People of the State of Illinois v. Kenyatta White

Summary

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Kenyatta White’s first-degree murder conviction after determining that the evidence was not closely balanced for purposes of plain-error review. The court held that the appellate court’s discussion of whether White’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel attached during the lineup was dicta because the claimed error did not qualify for plain-error review on the record presented.

Holdings

1. The evidence was not closely balanced. The State presented substantial, mutually corroborating identification evidence, and the alleged lineup error did not tip the scales against White.
2. The court need not decide whether the Sixth Amendment right to counsel had attached at the lineup or whether counsel's exclusion from the witness-viewing room violated that right, because White could not establish prejudice and the record was not fully developed on those issues.
3. White was not entitled to relief because he could not establish prejudice under either the closely-balanced-evidence plain-error analysis or an ineffective-assistance analysis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was closely balanced so as to warrant plain-error review of White's unpreserved Sixth Amendment claim.
2. Whether the Illinois Supreme Court should decide whether White's Sixth Amendment right to counsel had attached at the time of the lineup.
3. Whether preventing defense counsel from observing witnesses during the lineup identification violated White's Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

Disposition

affirmed