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91_SR0288
LRB9112988OBmg
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-FIRST 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- LRB9112988OBmg
1 Illinois Supreme Court.