{ "id": 259094, "name": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. JOHNNY LEE SAVORY, Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Savory", "decision_date": "2001-05-24", "docket_number": "No. 88786", "first_page": "203", "last_page": "216", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "197 Ill. 2d 203" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill.", "id": 8772, "name": "Illinois Supreme Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "316 Ill. App. 3d 292", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 1096654 ], "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "301-02" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/316/0292-01" ] }, { "cite": "316 Ill. App. 3d 752", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 1096556 ], "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "758-59" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/316/0752-01" ] }, { "cite": "138 Ill. 2d 533", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5577212 ], "year": 1990, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "541" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/138/0533-01" ] }, { "cite": "146 Ill. 2d 175", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5597526 ], "year": 1991, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "207" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/146/0175-01" ] }, { "cite": "191 Ill. 2d 1", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 229710 ], "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "9" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/191/0001-01" ] }, { "cite": "191 Ill. 2d 493", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 229719 ], "weight": 2, "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "503-04" }, { "page": "504" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/191/0493-01" ] }, { "cite": "192 Ill. 2d 36", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 453249 ], "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "42" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/192/0036-01" ] }, { "cite": "832 F.2d 1011", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "F.2d", "case_ids": [ 10549458 ], "year": 1987, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/f2d/832/1011-01" ] }, { "cite": "105 Ill. App. 3d 1023", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 5473550 ], "year": 1982, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/105/1023-01" ] }, { "cite": "82 Ill. App. 3d 767", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 3221926 ], "year": 1980, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/82/0767-01" ] }, { "cite": "309 Ill. App. 3d 408", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 349602 ], "weight": 3, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "416-17", "parenthetical": "Holdridge, EJ., dissenting" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/309/0408-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 871, "char_count": 22022, "ocr_confidence": 0.793, "pagerank": { "raw": 6.944449232179618e-07, "percentile": 0.9652265440958141 }, "sha256": "e607c2b20f92ad0c87b80d1c5a60db7b4788d865ca78567b61e7b558467e9d38", "simhash": "1:8deefdd4c08bddf1", "word_count": 3582 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:03:05.716758+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. JOHNNY LEE SAVORY, Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "JUSTICE McMORROW\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nThe defendant, Johnny Lee Savory, filed a motion in the circuit court of Peoria County pursuant to section 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/116 \u2014 3 (West 1998)), in which he sought to obtain scientific testing of certain evidence introduced at his murder trial 20 years ago. The circuit court denied defendant\u2019s motion, and the appellate court affirmed. 309 Ill. App. 3d 408. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the appellate court.\nBACKGROUND\nThe offenses for which defendant was convicted occurred in Peoria on January 18, 1977. The victims, Connie Cooper, 19 years old, and her brother, James Robinson, 14 years old, were found murdered in their home. They had been stabbed repeatedly, and there were no signs of forced entry to the residence. Defendant, also 14, was a friend of James and was known to have been at the house the night before the offenses. Defendant was questioned by police a week after the victims\u2019 bodies were discovered. After making several exculpatory statements concerning his activities on January 17 and 18, 1977, defendant eventually confessed to the crimes.\nDefendant was convicted of the two murders following a jury trial in 1977. On appeal, the appellate court concluded that defendant\u2019s confession was inadmissible and reversed the convictions. People v. Savory, 82 Ill. App. 3d 767 (1980). The cause was remanded for a new trial, which was conducted in 1981, following a change of venue to Lake County.