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92_SR0052 LRB9207913REks 1 SENATE RESOLUTION 2 WHEREAS, The Supreme Court Rules applicable to discovery 3 in criminal trials create a framework that lacks some of the 4 discovery tools integral to civil litigation, such as 5 interrogatories and depositions; and 6 WHEREAS, With the addition of the ability to depose the 7 State's expert witnesses, the defendant's counsel could 8 determine if the defense needed to expend valuable resources 9 by hiring its own expert to assist in dealing with those 10 issues; and 11 WHEREAS, The ability to know the testimony of the State's 12 experts in advance would assist the court in shepherding its 13 resources by allowing the defendant's counsel to know whether 14 an expert needed to be appointed for the defendant in a 15 particular case, and the depositions of victims and other 16 witnesses would allow an opportunity for their testimony to 17 be known before trial, which would assist in guilty pleas and 18 dismissal of cases before trial; therefore, be it 19 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL 20 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we respectfully urge 21 the Illinois Supreme Court to adopt rules providing that the 22 State and Defense provide each other with the identity of, 23 and a complete set of reports for, all experts they have 24 consulted, together with a list of all victims and other 25 witnesses who have been interviewed, that the State and the 26 Defense make all experts they have employed and other 27 witnesses they have interviewed available for interview by 28 the opposing party, and that trial courts be permitted to 29 order, after a finding of reasonable grounds by a moving 30 party, that an expert or other witness is subject to 31 deposition prior to trial; and be it further 32 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the -2- LRB9207913REks 1 Illinois Supreme Court.