Court Opinion

ID: 9730789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:23:59.133939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:09.343329
License: Public Domain

McCORMICK, P. J., dissents. I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion, although I agree with the view that the errors committed in the trial of the case must result in a reversal. Without the admissions of McCaskill, Benjamin Wheeler should have been acquitted. At no time during the course of the trial did Officer Boyd testify that it was Benjamin Wheeler who shot him. He did say that both Sylvester and Benjamin were in the gangway and that a shot came from there. He testified that he never saw the weapon which was used against him. From the record we have no way of knowing whether it was Benjamin or Sylvester Wheeler who fired the shot. When we consider Officer Boyd’s testimony that the gangway was unlit, and that as Benjamin backed into it his figure became almost invisible, it is possibe that Sylvester may have been just behind Benjamin and could have been the one holding and using the weapon. Outside of the admission of McCaskill’s statement the State has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Benjamin Wheeler who fired the shot. In People v. Scott, 100 Ill App2d 473, 241 NE2d 579, the court reversed and remanded the case because of reversible errors committed during the trial. However, in that case there was testimony outside the admissions which could have been sufficient to convict Scott. In the record in the case before us there is no showing that if it were retried there would be any evidence in the case indicating that the shot was fired by Benjamin Wheeler, or that there could be any verdict except not guilty. Under those circumstances I believe the judgment should be reversed and not remanded.