\nAt defendant\u2019s second trial, the State introduced evidence of certain admissions made by defendant to several of his friends on the day of the offenses. One of these friends, Ella Ivy, testified that defendant made inculpatory statements before 4:30 p.m., the time the victims\u2019 bodies were discovered. Ella stated that, at approximately 2:30 p.m. on January 18, defendant told her that he and James Robinson had been playing karate and that he had accidentally cut James. Ella also testified that she saw defendant again a little more than an hour later, around 4 p.m., and that he told her that Robinson and his sister were dead. That night, defendant told Ella that he was planning to take flowers to the victims\u2019 mother, and Ella saw a knife fall out of defendant\u2019s wallet.\nElla\u2019s brother, Frankie Ivy, testified that, at approximately 8 p.m. on January 18, defendant said that he had accidentally stabbed James Robinson and his sister.\nTina Ivy, sister of Ella and Frankie, testified that, at approximately 7 p.m. on January 18, defendant told her that \u201ctwo kids had got killed.\u201d Defendant also told her that he and Robinson had been practicing karate earlier that day and that he had accidentally cut Robinson. Tina further testified about a conversation she had with defendant the day after the murders, on January 19. On that occasion, defendant told her that whoever committed the offenses must have known the victims, because the family dog, a German shepherd, would not have allowed a stranger in the house. Defendant also told Tina that the victims had been brutally stabbed.\nAt the second trial, the State also introduced evidence of statements that defendant made to police prior to making his inadmissible confession. In these statements, defendant said that, on January 17, the night before the victims were killed, he and James had prepared cooked corn and hot dogs in the kitchen and had played karate games in the living room. Defendant also said that they had moved the television set to the floor so that it would not get knocked over during their play. The State argued that the contents of these statements revealed a knowledge of the crime scene that only the offender would have had, and that what defendant said occurred on the evening of January 17 actually took place on January 18 and resulted in the deaths of the two victims. The State supported this argument with testimony from the victims\u2019 mother and stepfather. This testimony showed that James and the defendant had not eaten anything during the defendant\u2019s visit on the evening of January 17. The testimony also showed that, when the victims\u2019 mother and stepfather left for work on the morning of January 18, the kitchen was clean and the television set was in its customary place on a stand. The victims\u2019 mother further stated that she prepared corn and hot dogs for the children that morning and left the food on the stove for them. The parents returned home at approximately 4:30 p.m. and discovered the victims\u2019 bodies. At that time, the kitchen was in disarray and the television set was on the living room floor.\nThe State also presented physical evidence connecting defendant to the offenses, including evidence that hairs consistent with defendant\u2019s were found in the bathroom sink and tub, that a knife from defendant\u2019s home had blood on it, and that a bloodstain found on a pair of trousers recovered from the defendant\u2019s home was of the same blood type as Connie Cooper\u2019s.\nDefendant presented evidence of an alibi and also attempted to show that the victims\u2019 stepfather and former boyfriends of Connie might have committed the crimes. Regarding the bloodstained trousers, defendant\u2019s father testified that they belonged to him, and that the bloodstain was from a cut he had received on his leg.\nAt the conclusion of the second trial, a jury again found defendant guilty of the murders of Connie Cooper and James Robinson. The trial judge later sentenced defendant to concurrent, indeterminate sentences of 40 to 80 years\u2019 imprisonment for the two offenses. Defendant\u2019s convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal. People v. Savory, 105 Ill. App. 3d 1023 (1982). Defendant\u2019s subsequent post-conviction petitions, which included his claim that Tina and Frankie had purportedly recanted their testimony, were denied. His request for habeas corpus relief was also denied. No. 3 \u2014 84\u20140008 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23); No. 3 \u2014 90\u2014 0059 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23); Savory v. Lane, 832 F.2d 1011 (7th Cir. 1987).\nDefendant initiated the present proceeding in 1998 by filing a motion in the circuit court of Peoria County pursuant to section 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/116 \u2014 3 (West 1998)). Section 116 \u2014 3 allows a defendant to have physical evidence subjected to scientific testing that was not available at the time of trial if certain requirements are met. To obtain testing, a defendant must present a prima facie case that identity was the issue at his trial and that the evidence to be tested has been under a secure chain of custody. Testing is permitted if, among other requirements, \u201cthe result of the testing has the scientific potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially relevant to the defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence.\u201d 725 ILCS 5/116 \u2014 3(c)(1) (West 1998).