People v. Savage ( 2005 )

JUSTICE APPLETON,

specially concurring:

I concur with the decision of the majority that the conduct of the State’s Attorney and the personnel at the Macon County jail was, even if erroneous, harmless with regard to the evaluation of defendant’s trial, conviction, and sentence. I write separately because I believe the actions of agents of the State did violate defendant’s rights to counsel guaranteed by the sixth amendment (U.S. Const., amend. VI).

“[T]he essence of the [sjixth [ajmendment right is *** privacy of communication with counsel.” United States v. Rosner, 485 F.2d 1213, 1224 (2d Cir. 1973). Reliance on Supreme Court Rule 415(c) as authority to contravene the United States Constitution, as the State does here, is misplaced. That rule is one of admonition to counsel, not to the criminal defendant with whom counsel communicates. This may be the reason that in the collective experience and memory of the panel, we have never before been made aware of a jail shakedown for the purpose of taking from prisoners written communications from their lawyers.

In oral argument, the State agreed that if defense counsel had reduced the contents of each police report to letter form, including even the names and addresses of witnesses, no violation of the rule would have occurred. Given that admission, one would easily wonder what actual security purpose is served by Rule 415, especially compared to its potential constitutional infirmity. It is constitutionally required for counsel to advise their clients of the nature and extent of the evidence facing them in order for the client to make informed decisions concerning his or her case. People v. Bien, 277 Ill. App. 3d 744, 751, 661 N.E.2d 511, 516 (1996). That counsel do so in the most expeditious manner should not subject them to sanction or their clients to a shakedown search.