Court Opinion

ID: 9739456
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:15:13.737676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:12.322971
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE CAHILL, specially concurring: I concur in the disposition of this case and with almost all of the reasoning of the author of the opinion. My one reservation concerns the analysis of the direct examination of Detective Ray Kaminski and the opening statement of the prosecution. The author joins these excerpts from the record to make the argument that “the State stretched the boundaries of the investigative procedure hearsay exception.” 326 Ill. App. 3d at 924. I cannot agree. The best analysis of this issue, in my view, is contained in the Henderson decision cited in the opinion: “This court has held that testimony recounting the steps taken in a police investigation is admissible and does not violate the sixth amendment, even if a jury would conclude that the police began looking for a defendant as a result of what nontestifying witnesses told them, as long as the testimony does not gratuitously reveal the substance of their statements and so inform the jury that they told the police that the defendant was responsible for the crime. [Citation.] The testimony here merely related the conduct of the investigation; the fact that it appears that something Alonzo said caused the police to look for defendant does not mean that defendant had a right to cross-examine Alonzo — there was simply nothing to cross-examine him about, given that the content of his statement to the police was never disclosed at trial.” People v. Henderson, 142 Ill. 2d 258, 304, 568 N.E.2d 1234, 1256 (1990). Here, as in Henderson, the key to a sixth amendment analysis and the right of cross-examination is to ask a question: Based on what was revealed by the officer’s testimony, what would you cross-examine Wash and Ashford about? The Henderson approach strikes me as a clear exposition of the view of our supreme court. The alternative is to allow trial judges and appellate courts to weigh the prejudicial impact of inferences. The latter approach, which I believe the author subscribes to, almost insures that there will never be uniformity in our opinions on this subject. In all other respects I join in the opinion.