People v. Turner

442 N.E.2d 637, 110 Ill. App. 3d 519, 66 Ill. Dec. 211, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 2477
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided November 19, 1982·No. 81-1574·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE SULLIVAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of forgery and sentenced to a term of five years. She was arrested and charged with forgery after endorsing another person’s name to a check and, using that person’s Jewel Tea Co. check-cashing card, she attempted to cash the check at a Jewel Tea store.

On appeal, raising issues concerning only the jury selection and the sentencing process, defendant contends that (1) she was denied a fair trial when all 10 of the State’s peremptory challenges were used to systematically exclude blacks as petit jurors; (2) it was error to deny probation to her in the absence of a finding that imprisonment was necessary for the protection of the public or that probation was inconsistent with the ends of justice; and (3) there should be a resentencing hearing because the trial court did not state its reasons for the sentence imposed.

Opinion

Defendant first asserts that she was denied her right to a fair trial by the State’s use of its peremptory challenges to exclude blacks from the jury. In this regard, we initially note that the voir dire transcript does not indicate either the race of those challenged or the racial composition of the venire, or of the jury finally selected. It does disclose that there was no objection or motion made by defendant concerning those peremptorily excused by the State. Defendant did, however, allege in her motion for a new trial that she was denied “her right to a cross-section of the community on the jury” by the State using all 10 of its peremptory challenges to exclude blacks. Attached to the motion was the unverified “affidavit” of defendant’s trial attorney containing only his statement “that the State used all 10 of its peremptory challenges to exclude only Black jurors.” While admitting that this statement of counsel in itself does not support her contention (see People v. Gamboa (1975), 30 Ill. App. 3d 242, 332 N.E.2d 543), she argues that the State, by failing to deny the statement, had admitted that its 10 peremptories were used to challenge only blacks. It thus is essentially her position that this admission alone was sufficient to establish a systematic exclusion of blacks which was in violation of her sixth amendment right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community.

In Swain v. Alabama (1965), 380 U.S. 202, 13 L. Ed. 2d 759, 85 S. Ct. 824, in upholding the conviction of a black defendant by an all-white jury despite the prosecution’s use of its peremptory challenges to strike all of the black prospective jurors on the venire, the court stated:

“In the light of the purpose of the peremptory system and the function it serves in a pluralistic society in connection with the institution of jury trial, we cannot hold that the Constitution requires an éxamination of the prosecutor’s reasons for the exercise of his challenges in any given case. The presumption in any particular case must be that the prosecutor is using the State’s challenges to obtain a fair and impartial jury to try the case before the court. The presumption is not overcome and the prosecutor therefore subjected to examination by allegations that in the case at hand all Negroes were removed from the jury or that they were removed because they were Negroes.” (380 U.S. 202, 222, 13 L. Ed. 2d 759, 773, 85 S. Ct. 824, 837.)

The reasoning in Swain was adopted by the Illinois Supreme Court in People v. Butler (1970), 46 Ill. 2d 162, 263 N.E.2d 89, and has been adhered to in that court’s subsequent decisions. See People v. Gaines (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 342, 430 N.E.2d 1046, cert. denied (1982), 456 U.S. 1001, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1295, 102 S. Ct. 2285; People v. King (1973), 54 Ill. 2d 291, 296 N.E.2d 731.

Other States, interpreting their respective State constitutions, have held that the use of peremptory challenges on the sole ground of race violates a defendant’s right to a fair and impartial jury (see People v. Wheeler (1978), 22 Cal. 3d 258, 583 P.2d 748, 148 Cal. Rptr. 890; Commonwealth v. Soares (1979), 377 Mass. 461, 387 N.E.2d 499, cert. denied (1979), 444 U.S. 881, 62 L. Ed. 2d 110, 100 S. Ct. 170; People v. Thompson (1981), 79 A.D.2d 87, 435 N.Y.S.2d 739), but until recently this court has either rejected the reasoning of those decisions (see People v. Mims (1981), 103 Ill. App. 3d 673, 431 N.E.2d 1126; People v. Lavinder (1981), 102 Ill. App. 3d 662, 430 N.E.2d 243; People v. Fleming (1980), 91 Ill. App. 3d 99, 413 N.E.2d 1330), or found that the defendant failed to establish a prima facie case that peremptory challenges were used solely on the found of group bias (see People v. Vaughn (1981), 100 Ill. App. 3d 1082, 427 N.E.2d 840; People v. Tucker (1981), 99 Ill. App. 3d 606, 425 N.E.2d 511; People v. Bracey (1981), 93 Ill. App. 3d 864, 417 N.E.2d 1029; People v. Smith (1980), 91 Ill. App. 3d 523, 414 N.E.2d 1117). Defendant, however, relies on this court’s recent decision in People v. Payne (1982), 106 Ill. App. 3d 1034, 436 N.E.2d 1046, 1 which holds that “when it reasonably appears to the trial court, either by its own observation or after motion by the defendant, that the prosecuting attorney is using peremptory challenges to systematically exclude blacks from the jury solely because they are blacks, the court should require the prosecutor to demonstrate, by whatever facts and circumstances exist, that blacks were not being systematically excluded from the jury solely because they were blacks.” 106 Ill. App. 3d 1034, 1040, 436 N.E.2d 1046, 1050.

Payne drew its reasoning and conclusions in great part from Wheeler and Soares which, after extensively examining the issue, concluded that the use of peremptory challenges to systematically exclude blacks solely because they are black could be a violation of the sixth amendment, and that Swain was not applicable because it considered the question in terms of equal protection under the fourteenth amendment. In the instant case, however, we are unable to make a determination as to whether there was any such systematic exclusion, as defendant has failed to provide us with an adequate record, as required by People v. Gaines (1981), 88 Ill.

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People v. Turner, 442 N.E.2d 637, 110 Ill. App. 3d 519, 66 Ill. Dec. 211, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 2477 (Ill. Ct. App. 1982).

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