\nIn the present case, defendant\u2019s motion requested that DNA testing be performed on the bloodstained trousers that the State contended defendant had been wearing at the time of the offenses. Defendant maintained that he is innocent of the murders. He alleged that the test results would show that the blood did not match that of Connie Cooper, and would thus eliminate one of the pieces of physical evidence introduced by the State at trial. The motion also requested testing of material found under Connie Cooper\u2019s fingernails.\nAfter a hearing, the circuit court denied defendant\u2019s motion. With respect to the bloodstained trousers, the court concluded that defendant had satisfied the first two requirements of the statute, namely, that identity was the issue at his trial, and that the evidence had been subject to a sufficient chain of custody. The court determined, however, that the test results would not be materially relevant to defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence. After reviewing the transcript of defendant\u2019s second trial, as well as the various opinions rendered in the different proceedings, the judge concluded that, even if DNA testing of the blood on the trousers showed that it was not Connie Cooper\u2019s, that evidence would not significantly affect the State\u2019s case. Therefore, the blood evidence was not materially relevant to defendant\u2019s claim of actual innocence.\nWith one justice dissenting, the appellate court affirmed the circuit court judgment, though on different grounds. 309 Ill. App. 3d 408. The appellate court concluded that the remedy provided by section 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is available only in cases where the proposed scientific testing will, by itself, completely vindicate a defendant. The appellate court determined that in this case, even a test result favorable to defendant could not completely vindicate him, because a favorable test result would still be consistent with a conclusion of guilt.\nThe dissenting justice disagreed with the majority\u2019s interpretation of the statute, finding it too narrow. 309 Ill. App. 3d at 416-17 (Holdridge, EJ., dissenting).\nWe allowed defendant\u2019s petition for leave to appeal. 177 Ill. 2d R. 315(a).\nANALYSIS\nAs a preliminary matter, the State argues that this court does not have jurisdiction over the present appeal. The State contends that there is no avenue of appeal for a defendant from an adverse ruling on a motion for testing under section 116 \u2014 3. We disagree.\nArticle VI, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution provides, in pertinent part:\n\u201cAppeals from final judgments of a Circuit Court are a matter of right to the Appellate Court in the Judicial District in which the Circuit Court is located except in cases appealable directly to the Supreme Court ***. The Supreme Court may provide by rule for appeals to the Appellate Court from other than final judgments of Circuit Courts.\u201d Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, \u00a7 6.\nSupreme Court Rule 603 provides:\n\u201cAppeals in criminal cases in which a statute of the United States or of this State has been held invalid and appeals by defendants from judgments of the circuit courts imposing sentence of death shall lie directly to the Supreme Court as a matter of right. All other appeals in criminal cases shall be taken to the Appellate Court.\u201d 134 Ill. 2d R. 603.\nSupreme Court Rule 2(b)(2) states that the term \u201c \u2018[\u00a1judgment\u2019 also includes decree, determination, decision, order, or portion thereof.\u201d 134 Ill. 2d R. 2(b)(2). An order of the circuit court denying a defendant\u2019s motion for testing pursuant to section 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure disposes of the defendant\u2019s request for relief under that provision. The motion seeks to initiate a separate proceeding, independent of any claim for post-conviction or other relief. Thus, denial of a motion requesting relief under section 116 \u2014 3 is a judgment \u2014 or decree, determination, decision, or order, as our Rule 2(b)(2) provides \u2014 that finally disposes of the defendant\u2019s claim. Accordingly, the denial of defendant\u2019s motion by the circuit court in the present case was a final judgment, and the appellate court possessed jurisdiction over the defendant\u2019s appeal from the adverse ruling.\nWe now turn to the merits of defendant\u2019s appeal. Defendant contends that the appellate and circuit courts erred in denying his motion for scientific testing pursuant to section 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. 725 ILCS 5/116 \u2014 3 (West 1998). Defendant maintains that he fulfilled the prerequisites of the statute and that the present cause should therefore be remanded so that the bloodstain on the trousers can be subjected to DNA testing.\nSection 116 \u2014 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 provides:\n\u201c(a) A defendant may make a motion before the trial court that entered the judgment of conviction in his or her case for the performance of fingerprint or forensic DNA testing on evidence that was secured in relation to the trial which resulted in his or her conviction, but which was not subject to the testing which is now requested because the technology for the testing was not available at the time of trial. Reasonable notice of the motion shall be served upon the State.