People v. Pecor

606 N.E.2d 1127, 153 Ill. 2d 109, 180 Ill. Dec. 50, 1992 Ill. LEXIS 172
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 19, 1992
Docket72028
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 606 N.E.2d 1127 (People v. Pecor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Pecor, 606 N.E.2d 1127, 153 Ill. 2d 109, 180 Ill. Dec. 50, 1992 Ill. LEXIS 172 (Ill. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE CUNNINGHAM

delivered the opinion of the court:

After a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant, Gregory Pecor, was convicted of murder (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, pars. 9 — 1(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3)), residential burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 19 — 3), and armed robbery. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 18 — 2(a).) The same jury which convicted defendant found defendant eligible for the death penalty, but could not unanimously agree that there were no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude imposition of the death penalty. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(g).) The trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without parole on the murder conviction, 30 years’ imprisonment for armed robbery, and 15 years’ imprisonment for residential burglary. Defendant appealed, and the appellate court reversed and remanded for a hearing pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712. The State appealed to this court (134 Ill. 2d R. 315), and we allowed the State’s appeal to determine whether defendant’s cause should be remanded for a Batson hearing.

During jury selection, the State peremptorily challenged one white venireperson, and then apparently used its next four peremptory challenges to remove black prospective jurors from the jury. At this point, the following colloquy ensued:

“[Defense counsel]: Your Honor, in the exclusions the State has just made, they have executed five of the chailenges. The first challenge was a white gentleman who had been in the penitentiary. The last four challenges have been black jurors. We believe that it’s been shown at this point by the State the pattern of racial exclusions of the four black jurors, and they have not challenged other jurors who have the same basic backgrounds and characteristics and race in this matter. Pursuant to People versus Bateson [sic], I believe by these four challenges, there’s been a prima facie showing at this point based on the characteristics of the last four challenges as compared to those who have not been challenged, that the only difference here has been a racial difference. The four blacks have been challenged in this matter in sequence have been Joyce Joshawa, a 49 year old male black—
THE COURT: Are you certain of that? Are you certain of that?
[Defense counsel]: By viewing him.
THE COURT: I put him down as white. Do you know something that I don’t?
[Defense counsel]: He was a male black. He was the gentleman who was confused.
THE COURT: Carlos Lavington, Chuck Edmonds, and Alberta Collins.
[Defense counsel]: All four were black and all four were challenged by the State, and I believe there’s been nothing in their background that would differentiate them other than racial characteristic.
[Assistant State’s Attorney]: Your Honor, may I just respond without — Your Honor, if I would just point out for the record—
THE COURT: Well, wait a minute.
[Assistant State’s Attorney]: I don’t believe they have made a prima facie case; however, we have excused four out of five that would appear to be black on its face. If the Court has no objection, I would like to address the reasons why.
THE COURT: Please do, but let’s keep in mind at least from the Court’s outward appearance, the defendant is a male Caucasian, is that accurate?
[Defense counsel]: Yes.
THE COURT: Is the victim allegedly a Caucasian?
[Defense counsel]: That’s correct.
THE COURT: Go ahead.
[Assistant State’s Attorney]: Your Honor, I would point out there is no race identification with the defendant. It’s a white on white crime. I don’t believe that Bateson [sic] applies, and I would ask the individuals, the record reflects, we have only excused one white juror, four blacks. The white juror, the only juror that’s identifiable with the defendant. Therefore, I do not believe there is a race issue here.
THE COURT: Well, the Court, first of all, has serious, serious questions whether Bateson [sic] applies at all since the subsequent decisions have come down have in similar cases have ever refused to say Bateson [sic] applies. Here I have a Caucasian defendant, and an alleged victim who was Caucasian, and I have the State having exercised four challenges of black individuals, and there is nothing in the world that this Court in this case, if Bateson [sic] applies, which I seriously question that even smacks remotely the [sic] exclusion of those individuals for racial reasons in this case, and accordingly I find that the defense has failed to make a prima facie case under Bateson [sic].”

The next day, before jury selection continued, the court announced the following:

“I would further like to place of record that yesterday in ruling on a Batteson [sic] motion filed by the defense, I made note of the fact that the Supreme Court of Illinois had decided cases subsequent to Batteson V Kentucky [sic] and holding that a Batteson [sic] motion does not apply where there is a Caucasian defendant. The name of the case escaped me. I’ll now cite it. People versus Holland, H-o-l-l-a-n-d, cited by the Illinois Supreme Court, Docket 64182, December 21, ‘87, holding that in fact a Caucasian defendant has no standing to assert a Batteson [sic] violation where the defense claims that the State exercises peremptory challenge [sic] to exclude black prospective jurors.”

Defense counsel did not renew any Batson claim, nor did counsel make a record of the racial composition of the venire, the race of any persons subsequently excluded from the venire, or the racial composition of the petit jury. Defense counsel did, however, include in his post-trial motion the argument that the trial court “improperly denied *** [defendant’s motion] for a mistrial based upon the prosecution using their peremptory challenges to exclude black people from serving on [defendant’s] jury.”

Defendant appealed to the appellate court. After defendant filed his brief with the appellate court, the State filed its initial appellee brief, which, according to defendant’s supreme court brief, failed to include the argument that defendant’s Batson claim had been waived because defendant failed to adequately preserve the record for review. Defendant’s brief also asserts that the State later included this argument in a supplemental brief filed four days before oral argument. After oral argument, defendant replied to the State’s supplemental brief in a letter to the appellate court.

Shortly after oral arguments to the appellate court in this case, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Powers v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Brown
2021 IL App (1st) 160060-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
Floyd Richardson v. Michael Lemke
745 F.3d 258 (Seventh Circuit, 2014)
Richardson v. McCann
653 F. Supp. 2d 831 (N.D. Illinois, 2008)
Cardona v. Del Granado
879 N.E.2d 989 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)
Cardona v. Granado
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007
People v. Donoho
Illinois Supreme Court, 2003
Pecor v. Walls
56 F. App'x 723 (Seventh Circuit, 2003)
People v. Richardson
727 N.E.2d 362 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Edwards
704 N.E.2d 982 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998)
Bachmann v. Kent
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997
People v. Pecor
675 N.E.2d 141 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1996)
People v. Blackwell
665 N.E.2d 782 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1996)
People v. Peterson
652 N.E.2d 1252 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)
People v. Wendt
645 N.E.2d 179 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1994)
People v. Lann
633 N.E.2d 938 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1994)
People v. Wilson
628 N.E.2d 472 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)
People v. Wiley
622 N.E.2d 766 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Coleman
617 N.E.2d 1200 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Banks
611 N.E.2d 1270 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
606 N.E.2d 1127, 153 Ill. 2d 109, 180 Ill. Dec. 50, 1992 Ill. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pecor-ill-1992.