Court Opinion

ID: 9736259
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:48:54.158231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:05.360502
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE McNAMARA, dissenting: Because I believe defendant waived the issue regarding the trial court’s comments on reasonable doubt, I respectfully dissent. Where no objection is made to remarks of the court and no question about them is raised in the post-trial motion, any error is deemed waived. (People v. Beasley (1977), 54 Ill. App. 3d 109, 369 N.E.2d 260.) Here, as part of its preliminary remarks to the venire prior to jury selection, the trial court attempted to explain the concept of reasonable doubt. Defendant did not object to those comments at the time they were made nor did she raise them as error in her post-trial motion. The waiver rule, of course, is not absolute. (People v. Roberts (1979), 75 Ill. 2d 1, 387 N.E.2d 331.) The plain error exception permits a reviewing court to take notice of errors appearing on the record which deprive the accused of substantial means of enjoying a fair and impartial trial and, in criminal cases in which the evidence is closely balanced, to consider errors not properly preserved for review. (People v. Howell (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 117, 324 N.E.2d 403.) To invoke the plain error doctrine, defendant must establish that the error was so prejudicial as to deny his right to a fair trial. (People v. Beasley.) The plain error rule does not mandate that a reviewing court consider all errors affecting substantial rights whether or not brought to the trial court’s attention. People v. Precup (1978), 73 Ill. 2d 7, 382 N.E.2d 227; People v. Pickett (1973), 54 Ill. 2d 280, 296 N.E.2d 856. As the majority points out, the concept of reasonable doubt requires no definition. And, in some cases, an involved instruction on reasonable doubt may result in reversible error. (People v. Viser (1975), 62 Ill. 2d 568, 343 N.E.2d 903; People v. Cagle (1969), 41 Ill. 2d 528, 244 N.E.2d 200.) Yet, even giving an instruction on reasonable doubt does not of itself require a new trial. (People v. Perry (1972), 52 Ill. 2d 156, 286 N.E.2d 345; see People v. Maffioli (1950), 406 Ill. 315, 94 N.E.2d 191.) Instead, an instruction of such character is one factor, although substantial, to be considered in the context of the entire case. People v. Perry. While the court’s preliminary explanation of reasonable doubt was improper in the present case, I cannot say that it resulted in such prejudice to defendant as to warrant reversal. Unlike the definition of reasonable doubt found to constitute reversible error in People v. Cagle, the comments complained of here did not suggest that the law requires that an acquittal be justified. Nor did the remarks diminish the importance of the reasonable doubt standard as did the prosecutor’s statement in People v. Martinez (1979), 76 Ill. App. 3d 280, 395 N.E.2d 86. The majority concludes that the judge’s remarks improperly instructed the jury by emphasizing the quantity of evidence introduced by the State without regard to the evidence introduced by the defense or the credibility of witnesses. Yet the comments were made prior to jury selection. And at the time, the court emphasized that its remarks were not instructions. In addition, in its instructions at the close of trial, the court instructed the jury that defendant is presumed innocent; that the presumption is not overcome unless from all the evidence they are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant is guilty; and that they are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses. Absent some indication that the jury disregarded these instructions, they may be deemed curative of the court’s earlier comments. (People v. Beasley.) Moreover, ample evidence was presented to support defendant’s conviction. For these reasons, I do not believe the error complained of falls within the plain error exception to the waiver rule. I thus would hold that defendant waived her right to challenge the propriety of the trial court’s comments on reasonable doubt, and would affirm the judgment of conviction.