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People v. Libberton3/29/2004
UNPUBLISHED
SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON REHEARING
We allowed defendant's petition for rehearing that requested that we reconsider our holding as to defendant's second contention on appeal in light of our supreme court's recent decision in People v. Johnson, 208 Ill. 2d 53 (2003). Defendant argues that Johnson mandates reversing his conviction and remanding the cause for a new trial because the acceptance of such "blatant misconduct" as occurred in this case is exactly what the supreme court warned against in Johnson. The State argues that the Johnson decision should not alter our holding that the improper comments by the prosecutor in this case were harmless. After carefully considering the holding in Johnson, as well as the parties' arguments regarding that decision, our resolution of this case has not changed.
Johnson involved three consolidated appeals where the State sought review of the appellate court decisions reversing DeAngelo Johnson's, Clyde Cowley's, and Jimmie Parker's convictions and remanding the causes for new trials. Cowley and Parker were co-defendants of Murray Blue, the defendant in People v. Blue, 189 Ill. 2d 99 (2000). These three defendants were charged with, among other crimes, the first degree murder of Chicago police officer Daniel Doffyn. Cowley's trial was severed from Blue's and these two cases were tried simultaneously, but with separate juries. Johnson, 208 Ill. 2d at 60-61. Parker's trial took place several months later. Johnson's trial involved charges resulting from a separate incident. Johnson, 208 Ill. 2d at 61. At the beginning of the Johnson decision the court wrote:
"These consolidated cases come before us in the wake of our decision in People v. Blue, 189 Ill. 2d 99, 138-39 (2000), wherein a unanimous court held that the cumulative effect of prosecutorial misconduct and trial error had deprived the defendant of a fundamentally fair trial and thus warranted reversal notwithstanding overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt. In Blue, this court recognized that a pervasive pattern of error, engendered in the main by prosecutorial misconduct, had divested defendant of his right to a fair, orderly, and impartial trial, a substantial right that inures to a criminal defendant '"whether guilty or innocent." ' Blue, 189 Ill. 2d at 138, quoting People v. Bull, 185 Ill. 2d 179, 214 (1998). In Blue, where the trial was permeated by the presentation of emotionally charged evidence, and the prosecutors 'encouraged the jury to return a verdict grounded in emotion, and not a rational deliberation of the facts' (Blue, 189 Ill. 2d at 139), the members of this court, acting 'as guardians of constitutional rights and the integrity of the criminal justice system' (Blue, 189 Ill. 2d at 139), reversed and remanded for a new trial. Disposition of the instant cases requires that we further delineate the dimensions of Blue, applying the principles and standards of review utilized in that case." Johnson, 208 Ill. 2d at 60.
Because the court in Johnson relied on its decision in Blue, a detailed discussion of the holding in Blue is warranted. In Blue our supreme court held that cumulative errors deprived the defendant of his due process right to a fair trial (Blue, 189 Ill. 2d at 104) and reversed his convictions of, among other crimes, the first degree murder of Officer Doffyn. The court identified four errors that occurred during the evidentiary portion of the trial. The first error was the admission of Officer Doffyn's bloodied and brain-splattered uniform. Blue, 189 Ill. 2d at 126. The court concluded that the potential prejudice of the evidence outweighed its probative value and that its admission was aimed directly at the sympathies, or ou
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