People v. Bean

325 N.E.2d 679, 26 Ill. App. 3d 1090, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2011
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 27, 1975
Docket12479
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 325 N.E.2d 679 (People v. Bean) 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
People v. Bean, 325 N.E.2d 679, 26 Ill. App. 3d 1090, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2011 (Ill. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant was tried by a jury for aggravated battery and attempted murder charged in separate counts of a single indictment. After the jury had deliberated for 8 hours, the trial judge found them to be unable to agree and dismissed them. Defendant’s amended motion for discharge, partly on the grounds that the jury was improperly dismissed and that retrial would place him in double jeopardy, was denied, and he then waived jury trial and stipulated that the evidence before the jury stand as the evidence in the bench trial. The court found him guilty on both charges, entered judgments and sentenced him to 1 to 10 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder.

The People confess defendant’s contention on appeal that since both offenses arise out of the same act, the judgment on the conviction of aggravated battery cannot stand if the attempt-murder conviction is upheld. (People v. Lilly, 56 Ill.2d 493, 309 N.E.2d 1.) No question is raised as to the sufficiency of the evidence.

The heart of the appeal is defendant’s contention that retrial as to either charge placed him in double jeopardy.

According to the report of proceedings, after the jury had deliberated for over 7 hours, the following colloquy occurred:

“THE COURT: Let there be a stipulation by and between the defendant and the State that the Court will inquire of the verdict in the following manner: Ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict on all of the issues?
In the event the jury reports in the negative, by stipulation the Court will read to the jury an additional instruction approved by both parties and request that the jury again retire to consider their verdict. Is that a satisfactory stipulation?
MR. LITAK [Counsel for Defense]: So stipulated.”

The jury was then brought in and questioned as stipulated. The foreman answered, “No, Sir, we have not.” After an additional instruction was given, the jury retired for 20 minutes and were then returned into court. The judge asked the same question and the foreman gave substantially the same answer. The judge then found the jury to be deadlocked and discharged them.

The report of proceedings at the jury trial gives no indication that any of the trial participants knew at or prior to the time of the discharge whether the jury had reached a verdict on one of the charges. At the time of the motion for discharge, the trial judge stated, and the People concede it to be correct that, prior to verdict, court and counsel had been informed that the jury had agreed on one of the charges but it was not known on which charge or what the verdict was. Among the materials collected from the jury room by the clerk after the jury was discharged was a signed verdict form finding the defendant guilty of aggravated battery. The materials were placed in the clerk’s impoundment file without being examined by the court. The court refused to allow the jury materials to be opened and examined at the hearing on the motion for discharge, and the materials did not become available until they became part of the record on appeal.

The fifth amendment to the Federal constitution provides in part:

“# # * nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; * *

Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 23 L.Ed.2d 707, 89 S.Ct. 2056, made this provision applicable to State proceedings through the fourteenth amendment. A similar provision is contained in section 10 of article I of the Illinois Constitution. Ill. Const. (1970), art. I, § 10.

The most recent Supreme Court case addressing the double jeopardy issue in the mistrial situation, Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U.S. 458, 461, 35 L.Ed.2d 425, 429, 93 S.Ct. 1066, 1069, cites United States v. Perez, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165, as the “fountainhead decision construing the Double Jeopardy Clause in the context of a declaration of a mistrial over a defendant’s objection.” In Perez, a subsequent conviction after the jury had been discharged as unable to agree in a prior trial was affirmed on appeal. Mr. Justice Story, speaking for a unanimous court, stated:

“We think, that in all cases of this nature, the law has invested courts of justice with the authority to discharge a jury from giving any verdict, whenever, in their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration, there is a manifest necessity for the act, or the ends of public justice would otherwise be defeated. They are to exercise a sound discretion on the subject; and it is impossible to define all the circumstances which would render it proper to interfere.” 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 580, 66 L.Ed. 165, 165.

Down through the cases to Somerville, the courts have continued to apply the “manifest necessity” doctrine of Perez. In United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 91 S.Ct. 547, a declaration of mistrial made on the trial judge’s own motion was held to be an abuse of discretion. In that case, which was a prosecution for the preparation of fraudulent tax returns, the trial judge had declared a mistrial after concluding that certain prosecution witnesses had not been adequately warned of their constitutional rights and refusing to allow them to testify until they had consulted attorneys. The majority opinion noted that “no consideration was given to the possibility of a trial continuance; indeed, the trial judge acted so abruptly in discharging the jury that, had the prosecutor been disposed to suggest a continuance, or the defendant to object to the discharge of the jury, there would have been no opportunity to do so.” (400 U.S. 470, 487, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 558, 91 S.Ct. 547, 558.) The majority rejected the approach suggested in Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. 364, 6 L.Ed.2d 901, 81 S.Ct. 1523, in which the appellate court could determine which party was the beneficiary of the mistrial ruling, and retrial was prohibited in Jorn even though the original trial had been aborted without bad faith or prosecutorial misconduct and regardless of whether the trial judge acted for the benefit of the defendant. Although the majority opinion in Jorn applied tire “manifest necessity” doctrine rather stringently, it reaffirmed the Court’s refusal to apply mechanical rules to the exercise of judicial discretion to declare mistrials.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
325 N.E.2d 679, 26 Ill. App. 3d 1090, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2011, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bean-illappct-1975.