The People v. Price

20 N.E.2d 61, 371 Ill. 137
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided February 15, 1939·No. No. 24896. Judgment affirmed.·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Orr

delivered the opinion of the court:

A jury in the criminal court of Cook county returned a death sentence against Charles Price for the murder of Nicholas Miller, who was killed during an attempted holdup on the evening of March 30, 1936. Price was arrested November 26, 1937. He was convicted largely upon his written confession, supported by the testimony of Wayland Allen who said that he witnessed the killing and recognized Price. Motions to quash the indictment, for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, were all overruled when made. Defendant alleges the commission of many errors upon which he believes this court may properly base a reversal of the judgment.

To support his written motion to quash the indictment, Price said it was based solely upon the wholly incompetent testimony of Allen before the grand jury. At the hearing on the motion Price offered to prove that Allen did not witness the killing, on the theory that a witness for defendant would say the killing was done by a party of three men, none of whom was Price. Clearly the evidence of Allen before the grand jury was competent. It was not necessary for the trial judge, in disposing of the motion, to adopt Price’s theory of defense. This court will not inquire into, the evidence heard by the grand jury to determine if the evidence was sufficient to support the indictment unless all of the witnesses appearing before that body were incompetent. People v. Bladek, 259 Ill. 69; People v. Duncan, 261 id. 339.

Price complains that he was compelled to give evidence against himself before the grand jury. That body not only investigated the murder of Miller while it was in session, but also investigated the killing of Harold Rubin and the perpetration of sixty-four robberies. In some of the latter, Price was allegedly implicated and was indicted. The grand jury began its work on December 7, 1937, by investigating the death of Rubin. Price appeared before it at this time and told what he knew about the killing of Rubin. Before testifying, according to the People’s evidence, he was informed of his constitutional right of refusing to testify, and presented with an immunity waiver, the contents and portent of which were explained to him before he signed it. The minutes of the grand jury show that the killing of Miller was not investigated until December 9, and there is no record that Price appeared before it on that day. Testimony of witnesses as to the whereabouts of Price on December 7 and 9 support the minutes. Plowever, the indictment against Price, in the Miller case, had his name endorsed thereon as a witness. This occurred because a stenographer in the State’s attorney’s office became confused by the listing of Price’s name as a witness in several cases for which she had to type indictments. The evidence is conclusive that Price did not testify before the grand jury in the Miller case. The record is also bare of evidence, outside his own assertions, that he was coerced, intimidated or was promised immunity or special consideration if he would testify before the grand jury in the Miller investigation. The allegation that he was compelled to give evidence against himself is not sustained by the evidence.

Objection is made also that the names of the witnesses on the indictment were not endorsed thereon in the handwriting of the foreman of the grand jury. The foreman properly discharges his duty when he observes that the names of the witnesses are properly noted on the indictment, regardless of whether he writes the names or has it done. Bartley v. People, 156 Ill. 234; People v. Corder, 306 id. 264.

Section 1 of the Jury Commissioners’ act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1937, chap. 78, par. 24) provides that political party affiliations shall not enter into the selection of the jury commissioners. Defendant argues that because two of the commissioners belong to the prevailing political party and the third to the minor party, the appointing judges disregarded this statutory requirement, and that a grand jury drawn under their supervision is illegal and the indictment is void. Even if such a collateral attack could be made upon the right of the commissioners to hold office, the facts here do not show a disregard of the statute.

The chief justice did not err in directing the sheriff’s deputy to pick two men from a supplementary panel of jurors when only twenty-one men reported to the court for duty as grand jurors. Defendant suffered no harm because twenty-three names were drawn in the first place. Sixteen men are sufficient in numbers to constitute a grand jury and twelve of them may return an indictment.

Section 8 of the Jury Commissioners’ act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1937, chap. 78, par. 31) requires that jury lists be prepared in a manner that will insure, as near as may be, proportional representation of the whole electoral body, “in respect either of their occupations or of the particular localities wherein they resideA question is raised here whether the commissioners, in selecting persons for grand jury service, disregarded this requirement by the skipping over localities where negroes reside in overwhelming proportions. Price is a negro and he claims that members of his race have been deliberately excluded by the commission as grand jurors in Cook county and that educational qualifications have been applied to accomplish this purpose. ' The evidence does show that the grand jury which indicted Price did not have a negro on it.

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The People v. Price, 20 N.E.2d 61, 371 Ill. 137 (Ill. 1939).

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