Court Opinion

ID: 9530538
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:00:48.811237+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:08.889526
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I dissent. The record in this case shows that for two obvious reasons the statements contained in the motion to suppress were not admissible for purposes of impeachment. The questions and answers which purportedly rendered them admissible were: “Q. Your lawyer asked you if the police officers took anything from you and you said yes, your wallet, is that right? A. Yes, they did. Q. All right, how, is there anything that they took away from you that they didn’t give back to you? A. No, sir.” First, it is axiomatic that in order to be admissible for purposes of impeachment the prior statement must be inconsistent with the testimony and, clearly, the statements contained in the motion are not inconsistent with the defendant’s answer. Secondly, the testimony shows beyond a doubt that the motion was prepared by defendant’s appointed counsel, on a printed form, and defendant had not the vaguest understanding of what it contained or what it purported to show. This case could and should have been decided on the ground that the use of the motion for purposes of impeachment was error, but on this record, harmless. In order to sustain this conviction it was not necessary to reach the constitutional questions, and it is unfortunate that the majority has used this case to overrule our earlier decision in People v. Luna, 37 Ill.2d 299, and to do violence to established constitutional principles. I have previously pointed out that I believe Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 28 L. Ed. 2d 1, 91 S. Ct. 643, to have been wrongly decided (see dissenting opinion, People v. Moore, 54 Ill.2d 33, at 38), and I find nothing in the majority opinion in that case or in any later opinion of the Supreme Court which meets the arguments advanced in Mr. Justice Brennan’s eloquent dissent in Harris. 401 U.S. at 226, 28 L. Ed. 2d at 5. The majority, to justify its conclusion, states: “We believe that Simmons and Brown must be construed in harmony with Harris v. New York (1971), 401 U.S. 222, 28 L. Ed. 2d 1, 91 S. Ct. 643, where the United States Supreme Court held that a defendant might be impeached at trial by introduction of his prior statements rendered otherwise inadmissible under Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602.” I fail to see why the majority of this court should assume the burden of construing Simmons and Brown in harmony with Harris in view of the fact that in Brown, decided two years after Harris, the Supreme Court did not attempt so to do. Brown does not mention Harris and, contrary to the majority’s interpretation of Brown, the opinion states that the decision in Simmons “has removed the danger of coerced self-incrimination.” Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 229, 36 L. Ed. 2d 208, 214, 93 S. Ct. 1565, 1569. In Simmons, the late Mr. Justice Harlan, writing for the majority, said: “The rule adopted by the courts below does not merely impose upon a defendant a condition which may deter him from asserting a Fourth Amendment objection — it imposes a condition of a kind to which this Court has always been peculiarly sensitive. For a defendant who wishes to establish standing must do so at the risk that the words which he utters may later be used to incriminate him. Those courts which have allowed the admission of testimony given to establish standing have reasoned that there is no violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Self-Incrimination Clause because the testimony was voluntary. As an abstract matter, this may well be true. A defendant is ‘compelled’ to testify in support of a motion to suppress only in the sense that if he refrains from testifying he will have to forgo a benefit, and testimony is not always involuntary as a matter of law simply because it is given to obtain a benefit. However, the assumption which underlies this reasoning is that the defendant has a choice: he may refuse to testify and give up the benefit. When this assumption is applied to a situation in which the ‘benefit’ to be gained is that afforded by another provision of the Bill of Rights, an undeniable tension is created. Thus, in this case Garrett was obliged either to give up what he believed, with advice of counsel, to be a valid Fourth Amendment claim or, in legal effect, to waive his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In these circumstances, we find it intolerable that one constitutional right should have to be surrendered in order to assert another. We therefore hold that when a defendant testifies in support of a motion to suppress evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds, his testimony may not thereafter be admitted against him at trial on the issue of guilt unless he makes no objection.” 390 U.S. 377, 393, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1247, 1258, 88 S. Ct. 967, 976. To me, the clear intent of Simmons is that statements made or testimony given in a proceeding to enforce a Fourth Amendment right may not be used in the trial of a defendant who subsequently exercises his constitutional right to testify, either in the prosecution’s case in chief or for purposes of impeachment. In People v. Luna, 37 Ill.2d 299, in holding that the defendant’s testimony in support of his motion to suppress a confession could not be used to impeach him at trial this court said: “In order to avail himself of his-constitutional rights under our procedure, defendant was compelled to move to suppress the confession. It also appears from the record that his testimony was essential on this motion. Defendant was therefore placed in the dilemma of either foregoing his constitutional right to a suppression of an unlawful confession, or of running the risk of his testimony being used against him at the trial. We think it is no answer to say that defendant need not have taken the stand at his trial. One ought not be forced to choose between availing himself of two equally valuable rights. *** We believe that the ruling of the trial court in permitting the use of defendant’s testimony in this case substantially dilutes the fundamental guaranties of both the Federal and Illinois constitutions, and constitutes reversible error.” 37 Ill.2d 299, at 308. Luna was decided prior to both Simmons and Harris, and I find nothing in either of those opinions which justifies its being overruled. Assuming, arguendo, that Harris permits the result reached here, this court is free to impose higher standards for the protection of constitutional rights than those set by the Supreme Court. (Cooper v. California, 386 U.S. 58, 17 L. Ed. 2d 730, 87 S. Ct. 788.) This court has employed Harris as a vehicle to follow the Supreme Court into regression (see People v. Moore, 54 Ill.2d 33), but we need not, as we do here, use it as the means to serve as its vanguard.