People v. Lamb

587 N.E.2d 61, 224 Ill. App. 3d 950, 167 Ill. Dec. 179, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 181
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 6, 1992
Docket2-89-1184
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 587 N.E.2d 61 (People v. Lamb) 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. Lamb, 587 N.E.2d 61, 224 Ill. App. 3d 950, 167 Ill. Dec. 179, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 181 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

JUSTICE DUNN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Christopher Lamb, was convicted of residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 19—3(a)). Defendant contended in a post-trial motion that a portion of his grand jury testimony was erroneously admitted into evidence because he was not admonished during the grand jury proceedings about certain constitutional rights. The trial court vacated defendant’s conviction and granted him a new trial. The State now appeals and asserts that the trial court erred by ruling that defendant’s grand jury testimony should have been suppressed. We reverse and remand.

Defendant was arrested in June 1984 and charged by information with taking part in a residential burglary that had occurred a few weeks earlier. After his arrest defendant gave a statement to Sergeant Richard Wilkinson of the Ogle County sheriff’s department. Defendant was subsequently subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating the burglary.

On June 28, 1984, defendant appeared before the grand jury. He was accompanied by counsel. The State’s Attorney asked defendant if his attorney had advised him of his rights in testifying before the grand jury. Defendant stated that his attorney had done so. After asking several questions about events that had transpired on the day of the burglary, the State’s Attorney asked if defendant had anything else to say. Defendant then read a prepared statement which said that he was at the scene of the burglary on the day it took place with other alleged perpetrators but had not participated in the offense. Defendant’s attorney had a copy of the statement introduced into evidence. The grand jury indicted defendant for the residential burglary.

On January 7, 1985, defendant was tried in absentia. The trial judge suppressed defendant’s statement to Sergeant Wilkinson but allowed the State to introduce into evidence portions of defendant’s grand jury testimony concerning the statement to Wilkinson. The jury found defendant guilty, and he was subsequently sentenced to a 15-year term of imprisonment.

Defendant argued in a prior appeal to this court that his grand jury testimony about the statement to Wilkinson should have been suppressed. This court agreed and granted defendant a new trial. (See People v. Lamb (1988), 176 Ill. App. 3d 203, 208.) The new trial, a bench trial, commenced on August 8,1989.

The State sought to introduce defendant’s prepared statement to the grand jury into evidence at the new trial. The trial judge stated that the testimony would only be admitted if the State could show as part of the foundation that defendant had been advised of his Miranda rights. The prosecuting attorney then read the portion of the grand jury testimony in which defendant acknowledged that his attorney had advised him of his rights. Defendant’s attorney at trial argued that this was not sufficient because it could not be determined from the transcript what rights defendant had been advised about by his attorney from the grand jury proceeding. The trial judge rejected this argument and allowed defendant’s prepared statement to the grand jury to be admitted into evidence.

The trial judge found defendant guilty. In his post-trial motion defendant contended that his aforementioned grand jury testimony should have been suppressed because he was not advised during the grand jury proceedings of certain rights as allegedly required under section 112 — 4(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 112—4(b)). At the hearing on this motion, the State presented an affidavit from George Fischer, the attorney who represented defendant during the grand jury hearing. The affidavit states that Fischer twice advised defendant prior to his grand jury testimony that defendant had the right to refuse to testify in order to avoid self-incrimination and that anything he said to the grand jury could be used against him in court.

The trial judge granted the motion and ruled that defendant was entitled to a new trial. The trial judge ruled that defendant’s grand jury testimony should have been suppressed because a defendant who testifies before a grand jury is entitled to assert his or her fifth amendment right not to testify at trial. The State now appeals.

The reasoning employed by the trial court in granting defendant’s motion was not correct. A defendant who waives his or her privilege against self-incrimination may reassert the privilege and refuse to testify at a subsequent proceeding concerning the same matter. (People v. Ramirez (1983), 98 Ill. 2d 439, 448-49.) Defendant’s reassertion of the privilege does not render defendant’s testimony in the former proceeding inadmissible in the later proceeding, however. (Ramirez, 98 Ill. 2d at 465.) We must therefore determine whether the trial court’s ruling should be sustained upon a different basis.

The relevant portion of the statute at issue here, section 112 — 4(b) of the Code, states as follows:

“Any person subpoenaed who is already charged with an offense or against whom the State’s Attorney is seeking a Bill of Indictment shall have the right to be accompanied by counsel who shall advise him of his rights during the proceedings but may not participate in any other way. Before any testimony is given by such a person, he shall be informed that he has the right to refuse to answer any question that will tend to incriminate him, that anything he says may be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to be accompanied and advised of his rights by counsel, and that he will have counsel appointed for him if he cannot afford one.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par. 112-4(b).)

The official heading of section 112 — 4 is “Duties of Grand Jury and State’s Attorney.”

The State contends that the above requirements of section 112 — 4(b) were met in this case because defendant’s attorney twice advised him prior to his grand jury testimony that he had a right to refuse to testify and that anything he said to the grand jury could be used against him in court. Relying largely upon the official heading of the statute, defendant argues that the State’s Attorney must provide the necessary admonishments, and a review of the grand jury hearing transcript reveals that the State’s Attorney failed to do so.

The official heading or title of a statute can provide guidance in interpreting the provision if its meaning is unclear. (People v. Malone (1979), 71 Ill. App. 3d 231, 232.) We do not believe section 112 — 4(b) is unclear, however, with respect to the issue in question. Section 112— 4(b) merely states that a so-called target witness must be informed of certain rights before he or she gives any testimony at a grand jury proceeding. The provision does not specify who must inform the witness of those rights.

By contrast, in other portions of section 112 — 4 the legislature clearly specified that the State’s Attorney was required to perform certain duties. For example, section 112 — 4(d) states that if 12 grand jurors agree that the evidence presented constitutes probable cause that an individual committed a crime, “the State’s Attorney shall prepare a Bill of Indictment charging that person with such offense.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, par.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
587 N.E.2d 61, 224 Ill. App. 3d 950, 167 Ill. Dec. 179, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lamb-illappct-1992.