## Facts

- Anita White, a nurse’s aide at a nursing home, was charged with misdemeanor theft of a ring valued at $150 or less.
- The ring belonged to Idelle Broday, a resident who shared a room with Mickey Kallick.
- The ring was described as not removable; it was allegedly taken with enough force to lacerate Broday’s finger.
- Broday was incompetent to testify.
- Kallick, the only alleged eyewitness, could hear but could not speak and allegedly communicated only by raising her right knee for “yes” and remaining still for “no.”
- After the ring was discovered missing, the head nurse (Van Kirk) questioned Kallick using the knee-response method and then presented employees to Kallick until Kallick indicated “yes” to White as the suspected taker.
- The criminal complaint was signed by Broday’s son, apparently based on information provided by Van Kirk rather than by Kallick.
- Because Kallick could not be moved for medical reasons, part of the bench trial was conducted at the nursing home.
- The trial judge examined Kallick and found her competent; Kallick’s in-court identification of White occurred through the knee-response method as questions were posed and interpreted by others.
- No court reporter was present; the appellate record consisted of a narrative report of proceedings.

## Issues

1. Whether a conviction may rest primarily on testimony from a nonverbal witness who communicates only through a rudimentary yes/no physical signal, where competence and reliability are seriously in doubt.
2. Whether admission and use of such testimony on the record presented denied the defendant due process.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Illinois reversed the conviction.
- The court held that, given grave doubts about the sole eyewitness’s competency and the reliability of the knee-response method, the conviction could not stand on the record presented.
- The absence of a verbatim transcript prevented meaningful appellate review of the competency examination and the substance and context of the witness’s responses.
- The conviction and resulting probation order were set aside.

## Legal Principles

- A criminal conviction must rest on competent, credible evidence consistent with due process.
- When a key witness’s capacity to perceive, communicate, and respond is substantially impaired, the proponent must establish that the witness is competent and that the communication method yields reliable testimony.
- Where the State’s case depends essentially on an incapacitated eyewitness using an ambiguous, highly mediated yes/no method, the record must permit meaningful review of competency and reliability; unresolved doubts are not sufficient to sustain a conviction.

## Conclusion

The court reversed because the prosecution’s case depended on a single incapacitated eyewitness whose yes/no knee movements were not shown, on the available record, to provide reliable, competent testimony adequate to satisfy due process and to support the conviction.


People v. White, 40 Ill. 2d 137, 238 N.E.2d 389 (Ill. 1968)