People v. Quinn

360 N.E.2d 1221, 46 Ill. App. 3d 579, 4 Ill. Dec. 846, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2298
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 17, 1977
Docket13269
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 360 N.E.2d 1221 (People v. Quinn) 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. Quinn, 360 N.E.2d 1221, 46 Ill. App. 3d 579, 4 Ill. Dec. 846, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2298 (Ill. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Virgil Quinn was charged in the Circuit Court of Vermilion County with the offense of criminal damage to property. A jury of six persons found him guilty and the court imposed a sentence of 292 days imprisonment. Defendant appeals maintaining that: (1) the court committed reversible error in permitting him to be tried by a 6-person jury rather than a 12-person jury, and (2) his intoxicated state at the time of the offense prevented him from being guilty of the offense.

The record reveals that an agreement that the case be tried by a six-person jury was made by the prosecutor and defense counsél in the chambers of the trial judge in her presence while defendant remained in the courtroom. Defense counsel, however, had informed defendant that he had a right to a 12-person jury and that he could waive that right and consent to be tried by a 6-person jury. The defendant took no part in the decision to proceed with a six-person jury and made no objection to doing so.

The question of the propriety of the six-person jury arose for the first time on appeal. Defendant filed no post-trial motion. In People v. Sparks (1975), 26 Ill. App. 3d 278, 325 N.E.2d 49, this court ruled that where, after jury trial, no motion for a new trial was filed by a defendant in a criminal case, an issue that could have been raised in that motion was waived unless plain error concerning substantial rights of the defendant occurred. In order to determine whether such error occurred here, we must examine the derivation of the right of a defendant in a criminal case to a jury of 12 persons.

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees defendants in State criminal cases a right to trial by jury where the offense charged is such that if the case were tried in a Federal court, Sixth Amendment rights would apply (Duncan v. Louisiana (1968), 391 U.S. 145, 20 L. Ed. 2d 491, 88 S. Ct. 1444). A jury of six persons is sufficient in size to meet that constitutional requirement (Williams v. Florida (1970), 399 U.S. 78, 26 L. Ed. 2d 446, 90 S. Ct. 1893). Article I, section 13 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 provides, “The right of trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate.” Similar provisions were contained in prior Illinois constitutions. The minutes of the Sixth Constitutional Convention indicate that the Bill of Rights Committee which drafted article I did not intend to empower the legislature to deny a defendant in a criminal case the right to have a jury of 12 persons to decide his case, but did intend to permit the defendant to waive that right (3 Record of Proceedings, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention 1427, verbatim transcript of June 2, 1970).

Prior to the adoption of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, statements that the right of trial by jury includes a right that the jury consist of 12 persons had recently been made in People v. Ward (1965), 32 Ill. 2d 253, 204 N.E.2d 741, and People v. Kolep (1963), 29 Ill. 2d 116, 193 N.E.2d 753, both cases decided on other grounds. A waiver by stipulation of a full jury of 12 has been upheld in People v. Scudieri (1936), 363 Ill. 84, 1 N.E.2d 225, where the parties agreed to a jury of 11. That court reasoned that if a defendant could waive his entire right to trial by jury, he could waive the participation of the full number of jurors. A similar ruling was made in People v. Pierce (1938), 369 Ill. 172, 15 N.E.2d 845. Since its enactment in 1963, section 103 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 103 — 6) has provided that an accused has the right of trial by jury “ 0 ° ° unless understandingly waived by defendant in open court” and section 115 — 4(b) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, par. 115 — 4(b)) has provided that “ [t]he jury shall consist of 12 members.”

The agreement between counsel in the case under consideration did not involve the waiver of the complete right to trial by jury but only the right to have the jury consist of 12 members. Since the jury did contain six members, no waiver of a Federal right was involved. In issue is the question of the waiver of a State constitutional and statutory right. The constitutional right has existed under the various State constitutions. In Scudieri the waiver was also made by stipulation of counsel and the opinion does not indicate whether the waiver was made in open court, whether the defendant was present or what explanation had been made to defendant of his rights. In the instant case, defendant was informed of his rights and acquiesced in the waiver. Section 103 — 6 which proclaims the statutory right of trial by jury further provides that the right can be waived only by the defendant in open court. Section 115 — 4(b) which sets forth various requirements for jury and bench trials proclaims the statutory right for a 12-person jury but makes no provision for the manner in which that right may be waived. However, the comments of the drafting committee indicate that the committee did not intend to abrogate the power of a defendant to agree to a lesser number of jurors as permitted in Scudieri (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, par. 115 — 4, Committee Comments — 1963, at 69 (Smith-Hurd 1977)). No indication is shown in section 115 — 4 that the rights granted to defendants by that section can only be waived personally in open court.

In People v. Murrell (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 287, 291, 326 N.E.2d 762, 765, the court affirmed a conviction where a waiver of the full right of trial by jury had been made by defense counsel in open court and in the presence of the defendant but without the defendant indicating that he agreed to the waiver and without the record indicating that defense counsel had conferred in any way with defendant about the waiver. As partial grounds for its decision the court stated:

“Neither of the defendants in these cases now before this court has urged that he wanted or that he was deprived of a jury trial. Also neither defendant urges that he was in any way prejudiced by his counsel’s waiver. There is no contention that the waiver was not voluntary. Under these circumstances we will not reverse the convictions. People v. Dudley, 58 Ill. 2d 57; People v. Morehead, 45 Ill. 2d 326.”

The best procedure for the court to have followed in this case would have been for the court to have approved the stipulation for a 6-person jury only after having advised defendant in open court in the presence of his counsel of his right to a full jury of 12 and after having ascertained of the defendant personally if he understood the right and waived it. We need not determine if that procedure is required. Defendant waived only one aspect of his right to trial by jury.

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

Related

People v. Dereadt
2013 IL App (2d) 120323 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2013)
People v. Alberts
890 N.E.2d 1208 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008)
People v. Barrier
834 N.E.2d 616 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2005)
People v. Matthews
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1999
State v. Samuels
905 S.W.2d 536 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)
People v. Ernst
579 N.E.2d 376 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1991)
People v. Mocaby
551 N.E.2d 673 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
People v. Bragg
531 N.E.2d 821 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1988)
People v. Downey
515 N.E.2d 362 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1987)
Commonwealth v. Kuhn
475 A.2d 103 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
State v. Bishop
632 S.W.2d 255 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1982)
People v. Robie
416 N.E.2d 754 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)
People v. Mayden
389 N.E.2d 901 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
360 N.E.2d 1221, 46 Ill. App. 3d 579, 4 Ill. Dec. 846, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-quinn-illappct-1977.