People v. Wilson
| Decision Date | 03 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 62897,62897 |
| Citation | 112 Ill.2d 567,112 Ill.Dec. 235,513 N.E.2d 844 |
| Parties | , 112 Ill.Dec. 235 PEOPLE State of Illinois, Petitioner, v. Jackie WILSON, Respondent. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Zehr rule, that refusal to probe jurors' attitudes toward defendant's right to refrain from testifying is reversible error, had only prospective application.
PETITION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL ALLOWED.
In the exercise of this Court's supervisory jurisdiction, the judgment of the Appellate Court, First District (139 Ill.3d 726, 94 Ill.Dec. 138, 487 N.E.2d 1015), applying People v. Zehr (1984), 103 Ill.2d 472, 83 Ill.Dec. 128, 469 N.E.2d 1062, retroactively and reversing the circuit court judgment and remanding for a new trial is reversed. (People v. Britz (1986), 112 Ill.2d 314, 97 Ill.Dec. 768, 493 N.E.2d 575.) This cause is remanded to the Appellate Court, First District, with directions to consider the other issues raised by the defendant.
The motion by petitioner for leave to cite additional authority and for a summary reversal of a decision of the Appellate Court, First District, is denied.
I believe that the court's disposition, allowing the State's petition and reversing by supervisory order, is inappropriate. The supervisory order refers to the court's decision in People v. Britz (1986), 112 Ill.2d 314, 97 Ill.Dec. 768, 493 N.E.2d 575 which held that People v. Zehr (1984), 103 Ill.2d 472, 83 Ill.Dec. 128, 469 N.E.2d 1062, should not be applied retroactively. Whether or not this court's decision in Zehr is given retroactive effect, the refusal of the trial judge in this case to probe prospective jurors' attitudes concerning the defendant's right not to testify was error. Jury selection in this case took place some two months after the appellate court opinion in Zehr required such inquiry (People v. Zehr (1982), 110 Ill.App.3d 458, 66 Ill.Dec. 155, 442 N.E.2d 581), and the appellate court's Zehr decision was expressly brought to the trial court's attention by defense counsel (People v. Wilson (1985), 139 Ill.App.3d 726, 94 Ill.Dec. 138, 487 N.E.2d 1015). Since, as is more fully explained in my specially concurring opinion in Britz, it is incumbent upon trial judges to follow the pronouncements of the appellate court, refusal to ask jurors the proposed question in a case post-dating the appellate court decision in Zehr constituted reversible error irrespective of the nonretroactivity principle. In any event, for reasons...
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