People v. Fields

829 N.E.2d 917, 357 Ill. App. 3d 780, 293 Ill. Dec. 992, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 503
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 20, 2005
Docket1-03-2847 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 829 N.E.2d 917 (People v. Fields) 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. Fields, 829 N.E.2d 917, 357 Ill. App. 3d 780, 293 Ill. Dec. 992, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 503 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

JUSTICE McNULTY

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is another step in the extensive history of a murder charge filed against Nathson Fields. After our supreme court affirmed his conviction (People v. Fields, 135 Ill. 2d 18 (1990)), Fields filed a postconviction petition for a new trial. The trial court granted the petition and our supreme court affirmed the decision. People v. Hawkins, 181 Ill. 2d 41 (1998). Before retrial the prosecution brought an interlocutory appeal from a decision that suppressed some evidence. This court affirmed the decision. People v. Hawkins, 326 Ill. App. 3d 992 (2001). On remand, again before retrial, the prosecution moved to present new evidence closely related to the evidence suppressed by the order that led to the previous appeal. The trial court suppressed the new evidence also and the prosecution now takes another interlocutory appeal. Fields cross-appeals from the denial of his motion to dismiss the charges for violation of his right to a speedy trial.

We find that the prosecution has not shown due diligence in its efforts to obtain the new evidence, and the interlocutory appeal does not afford us jurisdiction to consider the cross-appeal. Therefore we affirm the trial court’s decision.

Following a bench trial in 1986, former judge Thomas Maloney found Fields and codefendant Earl Hawkins guilty of murder. In 1987 Hawkins began cooperating with an investigation into corruption in the criminal courts. Hawkins agreed to plead guilty to federal bribery charges in exchange for a sentence of 60 years in prison. The written agreement, signed by a federal prosecutor, Hawkins, and the Cook County State’s Attorney, provides:

“[Hawkins] agrees he will cooperate fully with both the federal government and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in any investigation in which he is called upon to cooperate that is related to or results from the [bribery] charges in this case.”

A federal jury, in 1993, found Maloney guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion and obstruction of justice. The prosecution proved that Maloney accepted a $10,000 bribe to acquit Hawkins and Fields on the murder charges. Maloney returned the bribe and entered convictions against Fields and Hawkins when he realized that the FBI was watching him.

Fields filed a postconviction petition in 1992 based on evidence of Maloney’s corruption. The trial court granted the petition for a new trial. Before the retrial the prosecution announced that it would present evidence of the bribe to show Fields’s consciousness of guilt. The trial court, at a pretrial hearing, suppressed the evidence.

Pretrial proceedings resumed after this court affirmed the decision on the motion to suppress. Fields moved to dismiss the charges based on violation of the speedy trial statute. See 725 ILCS 5/103 — 5 (West 2002). The trial court denied the motion.

Shortly before the scheduled retrial the prosecution announced its renewed intention to introduce evidence of the bribe. The prosecution claimed that it obtained new evidence in an interview with Hawkins in December 2002, a few months after the prosecution decided to drop the murder charges against Hawkins. Hawkins agreed to plead guilty to armed violence, and the prosecution agreed to recommend a sentence to run concurrently with Hawkins’s imprisonment on federal bribery charges. In the December 2002 interview, Hawkins said that Fields had participated in discussions of the bribe.

The trial court again suppressed the evidence. The prosecution again filed a notice of appeal and a certificate stating that the ruling will substantially impair prosecution of the murder charge. Fields filed a notice of cross-appeal from the denial of the motion to dismiss for violation of the statutory right to a speedy trial.

We review the decision to suppress evidence for abuse of discretion. Hawkins, 326 Ill. App. 3d at 995. Our prior decision established, as the law of the case, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it suppressed the evidence of bribery initially presented to the court. We will not reverse the trial court’s decision here unless the new evidence of bribery materially changes the facts of the case and “the new evidence [is] not *** of a nature that with due diligence could have been presented earlier.” People v. Williams, 138 Ill. 2d 377, 394 (1990).

The prosecution argues that it acted with due diligence because “the People were prohibited from speaking with Hawkins during the time that he was still facing murder charges.” The prosecution cites no authority for this odd proposition. Does the prosecution seriously suggest that police officers who arrest a person on a criminal charge are “prohibited from” interviewing that person? Does the prosecution claim that an assistant State’s Attorney cannot ask a person charged with a crime whether he will give up his right to silence and agree to answer questions about the alleged offense? The law appears to contradict any such suggestion. See People v. Kolakowski, 319 Ill. App. 3d 200, 215-17 (2001).

The prosecution’s assertion also contradicts the express agreement Hawkins signed during the initial investigation into the charge of bribery. Hawkins agreed to “cooperate fully with *** the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in any investigation *** that is related to or results from the charges in this case.”

Moreover, the prosecution obtained the new evidence with the simple expedient of a plea agreement in which the prosecution dropped the murder charges against Hawkins. The prosecution does not explain why it could not have used this same expedient to obtain this same evidence prior to its initial motion to present bribery evidence on retrial. See People v. Harris, 206 Ill. 2d 293, 301 (2002). Because the prosecution has not shown due diligence, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion by suppressing the bribery evidence.

Fields cross-appeals from the denial of his motion to dismiss the charges due to a violation of the speedy trial statute. The prosecution challenges our jurisdiction to consider the cross-appeal. Fields argues that we should consider the cross-appeal in the interest of judicial economy. In support he cites People v. Quigley, 183 Ill. 2d 1 (1998).

The defendant in Quigley moved to dismiss the charges against him on double jeopardy and speedy trial grounds. The trial court denied both motions. The defendant took an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 604(f) (188 Ill. 2d R. 604(f)), which grants this court jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal from the

denial of a motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds. On appeal the defendant argued the speedy trial issue as well as the double jeopardy issue. Our supreme court addressed the speedy trial issue “in the interest of judicial economy.” Quigley, 183 Ill. 2d at 13. As authority the court cited Supreme Court Rule 366(a)(5), which provides:

“In all appeals the reviewing court may, in its discretion, and on such terms as it deems just,
*** enter any judgment and make any order that ought to have been given or made ***.” 155 Ill. 2d R.

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Related

People v. Fields
959 N.E.2d 1162 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2011)
People v. Gale
876 N.E.2d 171 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
829 N.E.2d 917, 357 Ill. App. 3d 780, 293 Ill. Dec. 992, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fields-illappct-2005.