defendant’s petition for post-conviction relief, vacate defendant’s conviction and grant defendant a new trial.” At the subsequent proceedings on remand, the State dismissed the charges against Jones in light of the DNA evidence. In view of these facts, it seems incredible to me that any member of this court could state that this court “found ways” to uphold the convictions in this case. With respect to Joseph Burrows, this court affirmed his convictions and death sentence on direct review in 1992. People v. Burrows, 148 Ill. 2d 196 (1992). After the completion of the direct review proceedings, Burrows filed a petition for post-conviction relief in which he alleged that, subsequent to his triad, evidence had come to light that the State’s two principal witnesses against him had committed perjury, and that one of those witnesses had later admitted to being the killer. The circuit court granted defendant’s post-conviction petition by vacating the convictions and ordering a new trial. The State appealed directly to this court, asking that we reverse the order of the circuit court and reinstate the convictions and death sentence. We rejected the State’s argument and upheld the trial court’s grant of a new trial. See People v. Burrows, 172 Ill. 2d 169 (1996) (Burrows II). I note that the trial court’s decision to vacate the prior convictions was based largely on this court’s opinion in People v. Washington, 171 Ill. 2d 475 (1996), in which we recognized that a claim of newly discovered evidence of actual innocence presents a constitutional question cognizable under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. As in the Jones case, the evidence that exonerated Burrows was not available during the original trial. Nevertheless, this court did not hesitate to affirm the circuit court’s order vacating the convictions when that evidence was brought to light. Finally, with respect to the case of Anthony Porter, I acknowledge that this court upheld Porter’s convictions and death sentence both on direct and collateral review. Indeed, the Chief Justice joined fully in the court’s opinion affirming the denial of post-conviction relief. See People v. Porter, 164 111. 2d 400 (1995). This court did, however, later order Porter’s execution stayed in order to review claims that Porter was mentally retarded and that, as a result, he lacked the mental capacity to. be executed. During the period of the stay, new evidence came to light which was later used to exonerate him. Nothing in the opinions of the court or in the court’s handling of the case supports the assertion raised by the Chief Justice that this court, he included, somehow “found ways” to uphold the Porter convictions. The Chief Justice’s deeply held position against the death penalty does not give him the license to ignore the facts. The death penalty is a highly charged, emotional area of the law that is very much in the public consciousness. Honorable people can and do disagree over whether the state should have a death penalty. However, by misrepresenting the past actions of this court, the Chief Justice does little more than fan the flames of sensationalism and denigrate this court in the eyes of the public. JUSTICE McMORROW joins in this special concurrence.