Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Verdicts
Defendant was tried by jury for 1st degree murder of one victim and attempted armed robbery of another victim. After jury returned its signed verdict forms of guilty, defense counsel asked the trial court to poll the jury. Eleven of the jurors were polled and answered "yes", that this was and is their verdict. The twelfth juror was not polled, but trial court dismissed the jury. Leaving out of the poll of the jury even one juror calls into question the integrity of the judicial process and is 2nd-prong plain error. Reversed and remanded for new trial. (WALKER, concurring; COGHLAN, dissenting.)