City of Naperville v. Lerch

555 N.E.2d 1187, 198 Ill. App. 3d 578, 144 Ill. Dec. 668, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 839
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 8, 1990
Docket2—89—0539, 2—89—0840 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 555 N.E.2d 1187 (City of Naperville v. Lerch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Naperville v. Lerch, 555 N.E.2d 1187, 198 Ill. App. 3d 578, 144 Ill. Dec. 668, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 839 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE McLAREN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant appeals from two orders of the circuit court of Du Page County imposing one year’s court supervision on defendant and awarding attorney fees to the plaintiff. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Defendant, William G. Lerch, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (Naperville, Ill., Municipal Code, title 11, ch. 1, §11—1—6, par. 1, subpar. 1.4) and driving with a blood-alcohol content of .10% or greater (Naperville, Ill., Municipal Code, title 11, ch. 1, §11—1—6, par. 1, subpar. 1.3) on March 6, 1987. Plaintiff, City of Naperville, later moved for, and was granted, leave to amend the complaints to charge defendant with being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while having a blood-alcohol content of .10% or more in his body, under the same code sections initially charged.

After receiving a confirmation of statutory summary suspension, defendant petitioned the court for a hearing to rescind the suspension. Following a hearing, the court found in favor of defendant and rescinded the suspension because the arrest did not occur on a public highway. Defendant then moved to suppress evidence obtained in his allegedly illegal arrest. The record does not reveal the disposition of this motion. Defendant next filed a motion in limine to exclude the breath test result. This motion was granted in part and denied in part.

A jury was selected on February 21, 1989. On February 22, after the jury was sworn in, defendant moved for a mistrial based on a venireman’s statement that he believed that he knew defendant from their common membership in Alcoholics Anonymous. The court reserved ruling on this oral motion. Trial by jury followed, and defendant was found guilty of both charges on February 23. Defendant’s motion for a mistrial was then denied.

On March 2, plaintiff filed a motion seeking attorney fees pursuant to title 1, chapter 4, section 1—4—1, paragraph 2, subparagraph 2.3 of the Municipal Code of the City of Naperville. On March 23, defendant filed various post-trial motions for a new trial and a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Defendant’s motions were denied on April 28. On that same date, the court ordered defendant to serve a period of one year under court supervision. On May 30, defendant filed a notice of appeal from this order. After written and oral arguments, the court on August 21 granted the city’s petition for attorney fees and ordered payment of $1,120 by defendant. On August 22, defendant filed a notice of appeal from this award of fees. These two appeals are now consolidated in the case before us.

Defendant first contends that he was denied a fair and impartial jury. During voir dire, the following colloquy took place amongst the court, both counsel, and Mr. Kafka, a venireman in the last chair of the final panel of jurors selected:

“Q. [THE COURT]: Mr. Kafka?
A. [MR. KAFKA]: Your Honor, may I speak?
Q. What is it you wish to say, sir?
A. I did not recognize Mr. Lerch by name but having studied his face, I believe I know him from a community organization.
Q. Do you know that you do in fact know him?
A. I believe it. We haven’t had close contact in several years but previous to that we were in a community organization together I believe.
THE COURT: Any objection to either side if I excuse Mr. Kafka?
MR. CUNEO: What organization was it?
THE COURT: I don’t know.
MR. THOMAS: Judge, I don’t know that that’s necessarily relevant.
THE COURT: All right. Let me ask you Mr. Kafka if this is only a casual acquaintanceship from several years ago and you are not sure until looking at the gentleman even closely that you know him, would it be fair to say that your knowledge will not interfere with your ability to decide this case?
MR. KAFKA: I might be impartial. The group I am speaking of is Alcoholics Anonymous to which I have belonged for 12 years and I have been a sober member for the past seven years.
THE COURT: Again, it would be my feeling that maybe the gentleman should be excused. Any strong objection from either side?
MR. THOMAS: None.
THE COURT: Mr. Cuneo?
MR. CUNEO: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You will be excused.”

The other three veniremen on that panel heard the proceedings and were sworn in as jurors. Defendant did not object to the proceedings or move for a mistrial at that point. The next day, however, defendant moved for a mistrial after the jury was sworn but before opening statements. The court reserved ruling on the motion until the verdict was returned, at which time the motion was denied.

Defendant accepted the three jurors he now alleges were tainted by exposure to the venireman’s statement. Failure to exercise a peremptory challenge or to challenge a juror for cause waives any objection to that juror. (People v. Davenport (1985), 133 Ill. App. 3d 553, 559.) Defendant’s window of opportunity to challenge the three allegedly tainted jurors closed when defendant accepted them for service on the jury. He cannot later charge that they should have been dismissed. Any objection to their presence on the jury has been waived.

Defendant next contends that he was denied a fair trial by a jury instruction given by the court. Plaintiff’s tendered instruction No. 20, given by the court, stated:

“ ‘Actual physical control’ does not require evidence that defendant drove or even attempted to drive.”

Defendant objected to this instruction, arguing that it was surplusage and that the content of the instruction was covered elsewhere. He did not, however, tender a different instruction.

The instruction in question here was a non-Illinois Pattern Jury Instruction and was based on the case of People v. Brown (1988), 175 Ill. App. 3d 676. Defendant, in his motion for a new trial and here on appeal, argues that the holding in Brown should be superseded by the reasoning in People v. Cummings (1988), 176 Ill. App. 3d 293. Whether this court chooses to adopt the reasoning set forth in Cummings, however, is irrelevant to this case. While defendant did object to the instruction given, he failed to tender an instruction which would have cured the alleged defect in the instruction given. Such a failure precludes a party from raising the issue on appeal. (People v. Tannenbaum (1980), 82 Ill. 2d 177, 180; 107 Ill. 2d R. 366 (b)(2)(i).) This issue is, therefore, waived.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
555 N.E.2d 1187, 198 Ill. App. 3d 578, 144 Ill. Dec. 668, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-naperville-v-lerch-illappct-1990.