Court Opinion

ID: 9739489
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:16:06.677447+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:12.618134
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HOWERTON, specially concurring: I address only the issue raised by defendant’s thwarted attempt to introduce Leroy Hooker’s testimony that he found Larry Wade hanging by his neck from the bars of his cell with his feet off the floor and that he gave Wade mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and that Wade was a “strange guy” and “wasn’t wrapped tight.” Hooker’s testimony was offered for a dual purpose. The first purpose was to impeach Wade’s testimony by showing that he had a mental condition, thereby raising the inference that Wade’s perceptions and memories of the events about which he testified were faulty. Mental capacity is a proper subject for lay opinion testimony. However, Hooker’s testimony was not admissible for this purpose for two reasons: firstly, a lay witness can give an opinion as to mental condition only after stating facts in sufficient detail to show knowledge of the mental condition of the person in question (Walker v. Struthers (1916), 273 Ill. 387, 112 N.E. 961; see E. Cleary & M. Graham, Handbook of Illinois Evidence §704.3, at 379 (3d ed. 1979)); and secondly, the mental condition is not relevant to credibility if it is too remote in time from the events about which testimony is given. (People v. Helton (1987), 153 Ill. App. 3d 726, 506 N.E.2d 307.) In this case, “strange guy” and not being “wrapped tight” do not state facts. Furthermore, Hooker was testifying about Wade’s mental condition five months before the events about which Wade was testifying; this is too remote. Hooker’s observations would have to relate to the time of Wade’s perceptions and the formation of his memory about the events in order to be relevant. People v. Helton (1987), 153 Ill. App. 3d 726, 506 N.E.2d 307. Hooker’s testimony is admissible, however, for its second purpose, namely, to raise an inference that Wade lied on the witness stand when on direct examination he testified that his suicide attempt was a “stunt” to get him in front of a judge. That portion of Hooker’s testimony wherein he stated he found Wade hanging by the neck with his feet off of the ground and that he saved Wade’s life by administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation directly contradicts Wade on a matter Wade injected into the case, and therefore, is not collateral. That contradiction attacks Wade’s credibility and is admissible. I otherwise concur.