Court Opinion

ID: 9884817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:15:39.793288+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:40.953795
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE RYAN, dissenting: The defendant shot for the sky in his discovery motion, most of which, the majority opinion admits, sought discovery of items to which defendant clearly was not entitled. Now, after an adverse verdict, defendant combs through the motion seeking technical error upon which to base his prayer for a new trial. The majority opinion asserts that the defendant should have been granted a pretrial request for a list of witnesses to the extent allowed by statute. This is not what defendant requested. Defendant’s motion requested the names and addresses of any persons the prosecution knows to possess information relevant to the charges in the indictment. This is clearly beyond the scope of section 114 — 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which simply provides that on motion of defendant the court shall order the State to furnish the defendant with a list of prosecution witnesses and their addresses. (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1969, ch. 38, par. 114 — 9.) How simple it would have been to phrase the motion in the language of the statute. Instead, defendant attempted to broaden his demand to include that to which he was not entitled and now claims error because the court did not reduce his demand to that to which he should have limited himself in the first instance. Likewise, defendant requested the court to order the state to produce “all statements made by any witness and *** the right to inspect police reports.” The pretrial motion was denied. However, defendant was not denied the use of prior statements made by witnesses. During the trial the defendant had the opportunity on cross-examination of the State’s witness to ask them if they had given any previous statements. On three occasions the witnesses answered that they had given statements to the police. Thereupon copies of the statements were made available to defense counsel and he was given an opportunity to examine the same before resuming his cross-examination. He was furnished with a copy of each statement, the existence of which he had established, which has been held to be a prerequisite to the production of such statements. (People v. Dennis, 47 Ill.2d 120; People v. Durso, 40 Ill.2d 242; People v. Wolff, 19 Ill.2d 318.) This court has not been informed what, if anything, was contained in those statements which would have been of greater value to him had the statements been furnished at the time of the pretrial discovery motion rather than at the trial; nor does the defendant contend that there are any statements in existence other than those which were furnished to him at the trial. In People v. Golson, 37 Ill.2d 419, 422, this court said, “We know of no case which has been reversed for failure to produce a statement without some preliminary showing that such a statement exists.” As to the failure of the court to order the production of police reports, the statements referred to above which were furnished to defendant during the trial were statements which the police had taken from the witnesses who had seen the victim and the defendant either before or after the incident. The only other police report to which the defendant alludes is one referred to during cross-examination of a police officer. Defendant requested the right to interrogate the officer out of the presence of the jury to determine if he had made out a report and indicated he wanted to use any such report with which to impeach him. When his right to interrogate the police officer out of the presence of the jury was denied, defense counsel elected not to ask the police officer as to the existence of a police report during further cross-examination in the presence of the jury, and therefore did not establish the existence of any such report. My comment above concerning the statements is equally applicable here. This officer was not an eyewitness to any of the events. He did not identify the defendant. His testimony primarily concerned identifying articles of clothing which he had received from the victim at the hospital and from the defendant at the county jail which he marked for purposes of identification and placed in an evidence locker. Impeachment of this witness would not have altered the outcome of the trial. The majority opinion criticizes the State for not candidly stating whether or not results of tests had been obtained. However, it was during cross-examination of another police officer that the information referred to in the majority opinion to the effect that tests were “requested” was elicited. It is hard to understand why defendant did not pursue the cross-examination further and ascertain if results of these tests requested by the police had in fact been received by them. Here, as in the case of the police reports above, I am unwilling to send this case back for a new trial for the failure to produce that which a subsequent hearing may prove not to exist. By one more question on cross-examination defendant could have informed this court whether the State did in fact have the results of tests which had not been disclosed. It was within the power of defendant to show whether or not there were police reports or results of tests. He elected not to do so. He should not be rewarded for this failure. True, the defendant was entitled to inspect the physical items which were to be used as evidence. However, these items consisted of clothes of the victim, clothes of the defendant and hair samples combed from the victim and from the defendant. At the time that the motion was made these items had already been forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation where the clothing items had been put through a process by which foreign substances were removed therefrom. A further examination of these clothes for foreign articles would be of no avail. The hair found on the victim’s clothing was identified as hair coming from a person of the same race as the defendant. Similarly, hair found on the defendant’s clothing was identified as hair coming from a person of the same race as the victim. The expert also testified that cotton fibers found on the defendant’s jacket and shirt matched those of the victim’s dress and that the fibers found on the victim’s clothing matched those of the defendant’s jacket. He also testified that the fibers matching those of the defendant’s hat were found on the victim’s dress and panties. Similarly, fibers that matched those of the defendant’s shirt were found on the dress and panties of the victim and also fibers matching those of the defendant’s trousers were found on the victim’s dress, undershirt and panties. The defendant had the opportunity and did cross-examine this expert at length. He has not indicated in what manner he was prejudiced by not being permitted to examine these items before trial. I can see no possibility that he sustáined prejudice thereby. See People v. Tribbett, 41 Ill.2d 267, 272. Admittedly defendant was denied certain discoveries to which he was entitled under the decisions of this court, but at most such denial can only be considered as harmless error. The evidence of guilt is overwhelming. There is nothing in the entire record to indicate anything other than the defendant’s guilt. It is difficult to imagine how the result of the trial would have been different had the discovery been allowed. Under these circumstances this court has held that the judgment will not be set aside. People v. Tribbett; People v. Bridges, 28 Ill.2d 165; People v. Orr, 10 Ill. 2d 95. The conduct of the prosecutor was not as flagrant as the majority opinion has painted it to be. Nothing in the record indicates that there is any evidence in the possession or control of the prosecutor favorable to the defendant and thus the language quoted from People v. Moses is not appropriate. I also consider the quote from People v. Johnson inapplicable because the record does not indicate that the State interposed any obstacle to the disclosure of facts. Primarily, the defendant was denied discovery because he was not entitled to discovery of most of what he sought or did not establish the existence of those things to which he was entitled. In the few areas where he was denied that to which he was entitled, I can see no prejudice flowing therefrom; nor has the defendant informed this court how he was prejudiced by this denial. In determining whether the accused has been prejudiced this court should look to the entire record and should not reverse the judgment where guilt is shown beyond a reasaonble doubt or where, upon the evidence, the jury could not have reached a different verdict. (People v. Wolff.) I fear that the majority did not look to the entire record but focused on the technical errors involved in the discovery problem. I would affirm the conviction. MR. CHIEF JUSTICE UNDERWOOD joins in this dissent.