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91_HB1569
LRB9105288DJpr
1 AN ACT to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 by
2 changing Section 115-4.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 is
6 amended by changing Section 115-4 as follows:
7 (725 ILCS 5/115-4) (from Ch. 38, par. 115-4)
8 Sec. 115-4. Trial by Court and Jury.)
9 (a) Questions of law shall be decided by the court and
10 questions of fact by the jury.
11 (b) The jury shall consist of 12 members.
12 (c) Upon request the parties shall be furnished with a
13 list of prospective jurors with their addresses if known.
14 (d) Each party may challenge jurors for cause. If a
15 prospective juror has a physical impairment, the court shall
16 consider such prospective juror's ability to perceive and
17 appreciate the evidence when considering a challenge for
18 cause.
19 (e) A defendant tried alone shall be allowed 20
20 peremptory challenges in a capital case, 10 in a case in
21 which the punishment may be imprisonment in the penitentiary,
22 and 5 in all other cases; except that, in a single trial of
23 more than one defendant, each defendant shall be allowed 12
24 peremptory challenges in a capital case, 6 in a case in which
25 the punishment may be imprisonment in the penitentiary, and 3
26 in all other cases. If several charges against a defendant
27 or defendants are consolidated for trial, each defendant
28 shall be allowed peremptory challenges upon one charge only,
29 which single charge shall be the charge against that
30 defendant authorizing the greatest maximum penalty. The
31 State shall be allowed the same number of peremptory
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1 challenges as all of the defendants.
2 (f) After examination by the court the jurors may be
3 examined, passed upon, accepted and tendered by opposing
4 counsel as provided by Supreme Court rules.
5 (f-5) In its discretion, the court may close the
6 courtroom to spectators during the process of jury selection.
7
8 (g) After the jury is impaneled and sworn the court may
9 direct the selection of 2 alternate jurors who shall take the
10 same oath as the regular jurors. Each party shall have one
11 additional peremptory challenge for each alternate juror. If
12 before the final submission of a cause a member of the jury
13 dies or is discharged he shall be replaced by an alternate
14 juror in the order of selection.
15 (h) A trial by the court and jury shall be conducted in
16 the presence of the defendant unless he waives the right to
17 be present.
18 (i) After arguments of counsel the court shall instruct
19 the jury as to the law.
20 (j) Unless the affirmative defense of insanity has been
21 presented during the trial, the jury shall return a general
22 verdict as to each offense charged. When the affirmative
23 defense of insanity has been presented during the trial, the
24 court shall provide the jury not only with general verdict
25 forms but also with a special verdict form of not guilty by
26 reason of insanity, as to each offense charged, and in such
27 event the court shall separately instruct the jury that a
28 special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity may be
29 returned instead of a general verdict but such special
30 verdict requires a unanimous finding by the jury that the
31 defendant committed the acts charged but at the time of the
32 commission of those acts the defendant was insane. In the
33 event of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, a
34 hearing shall be held pursuant to the Mental Health and
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1 Developmental Disabilities Code to determine whether the
2 defendant is subject to involuntary admission. When the
3 affirmative defense of insanity has been presented during the
4 trial, the court, where warranted by the evidence, shall also
5 provide the jury with a special verdict form of guilty but
6 mentally ill, as to each offense charged and shall separately
7 instruct the jury that a special verdict of guilty but
8 mentally ill may be returned instead of a general verdict,
9 but that such special verdict requires a unanimous finding by
10 the jury that: (1) the State has proven beyond a reasonable
11 doubt that the defendant is guilty of the offense charged;
12 and (2) the defendant has failed to prove his insanity as
13 required in subsection (b) of Section 3-2 of the Criminal
14 Code of 1961, as amended, and subsections (a), (b) and (e) of
15 Section 6-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961, as amended; and (3)
16 the defendant has proven by a preponderance of the evidence
17 that he was mentally ill, as defined in subsections (c) and
18 (d) of Section 6-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961, as amended,
19 at the time of the offense.
20 (k) When, at the close of the State's evidence or at the
21 close of all of the evidence, the evidence is insufficient to
22 support a finding or verdict of guilty the court may and on
23 motion of the defendant shall make a finding or direct the
24 jury to return a verdict of not guilty, enter a judgment of
25 acquittal and discharge the defendant.
26 (l) When the jury retires to consider its verdict an
27 officer of the court shall be appointed to keep them together
28 and to prevent conversation between the jurors and others;
29 however, if any juror is deaf, the jury may be accompanied by
30 and may communicate with a court-appointed interpreter during
31 its deliberations. Upon agreement between the State and
32 defendant or his counsel the jury may seal and deliver its
33 verdict to the clerk of the court, separate, and then return
34 such verdict in open court at its next session.
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1 (m) In the trial of a capital or other offense, any
2 juror who is a member of a panel or jury which has been
3 impaneled and sworn as a panel or as a jury shall be
4 permitted to separate from other such jurors during every
5 period of adjournment to a later day, until final submission
6 of the cause to the jury for determination, except that no
7 such separation shall be permitted in any trial after the
8 court, upon motion by the defendant or the State or upon its
9 own motion, finds a probability that prejudice to the
10 defendant or to the State will result from such separation.
11 (n) The members of the jury shall be entitled to take
12 notes during the trial, and the sheriff of the county in
13 which the jury is sitting shall provide them with writing
14 materials for this purpose. Such notes shall remain
15 confidential, and shall be destroyed by the sheriff after the
16 verdict has been returned or a mistrial declared.
17 (o) A defendant tried by the court and jury shall only
18 be found guilty, guilty but mentally ill, not guilty or not
19 guilty by reason of insanity, upon the unanimous verdict of
20 the jury.
21 (Source: P.A. 86-392.)
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