People v. Truitt

• Decision Date: 30 January 1997
• Docket Number: No. 80540,80540
• Citation: 676 N.E.2d 665,221 Ill.Dec. 862,175 Ill.2d 148
• Parties: , 221 Ill.Dec. 862 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Kim TRUITT, Appellee.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 665

676 N.E.2d 665

175 Ill.2d 148, 221 Ill.Dec. 862

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Kim TRUITT, Appellee.

No. 80540.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 30, 1997.

James E. Ryan, Attorney General, Springfield, and Marshall E. Douglas, State's Attorney, of Rock Island (Barbara E. Preiner, Solicitor General, and Arleen C. Anderson and Steven R. Splitt, Assistant Attorneys General, Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

Robert Agostinelli, Deputy Defender, and Verlin R. Meinz, Assistant Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for appellee.

Justice HARRISON delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Kim Truitt, is being prosecuted in the circuit court of Rock Island County for unlawful delivery of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/401 (West 1994)). The case has not yet gone to trial. The matter is before our court because the State disagrees with a pretrial ruling by the circuit court regarding how it will be required to prove that the subject material is a controlled substance. For the reasons that follow, we have concluded that this court has no jurisdiction to hear the State's appeal. The appeal is therefore dismissed.

In establishing its case against defendant at trial, the State hoped to avail itself of section 115-15 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/115-15 (West 1994)). That statute does not alter what the State is required to prove. It merely simplifies how the State may present its evidence by creating a limited exception to the normal hearsay rules.

Section 115-15(a) provides that laboratory reports from the Department of State Police, Division of Forensic Services and Identification, are admissible as prima facie evidence of the contents, identity and weight of the subject material in prosecutions for violation of either the Cannabis Control Act (720 ILCS 550/1 et seq. (West 1994)) or the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (720 ILCS 570/100 et seq. (West 1994)). The need to adduce testimony from the person who actually performed the analysis is eliminated, provided that certain conditions are met.

Except in the case of preliminary or grand jury hearings, utilization of section 115-15's provisions requires the State to serve a copy of the laboratory report on the defendant's attorney (or on the defendant himself if he is unrepresented). 725 ILCS 5/115-15(b) (West 1994). The defendant or his attorney then has seven days from the date of receipt to demand that the State present the testimony of the person who signed the report. 725 ILCS 5/115-5(c) (West 1994). If no such demand is made, the report is admissible for the purpose of establishing the contents, identity and weight of the substance without the need for any additional foundation or testimony.

In the case before us, the State's Attorney duly served defense counsel with a copy of the laboratory report. When no demand for live testimony was made by the defendant or his attorney, the State's Attorney advised the court and defense counsel that he intended to rely on the laboratory report at trial without calling the chemist who prepared it, as section 115-15 permitted. On the motion of defendant's attorney, the circuit court then entered a pretrial order declaring that section 115-15 was unconstitutional and could not be invoked by the State to avoid presenting testimony from the person who analyzed the substance in question and prepared the report on it.

The State now seeks to appeal the circuit court's interlocutory order directly to our court. Defendant has challenged this court's jurisdiction to hear the case, and although we vacillated on the question before the case was taken under advisement, we have ultimately concluded that defendant's jurisdictional challenge is meritorious.

Initially, the State claimed that we had jurisdiction pursuant to our Rule 302(a) (134 Ill.2d R. 302(a)). That rule, however, does not apply to criminal appeals. 134 Ill.2d R. 612. Once it realized this, the State next invoked Rule 603 (134 Ill.2d R. 603), which provides:

"Appeals in criminal cases in which a statute of the United States or of this State has been held invalid and appeals by defendants from judgments of the circuit courts imposing a sentence of death shall lie directly to the Supreme Court as a matter of right. All other appeals in criminal cases shall be taken to the Appellate Court."

The problem with reliance on this rule is that it was not intended to create an independent basis for appellate review. It merely specifies which court should hear a case that is otherwise appealable. Where, as here, the State takes issue with a nonfinal order entered by the circuit court in a criminal case, the threshold question of whether that order is appealable by the State is determined exclusively by Rule 604(a)(1) (145 Ill.2d R. 604(a)(1)). See People v. Young, 82 Ill.2d 234, 239, 45 Ill.Dec. 150, 412 N.E.2d 501 (1980).

Rule 604(a)(1) restricts the State's right to appeal in criminal cases to four situations. Under the rule, the State may appeal only from an order or judgment which has the substantive effect of (1) dismissing a charge for any of the grounds enumerated in section 114-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (725 ILCS 5/114-1 (West 1994)); (2) arresting judgment because of a defective indictment, information or complaint; (3) quashing an arrest or search warrant; or (4) suppressing evidence.

In this case, the State has finally understood the controlling effect of Rule 604(a)(1). It now claims that the circuit court's interlocutory order is...