Cook v. Illinois Department of Corrections

Filing 119

ORDER denying 118 Motion to Amend/Correct. Signed by Chief Judge David R. Herndon on 12/3/12. (klh, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
BETTY D. COOK,
Plaintiff,
v.

No. 09-133-DRH

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT
OF CORRECTIONS,

Defendant.
ORDER
Pending before the Court is Cook’s motion for modification/correction of the
record (Doc. 118). Specifically, Cook wants to amend the record on appeal to
include a piece of paper that her attorney used during the trial but that was not
admitted into evidence. Based on the following, the Court denies the motion.
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(e) states that if anything material to
either party is omitted from or misstated in the record by error or accident, the
omission or misstatement may be corrected and a supplemental record may be
certified and forwarded by the district court before or after the record has been
forwarded. Fed. R.App. P. 10(e)(2)(B). The purpose of Rule 10(e) is to ensure that the
court on appeal has a complete record of the proceedings leading to the ruling
appealed from, not to facilitate collateral attacks on the verdict. Shasteen v. Saver,
252 F.3d 929, 935 (7th Cir.2001). “Rule 10(e) does not give this court authority to
admit on appeal any document which was not made a part of the record in the
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district court.” Id. ( quoting United States v. Hillsberg, 812 F.2d 328, 336 (7th
Cir.1987).
Here, the documentation that Cook wishes to include was not part of the
record when the jury rendered its decision. Thus, the Court does not have the
authority to admit such documentation on appeal. Accordingly, the Court DENIES
the motion for modification/clarification/correction of the record (Doc. 118).
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Digitally signed by
David R. Herndon
Date: 2012.12.03
15:33:01 -06'00'

DATE: December 3, 2012

Chief Judge
United States District Court

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