Court Opinion

ID: 9521551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:07:18.544238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:54.502245
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON, specially concurring: I agree with the majority’s analysis and its conclusion that the circuit court erred in refusing to allow DNA testing of the Vitullo kit. I also agree that the circuit court abused its discretion when it refused to order Swano’s evidence deposition and that the court should not have dismissed, without an evidentiary hearing, Johnson’s claim that Swano had provided ineffective assistance of counsel. I write separately because I would go beyond the majority’s disposition and hold that Johnson is entitled to immediate post-conviction relief. Regardless of the outcome of any further proceedings on remand, Johnson’s convictions and sentences cannot stand. That is so because Johnson was tried, convicted and sentenced under a death penalty law that violates the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amends. VIII, XIV) and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2). People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179, 225-29 (1998) (Harrison, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Our court has now adopted a comprehensive set of new rules governing the conduct of cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty. For the reasons set forth in my dissenting opinion in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585, 631-36 (2001) (Harrison, C.J., dissenting), the procedures contained in those rules are indispensable for achieving an accurate determination of innocence or guilt and are applicable to all capital cases now coming before us on review. Whether the new rules will be sufficient to place this state’s capital punishment system within the tolerances permitted by the state and federal constitutions is a question we cannot yet answer. It is clear, however, that no proceeding conducted without the benefit of those rules can be deemed reliable. I would therefore reverse the circuit court’s judgment in full, set aside Johnson’s convictions and sentences, and order that he be granted a new trial. JUSTICE KILBRIDE, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur in part with the majority’s judgment concerning the lack of DNA testing of the Vitullo kit, the failure to allow Swano’s evidence deposition, and the improper dismissal of Johnson’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Nevertheless, I agree with Chief Justice Harrison that defendant’s convictions and sentence should be set aside because the trial proceedings were not conducted in accordance with the new supreme court rules governing capital cases. As I stated in my dissents in People v. Hickey, 204 Ill. 2d 585, 636-40 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), and People v. Simpson, 204 Ill. 2d 536, 581-85 (2001) (Kilbride, J., dissenting), I believe that the new rules should be applied retroactively. See People v. Caballero, 179 Ill. 2d 205, 220-21 (1997). Thus, this cause should be remanded for a new trial conducted in compliance with the new rules.