People v. Radford
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Following the death of his 26-month-old daughter from traumatic brain injuries, Radford was convicted of endangering the life or health of a child, 720 ILCS 5/12-21.6(a) in Kankakee County. His conviction and sentence were affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court agreed that the trial court did not violate the defendant's right to a public trial by partially closing the courtroom during jury selection and that no jury instruction error occurred.
The trial court observed “emotions running high” due to the “nature of the case” when it determined that a partial closure was necessary. The court expressed concern about the possibility of having to declare a mistrial if members of the public expressed emotion in a way that impacted the venire. The court was aware that this case would require a large venire in order to find a suitable jury and there were limited seats in the courtroom. The trial was expected to last two weeks and was to begin before the Thanksgiving holiday. Media coverage had been granted; the parties had listed approximately 50 potential witnesses. Neither side objected to the court’s solution of allowing only two family members from each side to remain in the courtroom during jury selection. The court reopened after jury selection. Because the court gave the pattern jury instructions, which did not require a definitional instruction on “willfully” and tracked the language of both the statute and indictment, it did not commit clear error when instructing the jury.
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