People v. Hicks

481 N.E.2d 920, 134 Ill. App. 3d 1031, 90 Ill. Dec. 120, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2202
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 18, 1985
Docket5-84-0015
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 481 N.E.2d 920 (People v. Hicks) 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. Hicks, 481 N.E.2d 920, 134 Ill. App. 3d 1031, 90 Ill. Dec. 120, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2202 (Ill. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

JUSTICE KARNS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Billy Leon Hicks, was convicted by a jury in the circuit court of Jackson County of the offense of armed robbery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 38, par. 18 — 2(a)) and sentenced to a term of 30 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends (1) that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to exclude a juror and impanel an alternate, on the basis of a radio broadcast heard by the juror concerning the trial, thereby denying defendant a fair trial and (2) that a single suspect show-up, conducted at the scene of the crime, was unnecessarily suggestive. We affirm.

With respect to defendant’s first contention of error, the facts reveal that on the morning of the second day of trial, the court announced that it had been brought to its attention that a radio station had broadcast an item concerning the pending case. The court asked any juror who had heard the report to raise his hand and two jurors, Mrs. Bame and Mrs. Koenig, did so. The court then excused the remaining jurors and questioned Mrs. Bame and Mrs. Koenig, and also allowed counsel to ask additional questions. During its inquiry, the court determined that Mrs. Koenig had heard defendant’s name and then turned the radio off. She was not influenced, and heard nothing to indicate the defendant was guilty. Mrs. Bame stated that she had heard the defendant’s name and that he was from Indiana in a broadcast on WINI in Murphysboro. When asked what else she had heard, she stated she could not remember, and indicated she “was busy at the time and I knew I was not supposed to listen.” She further indicated that her radio was always on. The court further examined Mrs. Bame to determine whether she told told anyone else on the jury of the broadcast, and she stated she did not. After further interrogation by the court, Mrs. Bame stated she did not have any different opinion about the case than she did when she left the previous evening at the completion of the first day of trial; that what she heard did not influence how she would decide the case, nor would it make her more favorable to the State or to the defendant. The bailiff then advised the court, outside the presence of Mrs. Bame, of the contents of the entire broadcast, which mentioned that the defendant’s trial was in progress and that he had charges against him in Indiana. After denying defense counsel’s motion for a mistrial, the court again questioned Mrs. Bame to ensure that she had not been influenced by the broadcast. Finally, the court again admonished her to refrain from discussing the broadcast with the other jurors and then admonished the entire jury as a whole.

Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to excuse Mrs. Bame and impanel an alternate, thereby denying defendant a fair trial. According to defendant, he was denied a fair and impartial jury inasmuch as Mrs. Bame heard a radio broadcast mentioning other charges in Indiana. Defendant also argues that information from the broadcast indicating that defendant was from Indiana must have prejudiced the juror in light of evidence presented at the trial which connected the defendant to the “getaway” vehicle which had Indiana license plates and which contained an Indiana drivers license bearing defendant’s photograph.

The granting of a mistrial due to prejudicial publicity is a matter addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court and an abuse of that discretion constitutes reversible error. (People v. Malmenato (1958), 14 Ill. 2d 52, 63, 150 N.E.2d 806, 812, cert. denied (1958), 358 U.S. 899, 3 L. Ed. 2d 148, 79 S. Ct. 222.) Every situation in which extraneous or unauthorized information reaches the jury however does not result in prejudicial error. (People v. Collins (1979), 71 Ill. App. 3d 815, 823, 390 N.E.2d 463, 470.) The question that is presented is whether the jurors or any of them have been influenced and prejudiced to such an extent that they would not or could not be fair and impartial, and each case must be determined on its own particular facts and circumstances. (People v. Malmenato (1958), 14 Ill. 2d 52, 63, 150 N.E.2d 806, 812, cert. denied (1958), 358 U.S. 899, 3 L. Ed. 2d 148, 79 S. Ct. 222.) The statement of a juror that he was not influenced by the allegedly prejudicial publicity is not conclusive. (People v. Malmenato (1958), 14 Ill. 2d 52, 63, 150 N.E.2d 806, 812, cert. denied (1958), 358 U.S. 899, 3 L. Ed. 2d 148, 79 S. Ct. 222.) The most controlling factor or circumstance to be considered by the trial court is the nature and character of the allegedly prejudicial publicity. People v. Hryciuk (1954), 5 Ill. 2d 176, 184, 125 N.E.2d 61, 66.

We do not believe that the trial court in the present case abused its discretion in denying defendant’s motion for a mistrial. The trial court properly safeguarded defendant’s right to a fair trial by thoroughly examining the juror, Mrs. Bame, as to possible prejudice. Defendant contends that juror Bame heard the entire radio broadcast, a portion of which mentioned other charges against defendant in Indiana. Mrs. Bame’s responses to the trial judge’s inquiry, however, revealed that the only portion of the radio broadcast she heard or recalled was that the defendant’s trial had begun, and that he was from Indiana. Even assuming juror Bame were to have recalled the entire broadcast, including the portion relating to pending charges in Indiana, the thorough examination and admonishments by the trial court established that Mrs. Bame would remain fair and impartial. She repeatedly indicated to the court that she was not influenced by the broadcast. Additionally, we note that the allegedly prejudicial broadcast, even in its entirety, was far more innocuous than those in the cases cited and relied upon by defendant in his brief. In People v. Hryciuk (1954), 5 Ill. 2d 176, 125 N.E.2d 61, the jurors had read newspaper articles stating the defendant, in a rape trial, had confessed to two murders for which the State planned to try him and ask the death penalty; that he had boasted of attacks on more than 50 women and was described by the police as a “vicious degenerate.” In People v. Murawski (1946), 394 Ill. 236, 68 N.E.2d 272, an abortion case, the objectionable newspaper article stated that defendant had twice been indicted for abortion and once for murder by abortion but had never been brought to trial. In both these cases, the information in the objectionable articles was attributed to the prosecutor’s office, and there were additional facts which led the court to believe that a number of jurors had read the items and been influenced thereby. In the case at bar, there is no basis to conclude that the State’s Attorney’s office provided any information to the radio station or capitalized upon it. (Cf. People v. Malmenato (1958), 14 Ill. 2d 52, 64, 150 N.E.2d 806, 813, cert. denied (1958), 358 U.S. 899, 3 L. Ed. 2d 148, 79 S. Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
481 N.E.2d 920, 134 Ill. App. 3d 1031, 90 Ill. Dec. 120, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hicks-illappct-1985.