People v. Oswalt
| Decision Date | 11 March 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 72--339,72--339 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Alvin OSWALT, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Robert E. Farrell, Deputy Defender, Mt. Vernon, for defendant-appellant.
Nicholas G. Byron, State's Atty., Madison County, Edwardsville, Bruce D. Irish, Principal Atty., Statewide App. Assistance Service, Ill. State's Attorney Assn., Mt. Vernon, for plaintiff-appellee; Raymond F. Buckley, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., of counsel.
Defendant, Alvin Oswalt, was found guilty after a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Madison County of the offenses of burglary and murder. He was sentenced to a term of one to five years for burglary and a term of eighteen to forty years for murder. Defendant also filed a post conviction petition which was denied after an evidentiary hearing. Defendant has appealed from his original conviction and from the denial of his post conviction petition and the appeals have been consolidated.
Defendant makes four contentions: (1) that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) the results of a lie detector test were improperly excluded from evidence; (3) his motion to suppress an alleged confession should have been allowed; and (4) his post conviction petition presented sufficient evidence to warrant a new trial.
As to defendant's first contention there was very persuasive circumstantial evidence, direct testimony of an accomplice and the confession of the defendant. We find no merit in the contention that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The lie detector test was taken by defendant on his own motion. There was no stipulation or agreement that it would be received in evidence. When this evidence was offered by defendant, the State objected and the trial court properly sustained the objection. In addition to the fact that polygraph tests are not admissable in Illinois, except by stipulation of both parties, here the offer of proof did not include any statement concerning the result of the test. Defendant argues that his own self serving statement is admissable solely because it was given to his polygraph operator. We disagree.
As regards the motion to suppress, prior to trial, defendant, through his counsel, filed a motion to suppress a statement in the nature of a confession. A hearing was held and the motion was denied. No verbatim transcript of such hearing appears of record and apparently such a transcript is unavailable. However, at the trial a full hearing was held as to the admissability of the confession. This testimony is in the record. Defendant does not contend that this evidence is insufficient for the admission of the confession, but argues that since there is no record of the hearing on the preliminary motion he was denied due process of law. We do not agree. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to determine if there is probable cause for the jury to...
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