\n(b) The defendant must present a prima facie case that:\n(1) identity was the issue in the trial which resulted in his or her conviction; and\n(2) the evidence to be tested has been subject to a chain of custody sufficient to establish that it has not been substituted, tampered with, replaced, or altered in any material aspect.\n(c) The trial court shall allow the testing under reasonable conditions designed to protect the State\u2019s interests in the integrity of the evidence and the testing process upon a determination that:\n(1) the result of the testing has the scientific potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially relevant to the defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence;\n(2) the testing requested employs a scientific method generally accepted within the relevant scientific community.\u201d 725 ILCS 5/116 \u2014 3 (West 1998).\nThe appellate court determined that forensic testing under section 116 \u2014 3 should be permitted only when a result favorable to the defendant will, by itself, vindicate the defendant. Defendant argues that the appellate court\u2019s interpretation of section 116 \u2014 3 incorrectly restricts the operation of the statute. According to defendant, the phrase \u201cthe result of the testing has the scientific potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially relevant to the defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence\u201d shows that section 116 \u2014 3 does not limit testing to cases in which a result favorable to the defense will, by itself, vindicate the defendant who is requesting the test. Defendant further contends that, under the appellate court\u2019s interpretation of section 116 \u2014 3, the statute can be used only in cases in which a lone offender leaves blood, semen or other physical evidence at the scene, because only in those cases would a test result of the physical evidence that was favorable to the defense result in complete vindication of the defendant. According to defendant, if the case involved multiple defendants, or if it was claimed, as in this case, that evidence from the victim was left on the defendant, then testing could not completely exonerate the defendant. Defendant contends that such a limited application of the statute is improper.\nThe cardinal principle of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature. People v. Pullen, 192 Ill. 2d 36, 42 (2000); Michigan Avenue National Bank v. County of Cook, 191 Ill. 2d 493, 503-04 (2000). The language used by the legislature is the best indicator of legislative intent, and thus our inquiry appropriately begins with the statutory text. In re D.L., 191 Ill. 2d 1, 9 (2000); Business & Professional People for the Public Interest v. Illinois Commerce Comm\u2019n, 146 Ill. 2d 175, 207 (1991). The statutory language must be given its plain and ordinary meaning, and when the terms used by the legislature are clear and unambiguous, it is not necessary to resort to other aids of construction. Michigan Avenue National Bank, 191 Ill. 2d at 504; Henry v. St. John\u2019s Hospital, 138 Ill. 2d 533, 541 (1990). We conclude that an examination of the language in section 116 \u2014 3 reveals that it does not contain the restriction the appellate court imposed on it.\nAt issue here is the requirement of section 116\u2014 3(c)(1) that \u201cthe result of the testing has the scientific potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially relevant to the defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence.\u201d Relevant evidence is \u201c[ejvidence tending to prove or disprove a matter in issue.\u201d Black\u2019s Law Dictionary 579 (7th ed. 1999). The term \u201cmaterially\u201d modifies the term \u201crelevant\u201d and means \u201cto a significant extent or degree.\u201d Webster\u2019s Third New International Dictionary 1392 (1993). Thus, evidence which is \u201cmaterially relevant\u201d to a defendant\u2019s claim of actual innocence is simply evidence which tends to significantly advance that claim. The language used by the legislature in section 116 \u2014 3 does not support the appellate court\u2019s restrictive interpretation of the statutory requirements. As our appellate court has noted in other cases involving section 116 \u2014 3, if the legislature had intended to limit application of the statute to the instances in which a test result favorable to the defendant would, standing alone, lead to his complete vindication, it would have chosen a different way of expressing the statutory requirements. See People v. Hockenberry, 316 Ill. App. 3d 752, 758-59 (2000); People v. Rokita, 316 Ill. App. 3d 292, 301-02 (2000).\nThe State contends, however, that its proposed interpretation of the statute, limiting the statute\u2019s scope to tests that would completely vindicate the defendant seeking them, is consistent with the legislative history of the provision. The State points to comments made by one of the legislation\u2019s sponsors during debates on the bill that eventually became section 116 \u2014 3. Discussing the requirements of the statute, one senator explained, \u201cThe testing will then be \u2014 will then be ordered if \u2014 if the evid\u00e9nce would basically result in the person being absolutely acquitted of the evidence [sic].