Court Opinion

ID: 9861051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:40:12.652968+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:27:09.388293
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE THEIS, dissenting: Deborah Gilmore is a woman with a 20-year history of mental illness. She has been hospitalized in psychiatric institutions on multiple occasions and has been evaluated by the Psychiatric Institute of the Circuit Court of Cook County many times. Here, two psychiatrists from the Institute examined her three more times. Both found that she was insane at the time of the crime. The trial court rejected the experts’ opinions, stating they were inconsistent with the facts of the case. However, the court misstated the testimony of the witnesses to reach its conclusion. Most glaring was the court’s statement that defendant "denied making a statement to the law enforcement people and to the citizens.” A review of the record shows there is absolutely no testimony that defendant made such a denial. The only testimony of a statement came from Mr. Jones, who asked her why she broke into the house. Surely her reply that she was homeless and did not have any place to go cannot be construed as a false statement to authorities. The trial court also found the fact defendant was unable to escape through the boarded window inconsistent with the doctors’ opinions. Dr. Seltzberg testified that an attempt to flee was a consideration in determining whether defendant was insane or malingering. From that opinion, the trial court determined that if an attempt to flee was significant, the impossibility of flight also indicated malingering. This is circular reasoning. Defendant made no attempt to flee which either indicates she was not malingering or it means nothing at all. The majority finds that the trial court carefully weighed the evidence despite these obvious errors by the trial court. Additionally, the majority finds support for the trial court’s findings from facts the court never relied upon. First, the majority determines the lack of delusional response by defendant supports the trial court’s findings. However, the only expert opinion in the record interpreting lack of delusions was offered by Dr. Seltzberg. She found defendant’s denial of delusions indicated she was not exaggerating symptoms and therefore was significant in ruling out the possibility of malingering. Despite this expert testimony, the majority uses the same evidence to come to the opposite conclusion. The majority also raises the issue that the doctors examined defendant several months after the event. The record shows defendant requested an examination at the first opportunity after counsel was appointed to represent her. After the report reflecting the doctor’s opinion that defendant was legally insane was filed, the court requested another exam. When the second report contained the same opinion, the court ordered a third examination by a different doctor. Because both doctors reviewed records of defendant’s extensive mental illness, I do not believe the delay in their examinations lessened the reliability of their opinions. The trial court’s determination that defendant was sane despite the unrebutted testimony of two experts was against the manifest weight of the evidence actually presented at trial. Deborah Gilmore was found next to a furnace in a cold basement in November surrounded by half-eaten food and her own feces. Nothing in this record suggests she was anything else but a homeless, hungry, insane woman. I would reverse her conviction for residential burglary.