Court Opinion

ID: 9710908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:20:11.895364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:00.240334
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HOFFMAN, dissenting: The majority concludes that the defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney elicited testimony on cross-examination of Officer Fron that was damaging to the defendant’s interests and which had not been presented as part of the State’s case. The majority also finds that the defendant was prejudiced by the actions of his attorney because the trial judge relied upon the cross-examination testimony of Officer Fron in finding the defendant guilty. I dissent because I believe that the evidence against the defendant was overwhelming and that there is no reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the defendant’s attorney had never elicited the damaging testimony from Officer Fron. Clearly, the defense attorney rendered deficient representation when her cross-examination of Officer Fron elicited testimony that he witnessed the unknown person, who was standing on the corner and yelling “rocks” at passing vehicles, speak to the defendant and accept money from him on several occasions. That evidence was never brought out by the State, and it connected the defendant with the unknown individual. It is also true, as the majority notes, that the trial judge relied upon that evidence in finding the defendant guilty. However, the trial judge also found the defendant’s testimony “wholly incredible and hardly merit of commenting.” The judge observed that the defendant contradicted himself and that his testimony made no sense. Specifically, the trial judge stated: “It doesn’t seem to make sense that he [the defendant] is telling this Court that he continuously helps Officer Fron by providing him with information and being a snitch for him, as he put it, and that this officer is going to concoct this elaborate scenario in order to put a case on him.” In contrast, the judge found that Officer Fron testified in a “credible manner” and that he was “not impeached in any significant way.” If one discounts the “incredible” story that the defendant related, we are left only with the “credible” testimony of Officer Fron. The majority states that the evidence against the defendant was “far from overwhelming.” I disagree. On direct examination, Officer Fron testified that he observed the unknown individual, who was yelling “rocks,” direct vehicles into the alley where the defendant was standing. He observed the defendant engage in four transactions during which the occupants of the vehicles gave the defendant money in exchange for a 3/4-square-inch white article which the defendant took from his jacket pocket. Officer Fron also observed the defendant remove a similar object from his jacket pocket and throw it on the ground as he was fleeing to avoid apprehension. That object tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Officer Fron was never impeached in any significant manner. The majority correctly notes that the trial court referenced the damaging cross-examination testimony of Officer Fron, but he did so only after finding Officer Fron’s testimony credible and after finding that the defendant’s testimony was contradictory and made no sense. Further, it was not the cross-examination of Officer Fron that connected the defendant to the unknown individual on the corner; it was his direct examination that initially established their connection. On direct examination, the officer testified that the unknown individual directed vehicles into the alley where the defendant was positioned. The cross-examination may have offered additional evidence linking the defendant to the unknown individual, but it certainly was not the only evidence that connected the two. In order to establish a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must demonstrate that his attorney’s performance was deficient, that is to say that counsel made errors so serious that she was not functioning as constitutionally guaranteed, and that counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced the defendant. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 693, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2064 (1984). To establish prejudice, a “defendant must prove that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” People v. Evans, 186 Ill. 2d 83, 93, 708 N.E.2d 1158 (1999). Both prongs of the Strickland test must be satisfied in order to establish ineffective assistance of counsel. Evans, 186 Ill. 2d at 94. Implicit in the majority’s opinion is the notion that there is a reasonable probability that, but for defense counsel’s having elicited the damaging testimony on cross-examination of Officer Fron, the result of the defendant’s trial would have been different. I disagree. Officer Fron’s cross-examination testimony was not the basis for the trial court having found the defendant’s version of events incredible. Also, though that testimony may have “bolstered” the officer’s evidence on direct examination, it certainly was not the cornerstone of the trial court’s finding that Office Fron was both credible and unimpeached. Based on the record in this case and the full text of the trial judge’s comments in finding the defendant guilty, I do not believe that there is any reasonable probability that the outcome of the defendant’s trial would have been any different had defense counsel never elicited the damaging testimony on cross-examination of Officer Fron. Simply put, I do not believe that the defendant has satisfied the second prong of the Strickland test. For these reasons, I would affirm the defendant’s conviction and sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment. However, in accordance with the State’s concession, I would vacate the $20 fine assessed against the defendant for the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Fund and grant him a $150 credit against his mandatory drug assessment.