Court Opinion

ID: 9523950
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:48:43.133951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:40.941065
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MILLER, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree with the majority that the defendant’s guilt for the offense of murder was proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and I agree that the State’s participation in the post-trial proceedings in the trial court operated to revest the court with jurisdiction. I disagree, however, with the holding that the prosecutor’s error in remarking, in his closing argument, on the absence of alibi witnesses warrants granting the defendant a new trial. Also, for the reasons mentioned below, I would not decide the question whether various statements of the defendant’s co-conspirators constituted inadmissible hearsay. Accordingly, I dissent from the decision to grant the defendant a new trial. It should be noted at the outset that the question of co-conspirator hearsay testimony has not been raised by appellate counsel. Furthermore, the defendant, represented by different counsel at trial, did not object to the introduction of this evidence and did not include the issue in his post-trial motion. Thus, the question has been waived at every stage of the proceedings here. In raising the question sua sponte and deciding it without the benefit of briefing by the parties, the majority mounts what I consider to be an unjustified intrusion into the normal adversarial process and distorts the plain-error exception to the waiver rule. The majority’s action in my view is unwarranted, given the circumstances in this case. I recognize, of course, that the waiver rule “is a rule of administration and not of jurisdiction or power, and it will not operate to deprive an accused of his constitutional rights of due process” (People v. Burson (1957), 11 Ill. 2d 360, 370, 143 N.E.2d 239, 245). Plain errors are properly noticed when the evidence of guilt is close or, separately, when necessary to preserve the essential integrity of the judicial process. (People v. Sanders (1983), 99 Ill. 2d 262, 457 N.E.2d 1241. See Silber v. United States (1962), 370 U.S. 717, 8 L. Ed. 2d 798, 82 S. Ct. 1287 (per curiam); United States of America v. Atkinson (1936), 297 U.S. 157, 80 L. Ed. 555, 56 S. Ct. 391. Cf. Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation (1971), 402 U.S. 313, 28 L. Ed. 2d 788, 91 S. Ct. 1434 (parties instructed to brief and argue questions that had not been raised in petition for certiorari).) I do not believe that the introduction into evidence of the arguably inadmissible evidence deprived the defendant of due process, or vitiated the integrity of the proceedings. Nor do I believe that the evidence of guilt was closely balanced and that the alleged error might have significantly affected the jury’s verdict; here, the admissible testimony of the defendant’s accomplice was sufficient to sustain the conviction (cf. People v. Newell (1984), 103 Ill. 2d 465, 469 N.E.2d 1375 (accomplice testimony is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt when it is uncorroborated and is contradicted by the testimony of other accomplices)). Because the hearsay question concerning the co-conspirators’ testimony was not raised, I would not decide that question or the question whether its use requires a new trial. The other basis for the majority’s decision to grant the defendant a new trial is the comment made by the prosecutor, in his closing argument, on the defendant’s failure to have certain alibi witnesses testify. The issue was properly preserved, it is raised here by appellate counsel, and the State concedes that the remark was error. I agree that the remark was improper, for the witnesses were not more available to the defendant than they were to the State, and the State rather than the defendant had injected their names into the case. See People v. Kubat (1983), 94 Ill. 2d 437, 447 N.E.2d 247; People v. Beller (1979), 74 Ill. 2d 514, 386 N.E.2d 857. I do not believe, however, that the error requires that the defendant be granted a new trial. The jury was properly instructed on the limited purpose of closing argument. Given the evidence of the defendant’s guilt, reasonable grounds do not exist for believing that the remark prejudiced the jury’s deliberations and affected its verdict, and therefore the error should be deemed harmless. See People v. Whitlow (1982), 89 Ill. 2d 322, 433 N.E.2d 629 (expressing standard of review). The defendant raises four additional objections to the prosecutor’s closing argument — whether he misstated the evidence on three occasions, and whether he acted improperly in defining “reasonable doubt.” The majority finds these to be erroneous or possibly erroneous. Unlike the comment concerning 'alibi testimony, however, objections to these remarks were not properly preserved in the trial court. I would find that they were not “so inflammatory that defendant could not have received a fair trial or so flagrant as to threaten deterioration of the judicial process” and that therefore they should be considered waived (People v. Owens (1984), 102 Ill. 2d 88, 104, 464 N.E.2d 261, 268). I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the examination of Mrs. Eddington in rebuttal did not constitute an improper comment on the defendant’s failure to testify. The one remaining issue raised by the defendant concerns his sentence; the majority does not reach this question, given its decision to award the defendant a new trial, and I need not comment on it.