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91_HB1569eng
HB1569 Engrossed 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) The court must make all reasonable efforts to
6 respect the safety and privacy of prospective jurors,
7 utilizing any practicable means, including, but not limited
8 to, a pre-trial jury questionnaire or an in camera
9 examination with all parties present, to obtain personal
10 information from the prospective jurors for the court and the
11 parties.
12 (f-6) In its discretion, and if there is no other
13 reasonable or practicable means of protecting the safety and
14 privacy of the prospective jurors, the court may close the
15 courtroom to spectators during the process of jury selection,
16 but only for the limited purpose of eliciting responses to
17 those questions which, in the opinion of the court, involve
18 the safety or privacy of the prospective jurors.
19 (g) After the jury is impaneled and sworn the court may
20 direct the selection of 2 alternate jurors who shall take the
21 same oath as the regular jurors. Each party shall have one
22 additional peremptory challenge for each alternate juror. If
23 before the final submission of a cause a member of the jury
24 dies or is discharged he shall be replaced by an alternate
25 juror in the order of selection.
26 (h) A trial by the court and jury shall be conducted in
27 the presence of the defendant unless he waives the right to
28 be present.
29 (i) After arguments of counsel the court shall instruct
30 the jury as to the law.
31 (j) Unless the affirmative defense of insanity has been
32 presented during the trial, the jury shall return a general
33 verdict as to each offense charged. When the affirmative
34 defense of insanity has been presented during the trial, the
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1 court shall provide the jury not only with general verdict
2 forms but also with a special verdict form of not guilty by
3 reason of insanity, as to each offense charged, and in such
4 event the court shall separately instruct the jury that a
5 special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity may be
6 returned instead of a general verdict but such special
7 verdict requires a unanimous finding by the jury that the
8 defendant committed the acts charged but at the time of the
9 commission of those acts the defendant was insane. In the
10 event of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, a
11 hearing shall be held pursuant to the Mental Health and
12 Developmental Disabilities Code to determine whether the
13 defendant is subject to involuntary admission. When the
14 affirmative defense of insanity has been presented during the
15 trial, the court, where warranted by the evidence, shall also
16 provide the jury with a special verdict form of guilty but
17 mentally ill, as to each offense charged and shall separately
18 instruct the jury that a special verdict of guilty but
19 mentally ill may be returned instead of a general verdict,
20 but that such special verdict requires a unanimous finding by
21 the jury that: (1) the State has proven beyond a reasonable
22 doubt that the defendant is guilty of the offense charged;
23 and (2) the defendant has failed to prove his insanity as
24 required in subsection (b) of Section 3-2 of the Criminal
25 Code of 1961, as amended, and subsections (a), (b) and (e) of
26 Section 6-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961, as amended; and (3)
27 the defendant has proven by a preponderance of the evidence
28 that he was mentally ill, as defined in subsections (c) and
29 (d) of Section 6-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961, as amended,
30 at the time of the offense.
31 (k) When, at the close of the State's evidence or at the
32 close of all of the evidence, the evidence is insufficient to
33 support a finding or verdict of guilty the court may and on
34 motion of the defendant shall make a finding or direct the
HB1569 Engrossed -4- LRB9105288DJpr
1 jury to return a verdict of not guilty, enter a judgment of
2 acquittal and discharge the defendant.
3 (l) When the jury retires to consider its verdict an
4 officer of the court shall be appointed to keep them together
5 and to prevent conversation between the jurors and others;
6 however, if any juror is deaf, the jury may be accompanied by
7 and may communicate with a court-appointed interpreter during
8 its deliberations. Upon agreement between the State and
9 defendant or his counsel the jury may seal and deliver its
10 verdict to the clerk of the court, separate, and then return
11 such verdict in open court at its next session.
12 (m) In the trial of a capital or other offense, any
13 juror who is a member of a panel or jury which has been
14 impaneled and sworn as a panel or as a jury shall be
15 permitted to separate from other such jurors during every
16 period of adjournment to a later day, until final submission
17 of the cause to the jury for determination, except that no
18 such separation shall be permitted in any trial after the
19 court, upon motion by the defendant or the State or upon its
20 own motion, finds a probability that prejudice to the
21 defendant or to the State will result from such separation.
22 (n) The members of the jury shall be entitled to take
23 notes during the trial, and the sheriff of the county in
24 which the jury is sitting shall provide them with writing
25 materials for this purpose. Such notes shall remain
26 confidential, and shall be destroyed by the sheriff after the
27 verdict has been returned or a mistrial declared.
28 (o) A defendant tried by the court and jury shall only
29 be found guilty, guilty but mentally ill, not guilty or not
30 guilty by reason of insanity, upon the unanimous verdict of
31 the jury.
32 (Source: P.A. 86-392.)
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