\u201d 90th Ill. Gen. Assem., Senate Proceedings, May 9, 1997, at 106-07 (statements of Senator Petka). While we agree that testing is available in the circumstances referred to by the senator, we cannot agree that the language used by the legislature limits the availability of the special remedy found in section 116 \u2014 3 to those circumstances. As we have noted, the language of the statute does not support such a restricted interpretation. Accordingly, we hold that section 116 \u2014 3 is not limited to situations in which scientific testing of a certain piece of evidence Would completely exonerate a defendant.\nIt remains for us to decide whether the evidence at issue in this case is \u201cmaterially relevant to the defendant\u2019s assertion of actual innocence,\u201d as section 116 \u2014 3 requires. That question cannot be determined in the abstract. Rather, it requires a consideration of the evidence introduced at trial, as well as an assessment of the evidence defendant is seeking to test.\nWe hold that the evidence defendant seeks to test is not \u201cmaterially relevant\u201d to his claim of actual innocence. We have carefully reviewed the transcript of defendant\u2019s second trial, conducted in 1981, which resulted in the convictions he now challenges. Our examination of the record shows that the testimony regarding the possible source of the bloodstain on the pair of trousers was only a minor part of the State\u2019s evidence in this case. A far greater portion of the State\u2019s case consisted of defendant\u2019s knowledge of certain features of the crime scene, such as the type of food prepared in the kitchen that day and the placement of the television set, which only the offender could have known, and of defendant\u2019s statements to Ella, Frankie, and Tina Ivy that he had been at the victims\u2019 home the day of the murders and had cut one or both of the victims. Of particular significance in this regard was defendant\u2019s admission to Ella Ivy, made during the afternoon of January 18, prior to the discovery of the crimes, that the two victims were dead. The State\u2019s closing argument concentrated on these aspects of the case. Notably, it was not until rebuttal argument that the prosecution mentioned the evidence regarding the bloodstained trousers. As the circuit court noted when it denied defendant\u2019s motion for DNA testing, the bloodstain evidence was essentially a collateral issue at trial and was not central to the State\u2019s evidence of guilt. Under these circumstances, a test result favorable to defendant would not significantly advance his claim of actual innocence, but would only exclude one relatively minor item from the evidence of guilt marshaled against him by the State.\nArguing that the blood evidence played a more significant role in his conviction, defendant cites two passages from the State\u2019s rebuttal argument at the conclusion of the trial, in which the prosecutor referred to the bloodstained trousers as evidence of defendant\u2019s guilt. These comments, however, were made only in response to defendant\u2019s own closing argument, in which defense counsel cited defense evidence showing that the trousers belonged to defendant\u2019s father and had become bloody when the father injured his leg. Rather than demonstrating the importance of the evidence of the bloodstained trousers, the State\u2019s rebuttal argument establishes its relative insignificance. That the prosecutor waited until rebuttal to refer to the match between Connie Cooper\u2019s blood type and the blood type found on the trousers further indicates that the trousers were only a minor part of the State\u2019s array of evidence against defendant. This assessment is borne out by a review of the record, which as we have noted, contains stronger evidence of defendant\u2019s guilt than the bloodstained trousers. This evidence includes defendant\u2019s inculpatory comments made to several friends only hours after the murders occurred, as well as statements made by defendant to police in which defendant revealed a knowledge of the crime scene that only the offender could have had.\nCONCLUSION\nFor the reasons stated, the judgment of the appellate court, affirming the judgment of the circuit court of Peoria County, is affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.\nOn appeal, defendant has abandoned this request.", "type": "majority", "author": "JUSTICE McMORROW" } ], "attorneys": [ "Theodore A. Gottfried, State Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defendant, of Springfield, and Johnny Lee Savory, pro se, for appellant.", "James E. Ryan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Kevin W. Lyons, State\u2019s Attorney, of Peoria (Joel D. Bertocchi, Solicitor General, and William L. Browers and Jay Paul Hoffmann, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "(No. 88786.\nTHE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. JOHNNY LEE SAVORY, Appellant.\nOpinion filed May 24, 2001.\nRehearing denied October 1, 2001.\nTheodore A. Gottfried, State Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defendant, of Springfield, and Johnny Lee Savory, pro se, for appellant.\nJames E. Ryan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Kevin W. Lyons, State\u2019s Attorney, of Peoria (Joel D. Bertocchi, Solicitor General, and William L. Browers and Jay Paul Hoffmann, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People." }, "file_name": "0203-01", "first_page_order": 215, "last_page_order": 228 }