People v. Cook

222 N.E.2d 13, 78 Ill. App. 2d 219, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 1211
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 2, 1966
DocketGen. No. 50,446
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 222 N.E.2d 13 (People v. Cook) 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. Cook, 222 N.E.2d 13, 78 Ill. App. 2d 219, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 1211 (Ill. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE ENGLISH

delivered the opinion of the court.

Offense Charged in the Indictment

Armed Robbery.

Judgment

After a jury verdict finding defendant guilty, he was sentenced tó a term of ten to twenty-five years.

Points Raised on Appeal

Defendant was denied a fair trial in that:

(1) His confession was erroneously admitted into evidence.
(a) He had not been advised of his constitutional right to counsel.
(b) The State failed to establish that is was voluntary.
(2) He was denied access to police reports subpoenaed prior to trial.
(3) Cross-examination of a State’s witness was unreasonably restricted.
(4) The trial judge made prejudicial statements in the presence of the jury.

Evidence

Since defendant makes no point requiring consideration of the facts in this case, they will not be set forth in this opinion. They may be found in the opinion, filed today, affirming the conviction of codefendant Carver. 77 Ill App2d 247, 222 NE2d 17.

Opinion

(l)(a). Defendant made no request for an opportunity to consult counsel during his interrogation, but contends that he was denied a constitutional right in not being advised of his right to counsel prior to confession (and that such denial rendered the confession inadmissible). This contention has been answered adversely by the United States Supreme Court in opinions filed subsequent to defendant’s brief. Defendant relies on rights established in Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 US 478, but even as later clarified and expanded in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436, the point was rendered unavailable to this defendant in Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 US 719. There it was held that the standards laid down in Escobedo and Miranda are not applicable retroactively, and those decisions are therefore controlling only as to trials begun after June 22, 1964 (Escobedo) and June 13, 1966 (Miranda), respectively.

Trial in the instant case commenced on November 9, 1964, so Escobedo is applicable but Miranda is not. The essence of defendant’s point (that he had not been advised of his right to counsel) finds no support in Escobedo, however, but only in Miranda, since defendant had not requested an opportunity to consult counsel. The contention must fall, therefore, on the authority of People v. Hartgraves, 31 Ill2d 375, 202 NE2d 33, which still governs in this situation.

(1) (b). We must, nevertheless, consider the absence of counsel, and the failure of the police to advise defendant of his right to counsel, as significant factors in determining whether or not the confession was given voluntarily. Davis v. North Carolina, 384 US 737; People v. Heise, 35 Ill2d 214, 216-217, 220 NE2d 438. On the other hand, another “significant factor” to be considered with all other evidence on the subject, in accordance with Davis, is the fact that the police did specifically warn defendant of his right to remain silent.

Defendant correctly argues that the State has the burden of proving the voluntariness of a confession when it is questioned on the ground of coercion. And to meet this burden it must produce all witnesses material to the issue. People v. Wright, 24 Ill2d 88, 180 NE2d 689. It is also true that if a first, oral confession is coerced, then a later otherwise voluntary written confession would be inadmissible as being “inextricably interwoven” with the constraint of the former confession. People v. Taylor, 33 Ill2d 417, 421, 211 NE2d 673.

The facts which defendant claims rendered his confession involuntary are (1) that he was unreasonably detained for seven hours after his arrest and before his written confession, and (2) that during that period he was subjected to brutality by the police.

Defendant was arrested at 12:30 p. m. and taken to the police station. There he was put into a small interrogation room (not a cell) and, after half to three-quarters of an hour of questioning by the police, he confessed to the crime. In separate rooms the questioning of his codefendant and a third suspect continued, however, until they were all brought to the same room where the written confession was prepared and was then signed by defendant at approximately 7:30 p. m.

It has frequently and recently been held in this State that unnecessary or unreasonable delay in taking an accused before a magistrate — even illegal detention (which is not claimed here) — does not, of itself, require suppression of a confession, but is only one of the factors to be considered on the issue of voluntariness. The statute provides that a person arrested without a warrant be taken before a magistrate “without unnecessary delay.” Ill Rev Stats (1963), c 38, § 109-1 (a). In reviewing a similar provision of an older statute, the Supreme Court held in People v. Taylor, 33 Ill2d 417, 422-423, 211 NE2d 673:

Defendant was arrested at 9:30 a. m. on Saturday and was not taken before a magistrate until after the written statement was given on Monday. The oral confession, however, was obtained approximately 2 hours after his arrest, and although the statute in force at the time of defendant’s arrest (Ill Rev Stats 1959, chap 38, par 660) required that he be taken before a magistrate “without unnecessary delay”, noncompliance therewith does not necessarily obviate a conviction nor render an otherwise voluntary confession inadmissible at the trial. (See People v. Hall, 413 Ill 615.) The McNabb-Mallory rule (McNabb v. United States, 318 US 332, 87 L Ed 819, 63 S Ct 608; Mallory v. United States, 354 US 449, 1 L Ed2d 1479, 77 S Ct 1356) holding confessions per se inadmissible if obtained during illegal detention, has never been the law of Illinois. (See People v. Kees, 32 Ill2d 299; People v. Stacey, 25 Ill2d 258; People v. Jackson, 23 Ill2d 274.) Any delay, however, should be considered on the question of voluntariness of the confessions. People v. Hall, at p 624.

In Kees, the court had declared (page 302) that the McNabb rule was one of Federal procedure only which it had consistently refused to adopt for Illinois, and which, in Gallegos v. Nebraska, 342 US 55, 63-64, had been held not to extend to State prosecutions as a requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Because of the attention given to this question in recent years, the Illinois Supreme Court has frequently been required to pass on the point, and just as frequently has resolved the issue as stated above. See, among other decisions, People v. Miller, 33 Ill2d 439, 211 NE2d 708; People v. Novak, 33 Ill2d 343, 348, 211 NE2d 235; People v. Davis, 35 Ill2d 202, 206, 220 NE2d 222; People v. Bernatowicz, 35 Ill2d 192, 220 NE2d 745, where the defendant’s detention was for nine days; and People v. Wallace, 35 Ill2d 251, 254, 220 NE2d 198.

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Related

People v. Young
100 Ill. App. 2d 377 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
222 N.E.2d 13, 78 Ill. App. 2d 219, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 1211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cook-illappct-1966.