People v. Spicer

511 N.E.2d 235, 158 Ill. App. 3d 699, 110 Ill. Dec. 400, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2886
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 21, 1987
Docket4-86-0295
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 511 N.E.2d 235 (People v. Spicer) 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. Spicer, 511 N.E.2d 235, 158 Ill. App. 3d 699, 110 Ill. Dec. 400, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2886 (Ill. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

JUSTICE HEIPLE

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Michael Spicer, was found guilty of three counts of residential burglary after a bench trial. He was sentenced to three concurrent terms of nine years’ imprisonment. On appeal, the defendant argues (1) that he was denied a fair trial by the trial court’s action in excluding defendant’s defense of voluntary intoxication due to defense counsel’s failure to comply with discovery rules, (2) that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because of his counsel’s failure to tender the affirmative defense of voluntary intoxication, and (3) that the trial court abused its discretion in imposing a sentence on him. We affirm.

The crucial evidence against the defendant was provided by the codefendant, Todd Spence. Spence testified that he and the defendant shared an apartment at 818 East Washington Street in Bloomington in October and November of 1984. On October 31, 1984, Spence returned home from work between 9 and 10 p.m. He and the defendant drank alcohol and smoked marijuana during the next three to four hours. After three or four hours of drinking and smoking, they left the apartment, each carrying a screwdriver and a flashlight. They walked approximately 21/2 blocks to a housé at 1005 East Jefferson, broke in through a basement window, and took two stereo speakers and a purse. After returning to their apartment with the goods, they consumed more beer. Shortly thereafter, they went back to the house at 1005 East Jefferson and took a case of silverware and other small items.

Spence further testified that at approximately 1 a.m. on November 2, 1984, he and the defendant again left their apartment with screwdrivers and flashlights and broke into another residence in the same neighborhood as the first at 905 East Jefferson. The men removed a purse from the house and returned to their apartment. They confiscated $40 from the wallet and an automatic teller card, which they used to obtain another $500.

Finally, Spence testified that he read a newspaper article about a residential burglary in the apartment two doors down from their apartment. When he confronted the defendant with the story, the defendant admitted committing' the crime. It was shown that the defendant committed the residential burglary after returning from a concert on November 9, 1984, and that he was intoxicated when he returned home.

The defense counsel attempted to cross-examine Spence regarding the defendant’s intoxicated state at the time he and the defendant committed the East Jefferson Street burglaries. The State objected to the line of questioning on the ground that the defense had not tendered the affirmative defense of intoxication during discovery as required by Supreme Court Rule 413(d). (107 Ill. 2d R. 413(d).) The court allowed an offer of proof on the issue, but excluded all substantive evidence of the affirmative defense because of defense counsel’s noncompliance with Rule 413(d). The defendant first argues that the trial court’s action in excluding the evidence of the defense violated his sixth amendment right to a fair trial by preventing him from presenting a defense.

Supreme Court Rule 413(d) provides:

“Defenses. Subject to constitutional limitations and within a reasonable time after the filing of a written motion by the State, defense counsel shall inform the State of any defenses which he intends to make at a hearing or trial ***.” (107 Ill. 2d R. 413(d).)

Supreme Court Rule 415(g)(i) provides:

“If at any time during the course of the proceedings it is brought to the attention of the court that a party has failed to comply with an applicable discovery rule *** the court may order such party to permit the discovery of material and information not previously disclosed, grant a continuance, exclude such evidence, or enter such other order as it deems just under the circumstances.” (107 Ill. 2d R. 415(g)(i).)

The goal of pretrial discovery is to promote the fact-finding process and to eliminate the tactical advantage of surprise by either side. Sanctions are designed to accomplish the purpose of discovery, but it is clear that the imposition of sanctions should not encroach on a fair trial. (People v. Rayford (1976), 43 Ill. App. 3d 283.) Whether evidence should be excluded for defendant’s failure to comply with discovery rules is a matter within the trial court’s discretion. People v. Robinson (1982), 104 Ill. App. 3d 20.

In the instant case, it is clear that defense counsel did not provide the State with information regarding the defendant’s defense of voluntary intoxication as required by Supreme Court Rule 413(d). The record indicates that defense counsel knew all along of the defendant’s alleged intoxicated state during the commission of the crimes and that he had adequate time to disclose the defense before trial. Yet, the State was not informed of the defense until the midst of trial, when it had already presented five witnesses. To allow the defendant to raise the defense at that point in time would have required the trial court to delay the trial in fairness to the State, whose case as prepared would obviously be disrupted. This is to say nothing for the disruption of the trial process itself, and all for no apparent good reason on behalf of the defense. Given defense counsel’s unexplained disregard for the discovery process, we believe the trial court acted properly in excluding any substantive evidence of the defense.

In so holding, we reject the defendant’s argument that such a sanction violates the sixth amendment right to a fair trial. (But see People v. Gracey (1982), 104 Ill. App. 3d 133, where the exclusion of defendant’s affirmative defense of voluntary intoxication was held to be a denial of fundamental fairness requiring a new trial.) We note that neither the United States Supreme Court nor the . Illinois Supreme Court has directly confronted the issue as to whether a sanction allowing for the exclusion of an affirmative defense not disclosed during discovery encroaches on a defendant’s sixth amendment right to a fair trial. However, both courts have upheld alibi-notice statutes despite sixth amendment challenges. (Williams v. Florida (1970), 399 U.S. 78, 26 L. Ed. 2d 446, 90 S. Ct. 1893; People v. Holiday (1970), 47 Ill. 2d 300.) Based on Williams, our supreme court saw fit to adopt Rule 413(d), which requires the disclosure of all defense sought to be raised by the defendant during trial. (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 110A, par. 413(d), Historical and Practice Notes, at 679 (Smith-Hurd 1985).) It also adopted Rule 415(gXi), which provides sanctions for violation of the discovery process. (107 Ill. 2d R. 415(gXi)0 If there is room under the sixth amendment for a rule requiring disclosure of defenses, then there is certainly room for a sanction which enforces that rule. The sanction enforces the idea of promoting the fact-finding process and eliminating the tactical advantage of surprise by either side. The discovery rule and the sanction standing alone do not prevent the defendant from presenting a defense; it is the defendant’s inexcusable noneompliance with the rule that may cause him problems. (People v. Rayford (1976), 43 Ill. App.

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Bluebook (online)
511 N.E.2d 235, 158 Ill. App. 3d 699, 110 Ill. Dec. 400, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2886, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-spicer-illappct-1987.